Photo by frippy on Flickr.

On Wednesday, the regional Transportation Planning Board heard a presentation on how the region needs to grow more sustainably to avoid out-of-control greenhouse gas emissions. They then voted to add numerous projects to the long-range plan that will significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions.

The jurisdictions that submit projects also deleted a few, because the process requires them to limit spending somewhat. But neither decision involved fundamentally reevaluating plans in light of higher energy prices, the greenhouse gas emissions, the east-west economic divide, changing demographics, land use or the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG)’ own planning studies.

Bicycle advocates were pleased to see that despite AAA’s lobbying, the TPB approved the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes for inclusion in the region’s Transportation Improvement Plan. They are still pilot programs, and DDOT will have to do some analysis of their effect before making them permanent. Of the 352 comments TPB received on the lanes, 342 were positive.

However, that’s not quite as exciting as it sounds. TPB essentially never rejects projects. When they did reject the I-66 widening, it happened on an extremely narrow vote and only happened because Fairfax Supervisor Catherine Hudgins herself voted no. The next month, it was back in. Just turning a project down for one month created a huge hubbub, and sent a message to VDOT to do things differently. And the project still got into the TIP.

In addition to approving bicycle lanes, the TPB approved plans by Maryland to add $351 million to widen Route 28/198 in Montgomery County by 2025, $399 million to widen Route 3 by 2030, and $27 million for an interchange on I-70. They also want to make the I-270 expansion even longer, adding 7 miles at a cost of $3.4 billion. This all comes from a state that keeps saying it’s broke, but in the meantime keeps spending the money it won’t have for 20 years on big highway widenings.

These votes immediately followed a presentation on greenhouse gases, which argued the region will have to significantly change its growth patterns, not just eat away at the margins. COG also recently adopted the Greater Washington 2050 report that argues for focusing growth in sustainable ways. Why does COG spend millions testing scenarios and involving the public in visioning exercises if they won’t affect the outcomes?

It’s ironic that the TPB heard a report saying they have to do things differently, then turned around and voted for the same old thing. Critics call the TPB a “stapler” — simply collating everything the region’s local and state governments want to do and calling it a “plan.” Yesterday was one of the clearest examples of that.

AAA wanted the TPB to vote down the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes. Not only is it a good project, but we all know TPB was never going to because they essentially never vote anything down. Maybe AAA and Smart Growth advocates can agree on something for once: it’s time for the TPB to stop stapling. Vote things down if they don’t meet the Greater Washington 2050 goals.

The bike lanes still should go in, of course, since those will reduce dependence on driving and make positive progress toward climate and sustainability goals. But the TPB should vote it in because it’s a step toward a larger vision, not just because they vote in everything.

Cross-posted at All Opinions are Local.