(for a summary of the transition team meeting which inspired this post, see this previous post)
At the public forum for Public Works, I asked the transition team how radical the new Public Works Department would be when looking for solutions to the increasingly powerful problems that we will face. This question was met with the unmoving gaze of the committee, it was not their job to talk. The problem is twofold: Jackson’s infamously crumbling infrastructure coupled with stagnating budgets. I believe that, like most problems, more ideas are the start of the solution. It appears that desperate times may call for desperate measures. Working at the same “good enough for government work” pace that typifies most city departments is simply not good enough. Better ideas are needed, radical ideas may be best.
Yes, I may mean untested ideas. Bold ideas are needed. Harvey Johnson, the steady planner and plodder, may not be the first to sign up to this, but certainly he is still willing to consider alternatives to the status quo.
Case Study: Roads.
Jackson is well known for its crumbling and potholed roads. We like to look at the roads and blame their state on our ‘unique problem’ of Yazoo Clay but mineralogy is not the only fault. The roads in Jackson are generally crumbly. Heavy traffic on main corridors wears the roads down quickly, yazoo clay and time turn residential streets into pitted stretches of asphalt. Jackson’s Public Works Department has a lot on their plate, patching holes and resurfacing large stretches of road. The problem is that they simply cannot work fast enough. There is not enough money in their 62 million dollar budget to fill all the holes and resurface all of the streets.
So the general idea that has been governing the department as far as I can tell is that they will patch major/problematic holes as they can get to them, and do major resurfacing as needed/as major outside funds come in for them. So far, this has pretty much been good enough for government work. I think that there should be more radical solutions put on the table for consideration. This is what I enquired about at the meeting. Here is one such idea:
Incorporate traffic control with road maintenance to an extreme: Close off streets within neighborhoods to force more traffic onto major roads. This will of course cause more wear on the major roads. So, on those major corridors which will be picking up most traffic, make the investment in longer lasting, maybe, concrete, roads which may last upwards of 50 years before needing maintenance. Roads within neighborhoods would carry less traffic, and slower traffic, making them more appealing and safe for pedestrians, children and cyclists. Closed off roads could be practically ignored. Even as the street surface deteriorated, there would be no urgent need to repair them, as the traffic would be slow and familiar to the street. These streets could even be replaced with gravel or other low cost surfaces.
Here is an example of a street already gone field (as far as I can tell). This is a dead end across from a park in Jackson. The street is split by a drainage creek. Artificial dividing lines would be similar to this. The road has clearly not been maintained too well as of late, and is only used by a few homes anyway. With a road like this, the city has a number of options to make maintenance cheaper:
1) Just ignore it. Doesn’t cost anything until somebody decides to sue the city for some damage they suffered by driving recklessly on it. This problem leads to…
2) Grind it down as needs be, eventually replacing it with a cheaper surface such as gravel. Costs a bit of money, but less than actually maintaining it. Long term thinking ability needed here.
3) Sell the street. Sell it to the homeowners, make a shared right of way for all the residents. It would effectively become a shared driveway, responsibility would go to the new owners. The city makes a bit of cash, and moves on.
4) Even if they didn’t sell off the whole street, they only really need to keep up a small lane of it. Is there any reason that three cars abreast could fit down this road which leads to three houses?
Obviously, I am not an engineer. I am prepared to be heckled by engineers for my generally unsubstantiated ideas. I hope that people will at least realize that there should be more open discussion of ideas to make the department more effective. There are new ideas, and different ideas which may be better for the city.
This is not the only ‘radical’ solution that I have cracked up. Having control of utility lines and mains offers great possibilities. Maybe Jackson could lay a robust, upgradable fiber optic network to rent back to content distributers. Perhaps we could lure more companies here with a promise of low cost of living and an absolutely cracking fiber optic network. (Yes, we already have a good network leftover from WorldCom’s heyday, but lets make a better, more upgradable one.
The city spends plenty of money sending its waste to the dump. Reducing this amount saves money for the city. Promoting recycling and possibly composting by offering incentives to recycle more and throw away less would go a long way towards saving money and making Jackson more livable.
So, what I mean by this post, is this: Is the new administration willing to consider different, possibly more radical solutions to the problems that it will face (which we have faced for a long time)?
Recommended reading:
Concrete v. Asphalt
Closing roads to cut congestion
Inauguration tonight. Don’t forget about the public forums!
