Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Let's see... The feedback loop goes something like this:
Widen the roads to accommodate traffic;
Stimulate sprawl along those roads;
Traffic increases to fill them;
Sow, reap, repeat...
So why then make funding of public transportation so much more difficult for communities?
Currently, when the federal government approves any new transportation project, whether it's a road or transit project, it is supposed to pay for 80 percent of the cost and the state or local community pays 20 percent. The Bush administration has proposed to maintain this 80:20 ratio for roads, while dramatically changing it to 50:50 for transit projects.
Like Roman aqueducts and Egyptian pyramids, years from now archaeologists will marvel at our highway system. The elaborate freeway interchanges visible in just about every American city will be reminders of amazing engineering skill and enormous effort.
But a society's physical infrastructure doesn't just respond to current needs; it heavily influences future needs depending on the manner in which it is built. What the current addiction to sprawl does is commit future generations of North American inhabitants to an economy that loses a disproportionally (and unnecessarily) high percentage of its productive potential to transportation energy costs.
The predictable argument that the 50-50 split will "extend the federal dollars" is baloney. Communities aren't in a position to pick up more of the bill for what has (at long last) become something the feds help out with. And if that up-is-down canard works for trains, why not roads, too?
The 50-50 split isn't unjust inandofitself. And I'm all for lowering the political center of gravity; maybe transportation infrastructrure is better funded at a more local level. But when it intentionally creates a disadvantage for public transportation - an extremely vital tool for weaning ourselves off oil, middle eastern or otherwise - I'm just dumbfounded.
TrackBackFile under Stupid Government Funding Tricks: We are a tourist destination and have a "bed tax" on short-term rentals for a Tourism Development Board. The revenue from the tax can only be used for advertizing.
The ads have been too successful and we have people clogging the roads. The part of the government that actually has money is the TDB, but that money can't be spent to relieve traffic, only to generate more.
Now they want to raise the local sales tax to make road improvements that are only needed during the Summer tourist season.
The quickest solution would be bus service, but there's no money for that either.
I lived in Europe for years without a car and had no trouble getting around in a timely fashion, but Americans just can't understand it.
Posted by: Bryan at July 13, 2004 08:07 PMI lived in Europe for years without a car and had no trouble getting around in a timely fashion, but Americans just can't understand it.
Not ALL Americans!
I am a New Yorker, and I drove a car for only one day in my life (got in 3 accidents, all my fault...long story). My wife doesn't drive either, and we both have no trouble getting groceries, getting to work, and having as much fun as we want without an automobile.
I also end up walking alot, which often amazes people in the "exurbs" that I visit (for business or pleasure). A common conversation goes like this:
"Excuse me, how can I get to the nearest grocery store?"
"Oh, take highway 83 to exit 7..."
"Sorry, I don't drive."
"You don't drive?!? How do you get around?"
"I was planning on walking to the store."
"But it's..." quick mathematical-doing face "2 miles away!"
"That's all right; it's a sunny afternoon and I can use the walk."
"It would take you an hour to get there!"
"More like 20 minutes, but that's OK. I'm only getting a few things and I have my backpack."
"Wait, let me just give you a ride."
Sometimes, no matter how much I refuse, I end up getting a ride to the store. I get to tell my "why I don't drive" story, so at least I entertain the driver, but it always makes me feel strange to be considered so alien as to believe that walking a few miles a day is dangerous.
Of course, if you talk to people in Minneasota, you'll hear them say that busses allow criminals to reach further into their world and shun them.
Autocrats, the lot of them!
Posted by: joshowitz5 at July 15, 2004 02:45 PM