Moulton: MA Traffic, Housing Crisis Are Interconnected

DANVERS, MA — Fixing the region's worsening traffic is possible and would help relieve pressure on the state's expensive housing market, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) said in a keynote address to the North Shore Chamber of Commerce Thursday night. But "to achieve this vision requires a bigger change in mindset than most leaders in the State seem to recognize," Moulton said.

"Our region is the nation’s leader in bad traffic," Moulton said. "And if we want to lead the next generation economy—if your businesses are going to out-compete cities in America for new jobs, if America is going to out-compete our 1 competitors around the globe, if you want to catch the end of Thursday Night Football tonight, we must reimagine our communities and commutes."

Moulton's speech came two weeks after a group of North Shore business and government leaders released a report calling for a gas tax increase and more tolls to improve traffic north of Boston. While Moulton did not outline specific policies in his speech, his vision for better transit in the state echoed that report, as well as a recommendation last month that the MBTA spend $28.9 billion to modernize its system and offer commuter rail service every 15 minutes.

Moulton said it was "insulting" to hear state lawmakers say transit was a priority. He compared the state of Salem's four-year old commuter rail station, which is unheated, and other MBTA stations with Logan Airport. "North Station is full of pigeons. Do you have to bring an umbrella to safely walk through Logan or even any parking garage downtown?" he said.

"A budget is a reflection of your values, and we do not value the transportation system that we claim to want—that we encourage our fellow citizens to ride," Moulton said. "The fact of the matter is that, all rhetoric aside, in Massachusetts we value traveling by car and traveling by plane. We encourage everyone to use carbon, to live in places they can’t afford, and to live unhealthy lifestyles, stuck in traffic, every day."

The emphasis on car travel in the U.S. has created cities that are "sprawly, unsustainable communities with terrible traffic" with transit "squeezed in" as an afterthought. He said that has led to the current housing prices in Massachusetts, which are among the highest in the country. Better, high speed transit would effectively allow people to spread out throughout the region and still get to work in the state's economic hubs quickly and efficiently.

"Luxury lanes aren’t going build us that future," Moulton said. "They will worsen traffic and worsen inequality—literally the exact opposite of what we need to do. Does anyone honestly believe that what downtown Boston needs is a few more cars every day?"