Merry Christmas to any Christian readers. Happy Chanuka for the Jews. Happy Kwanza, happy holidays, and merry festivus for everyone else.
I read the news today, oh boy. It looks like folks in state governments in the middle states want to use Obama’s stimulus plan to build more highways — just in time for plummeting gas prices. They argue that road projects are already started or ready to go, and plans for beefing up the rail system are too far in the future to get people working now!
Sounds like drill baby drill! And it is. The hype is motivated by our dear old attachment to individual transit and the automobile. I am sure that even after eight years of strangulation and abuse, Amtrak has a capital plan they would loooove to put into effect. The car maniacs say our country is less productive because we waste so much time in traffic jams, but as this review of Traffic by Tom Vanderbuilt reminds us, building new roads doesn’t alleve congestion, it just makes it worse. More importantly, as the MTA report on ridership during the 00’s points out, New York state’s investment in mass transit paid huge dividends in increased ridership and decreased car traffic.
I hope to high heaven Obama and his cabinet have the testicular fortitude to stand up to state governments and tell them the money has to be put to good use — building up our national rail system.
culturalcapitol.com 
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January 10, 2009 at 1:35 am
urbanblog
Anybody who wants to see rail projects developed as part of infrastructure upgrades should really read The Power Broker. Something tells me getting these works built is going to be awfully similar to the New Deal era. I’ve already heard the term “shovel ready” so much I’m about ready to plotz. To qualify for federal largesse, top politicians and coteries of engineers from the states that want the money will have to show up with completed plans including proposed and partially negotiated rights-of-way, proposed FRA regulation ammendments, proof of existing negotians with makers of railway equipment, trade union support, and the support of city council & county commissions down the line. The likeliest place an effort like this can get off the ground is in california/oregon where schwarzenegger’s political support could buy a little time and help drive a stake but getting something like this done for an industry which has been in the process of being dismantled for the past 50 years isn’t going to be easy. The middle states just want to take the easy way out.
January 10, 2009 at 2:40 pm
culturalcapitol
Good to know! Thanks for the comment.