New Regional Climate Action Plan Calls for Transit and Active Modes, Not Freeways
You may know that the City of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County both have plans calling for carbon neutrality (by 2030, and 2035), which are guiding many exciting policies and programs in our community.
In an exciting new development, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) has been working with many stakeholders on the Southeast Michigan Priority Action Plan (PCAP), which they have circulated for public comment this week. The plan contains a regional greenhouse gas emissions inventory which shows that vehicle emissions are a major source of GHG emissions in our region (see figure).
As a result, one of the plan’s “Priority Measures” is “Modernizing Mobility Systems” with the following three goals:
Shift rapidly to emissions-free fleet vehicles, in cooperation with local industry.
Reduce emissions by increasing use of shared transportation and upgraded transit infrastructure.
Avoid emissions by shifting to more active transportation modes.
Funny, no mention of highway expansions can be found anywhere! Our understanding is the proposed widenings will need to be approved by committees at both the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS) and SEMCOG.
If you are interested in submitting comments or learning more about this plan, here are the details provided by SEMCOG email (not yet on their website): Email: InfoCenter@semcog.org, and at the Executive Committee meeting on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024.
