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Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
PBS aired a thoughtful look at challenges facing America’s transportation network in an era when simply building more roads is no longer tenable solution to current transportation problems.
The documentary treats the rise and fall of the city of Detroit as a microcosm for automotive transportation in general, and investigates alternative solutions for the 21st century—including high speed trains.
You can watch the full video online:
Posted by NARP
Tags: automobile, blueprint america, challenges, detroit, motor city, passenger trains, pbs, transportation,Infrastructure Investment Makes Business Sense
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
A 10-minute video segment from PBS’s Need to Know compares the lives of two commuters. One takes Amtrak two days a week between Normal, Illinois, and Chicago, and says he would do so more often if trains were faster and more frequent and reliable—a desire that is likely to be fulfilled thanks in part to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s commitment. His hometown is planning a downtown revitalization around a new train station, making it possible for overnight visitors to stay, eat, shop, be entertained and attend meetings and conventions downtown without needing a car.
The other lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and has to go to Milwaukee frequently for business meetings. While he would rather commute by train, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s decision to reject federal funds for a Madison-Milwaukee train project that was ready to be built means that he will be forced to continue to drive an arduous three-hour round-trip on an Interstate that is often treacherous in the winter.
Kevin Conroy, the latter commuter, says Walker’s move is not an example of how businesspeople make decisions. “[Walker] turned away an investment in transportation between Wisconsin’s two biggest cities over a 90-second political add,” Conroy says, obviously frustrated. He’s not the only one at a disadvantage—scores of railcar manufacturing jobs and railroad construction jobs will not be coming to Wisconsin.
This tale of two travelers—and two governors—centers on this question: Do you generate economic development by cutting spending or by investing in the infrastructure that keeps the economy, and people, moving?
Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, chicago-st louis, governors, illinois, infrastructure investment, milwaukee-madison, passenger rail, pat quinn, pbs, scott walker, wisconsin,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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