Roadways for People: Rethinking Transportation Planning and Engineering by Lynn Peterson (review)

Reviewed by: Roadways for People: Rethinking Transportation Planning and Engineeringby Lynn Peterson Gregory J. Carlton Roadways for People: Rethinking Transportation Planning and EngineeringLynn Peterson with Elizabeth Doerr. Island Press, 2022. xxvii and 236 pp., figs., notes, bibliog., index. $32.00 paperback (ISBN 9781642832235). Lynn Peterson's Roadways For People occupies a peculiar space within contemporary transportation literature. In many ways, this text feels introductory — some might even say rudimentary — not unlike a textbook that might be assigned to an undergraduate in a community-based transportation planning seminar. But this poignant narrative offers much more than its simple layout and unsubtly persuasive prose may suggest. Behind Peterson's story of transportation past, present, and future is a manifesto — a call to arms against the planning practices of old that disenfranchised many young and aspirational professionals while segregating communities through a self-reinforcing system of automobility. Read in this context, what at first seem to be simple suggestions on topics such as coalition building, equity, and community-based planning solutions transform to feel downright radical. Likely, because they are. Close observers of our transportation planning system will almost certainly acknowledge that it has come a long way since the middle of the 20th century, when whole communities were bisected and destroyed in the name of interstate traffic flows, but across different state DOTs and planning agencies there are still many vestiges of this troubling past. And, if we are not careful, these past ills will reinforce themselves — especially as we enter into a new technocratic era of transportation planning. In order to break such a cycle, the transportation geography, planning, and engineering communities need to be introduced to a better way to conduct their work. I believe that this is what Peterson offers her readers. Peterson's book begins with a foreword by Janette Sadik-Khan, the then-commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, who offers a reflection on the disruptions and opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic for transportation planning. This short read offers a clean segway into the preface, where Peterson details her autobiography. It is here that the reader is first introduced to an aspect of Peterson's personal ethos that will remain relevant throughout the chapters ahead — that is, a personal land ethic influenced by Peterson's upbringing in the diverse landscapes of Central Wisconsin. The central idea of this ethic comes from Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, that humans are not the conquerors of the land-community but citizens of it. This theme becomes central to the narrative and adds personality and flavor to the planning theory and recommendations that are made in later chapters. Chapter 1, entitled, "Why Transportation Planning and Engineering Need a Paradigm Shift" is my favorite in the entire book. The ideas expressed here are so obvious, and yet, they are rarely discussed except in passing. Planning, ultimately, is supposed [End Page 261]to be a profession that meets the needs of the community. But what is the community, and what agency should its members be given over the physical design of roadways? Peterson explains that her definition of community is imperfect, but it is distinguished through quantitative and qualitative means and includes the people, their relationships, their culture, organization, and their sense of place, culture, and spirituality. This refreshingly simple but inclusive definition is used to add depth to a personal planning case study about Portland, Oregon's Rose Quarter Project. In this project, the state DOT did not engage the community or listen to their ideas — they acted to find technical engineering solutions for a highway project with deep social implications. This project is emblematic of everything that is wrong with the traditional 'business as usual' approach that is sometimes used in transportation planning and engineering. This approach tacitly pretends to listen to the community but is ultimately led by performance measures and metrics that may or may not consider the will of the masses. Peterson, however, is not a depressive malcontent railing against engineers and planners, in fact it is just the opposite. She herself holds degrees in both professions and is incredibly hopeful and optimistic for the future. Chapter 1 introduces a...