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Ways Without Means
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Food for thought on one of the busiest travel holidays of the year.
Few would defend America’s current transport policy. Each year congestion costs more than $78 billion in wasted hours and petrol. Washington’s main transport strategy has been not to have one. The Department of Transportation (DoT) runs 108 different programmes. But an integrated system for planning—one that includes passenger rail, freight, highways and mass transport—does not exist. Full analyses of projects’ costs or benefits are rare. —The Economist, June 20-26
As we head into one of the busiest travel holidays of the year, when many will face slow going on the roads and crowded flights, it is a good time to remind ourselves just how much work is needed to make our society as mobile as it could be. Despite a small drop in gas prices, USA Today reports in a cover story that the country is in the midst of “the longest and steepest decline in driving since the invention of the automobile.” Since last November, the drop in vehicle miles traveled on American thoroughfares is akin to “taking between 8 million and 10 million drivers off the road.” Much of this may be due to the state of the economy, which is forcing many to forego travel or adjust their plans, but the article also notes the increasing number of Americans opting for less car-dependent lifestyles. It makes one wonder if we would be better able to weather this recession if we had a smart transportation strategy, one that provided real choices and made getting around safer and more affordable, accessible and enjoyable for all. Motor vehicles alone will not be able to provide the mobility people are demanding in a way that enhances our quality of life.
Fortunately, the woeful state of American mobility is receiving long-overdue attention in Washington. But, as The Economist notes (and NARP has been pointing out for some time), the main well of money for transportation improvements is about to run dry, and we don’t have a viable plan for replenishing it. A set of worthy goals has been written, but the Obama Administration wants to borrow from the General Fund to pay for them, a desire confirmed in a document released by DOT this week (see Hotline #611, 3rd story). Tapping into the Treasury for such consistent expenditures is highly unsustainable in the long run as it adds to the defecit and relies on the whims of Congressional appropriators. The Administration says it needs more time to figure out a sustainable long-term funding mechanism that will also repay the loans from the General Fund.
Congress has given us “cash for clunkers,” yet we struggle to find the cash to overhaul our ‘clunker’ of a transportation system. If we don’t get on track (literally and figuratively) to a robust and sustainable system now, all Americans will continue to pay a higher price: as travelers, consumers and taxpayers. It’s up to all of us as citizens and voters to give our leaders the political will to do what needs to be done. We must pay a little more now to build the safe, efficient, multi-modal mobility network we deserve in order to avoid a great deal of pain later.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by NARP
Tags: advocacy, affordable, driving, economy, funding, gasoline, highway trust fund, politics, recession, transportation, travel,Fast Track to Lazy Analysis
Friday, September 16, 2011
The worst thing about having a President throw their Administration’s support behind your cause is all the presidential politics it injects into what should be a discussion about good policy.
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Don’t get me wrong; we here at NARP are grateful to finally have someone in the White House who understands the benefits of trains, and the transformative potential of a truly world class passenger rail network. But it certainly has lead to a lot of head-scratching analysis.
Take Charles Lane’s recent post “Fast track to nowhere”, hosted over on the Washington Post’s politics blog. Lane criticizes President Obama’s American Jobs Act proposal, which calls for investment in the modernization of our transportation network. In an address before a joint session of Congress, the President argued that transportation projects can create jobs immediately, and increase U.S. competitiveness in the long term:
“Building a world-class transportation system is part of what made us an economic superpower. And now we’re going to sit back and watch China build newer airports and faster railroads? At a time when millions of unemployed construction workers could build them right here in America?”
Posted by NARP
Tags: american jobs act, cahsra, california, chris lane, high-speed and intercity passenger rail program, high-speed rail, obama, politics, washington post,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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