Stupid interstates

Though Blacksburg has the Smart Road to serve commuters in and around the home of the Hokies, most major transportation in Southwest Virginia moves on stupid interstates.
The issue of the overlap of interstates 77 and 81 in Wythe County is about to come up again, and the heavy traffic on I-81 to Roanoke is a perennial concern for transportation officials and emergency services.
So far the discussions for dealing with improving major arteries in Virginia has consisted of: "How can we afford to pay for more lanes to carry all these cars and trucks?"
A better question would be: "How might we take some of these cars and trucks off the highways to improve safety, cut pollution and avoid increasing the roads' corridor?"
As a model to solve these woes in my favorite state in the Union, I would like to offer that of the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation in North Carolina, or PART for short, which my wife uses to get part of the way to and from her job in the Triad during the week.
By catching the bus at a stop in Mount Airy, my wife is one of an estimated 400 riders a day that take the Surry County Express.
She gets off in Winston-Salem, but other buses link Greensboro, High Point and all the way out to Durham in the east, Boone in the west, and Asheboro in the south.
The Surry Express launched with 500 riders for the month in August 2006, which stayed pretty constant four three months until suddenly quadrupling in November of that year, according to information from the PART website, www.PARTnc.org.
After that, ridership dropped below 2006 levels for only one month, and continued steady growth. Officials recently told the Mount Airy News that they carried almost 8,500 commuters in a month on the Surry line. 
Several cars parked in PART's lot boast Carroll County stickers on their windshields.
The buses drop off workers right at the doors of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and shoppers at the mall, two popular destinations for people from this area going to Winston.
A 2006 study by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that more than 2,000 commuters from Carroll County head south into Surry County.
With 78 percent of Americans driving alone to work, there's plenty more potential riders for a well-thought-out regional transportation system.
PART officials estimate that costs for an individual to drive a vehicle 15,000 miles a year include: $3,721 for depreciation; $1,014 for insurance; $885 for gas and oil; $615 in maintenance; and $270 for tires, plus more for registration and taxes and $828 for finance charges.
Accepting those estimates, the average consumer would spent a total of $7,533 on personal transportation in 12 months.
While a vehicle owner won't be able to save on things like taxes or insurance, it's possible to see less wear and tear on the vehicle and to pay less on the pump.
The transportation service says that the savings, conservatively, could add up to $800 for a rider, depending on fuel prices.
The fare of $2 per trip seems quite reasonable as compared to the height of $4 per gallon of gas — something we've gotten relief from at the moment, but may return in 2009.
PART officials estimate that their service has "saved the Triad 65,000 gallons of gasoline," which they valued as help for consumers to the tune of $250,000.
Mass transit impacts pollution in the Tar Heel state, as well, where 70 percent of emissions come from cars and trucks.
"What PART offers is a way to get to work, school and shopping without getting in your car," the Web site says. "That means fewer cars on the road and better flowing traffic."
For every car the transportation system takes off the road, smog-forming emissions are reduced by 40 pounds a year.
PART offers van-pool options for up to 15 people, which could translate into removing more than 500 pounds of pollution from the atmosphere.
"The fuel efficiency of a fully occupied bus is six times greater than that of the average single-occupant auto," the Web site says. "We need to start making some personal choices about transportation and PART makes it easy for us to save money and do our part to keep the air breathable in the Triad."
(I'd like to see a survey of the ridership miles saved and cars kept off the road, but that apparently hasn't been undertaken or at least posted on the Web site.)
PART continues to expand to reach commuters. The Surry Express cannot be used for Saturday shopping junkets to Winston because it doesn't run on weekends, but maybe that could be on the horizon as the service continues to attract more riders.
Regardless, North Carolina's efforts prove that people will take advantage of mass transit, if it's offered.
That's a bandwagon I'd like to see Virginia get on.
Make more of our roads smart, please!