Extraordinary Observations

I would like to be among the first to call on President-elect Obama to launch what Reconnecting America calls the "transit space-race". We gave car culture a chance in America, and we ended up with sprawl, pollution, traffic, and as I recently noted, a loss of individual freedom. The United States is desperate for transit infrastructure, and a recent piece in Salon notes that transit systems across the country are packed to capacity, with interest and ridership at all time highs. The Bush Administration's Federal Transit Administration has made getting funding for individual transit projects difficult and beauracratic - increasing the costs of the few projects that actually do get a stamp of approval.

President-elect Obama has the opportunity not only to provide cities across America with the resources they desperately need to jumpstart transit projects; he also has the opportunity to stabilize what is becoming an increasingly shaky economy. Other countries get it. With the world economy slipping into a potential global recession, China recently pledged to begin a massive rail project:

China will invest nearly 300 billion dollars in its overburdened rail system as a stimulus measure aimed at blunting the impact of the global financial crisis, state press said on Saturday. The investment is part of plans to extend the country's railway network from the current roughly 78,000 miles to nearly 100,000 miles by 2010, Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post reported. The Beijing News quoted a rail official as saying that, while the network needed extending, the massive investment of 292 billion dollars was also intended to help lift the nation's economy as it suffers amid the global woes. "New rail investment will become a shining light in efforts to push forward economic growth," railway ministry spokesman Wang Yongping was quoted saying.

The UK seems to get it as well:

Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said he would not rule out any option - even levitating Maglev trains... In a statement to MPs, Mr Hoon, who took over the transport brief earlier this month, said: "In order to stimulate Britain's economic growth and support our position as a leading world economy it is essential that we make the right long-term investments in our transport infrastructure and that we plan for future growth, in a way which is consistent with reducing greenhouse gas emissions overall."

Can President-elect Obama get it done? David Alpert of Greater Greater Washington thinks Obama & Biden might be the "train ticket"; Matt Yglesias says that "Obama is about as big a rail and transit proponent as we’ve seen in presidential politics for decades." Matt over at Track Twenty-Nine indicates that Obama "wants to reshape federal policy so that our communities can be made more walkable, livable, and transit-friendly." He goes on to note, "Obama's pick for Vice President also earns him a gold star in my book for good transportation decision making."

I have always been more of a skeptic of Obama's stance on these issues. Having listened to dozens of Obama speeches, I almost never heard him explicitly mention transit, urbanism, or any other alternatives to car culture. I have heard Obama talk about "cars of the future" that we are going to build "right here at home". The Obama "infomercial" featured a sob story about some Ford employees losing their jobs and a typical suburban family, the kind with 2 kids, big house, green lawn, and 2 SUVs in the driveway. Is this mere pandering? Are Obama's true priorities buried deeper under the surface?

The new administration has a truly unique opportunity to move the country in a new direction when it comes to transportation policy. It will require putting the right people in the right places and allocating resources incredibly intelligently - but it can be done; and hopefully, will get done.