When we hear about Obama’s infrastructure stimulus plan, we usually hear about rebuilding our roads and bridges, along with greener plans to make our schools and buildings more efficient, and implementing a smart grid.
Unfortunately, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is always ready to build new roads and bridges, on top of fixing the ones we already have.
They say they have 5,000 ready-to-go projects, worth $64 billion. Fully funded, the projects would support 1.8 million green jobs.
With new roads always comes more development, more population and more traffic congestion. That keeps us dependent on foreign oil and contributes to climate change – the opposite direction from where we want to go if we’re working toward a green economy.
Transit, environmental and "smart growth" advocates have formed a coalition, Transportation for America, to put forward a counteroffer that would create more jobs while protecting the environment. They have $33 billion worth of projects that meet the shovel-ready standard, including $100 million on light rail lines and other transit programs, bike and walking paths, in addition to repairing our current stock of roads and bridges.
Every five years, Congress debates a new transportation bill – the next round is set for 2009. With Obama talking about funding infrastructure on the level President Eisenhower dedicated to create the Interstate Highway System, green transportation advocates hope they’re time has come to turn the tide toward sustainable policies.
As of now, as much as 95% of the funds could go to traditional transportation programs.
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Your article makes a good point. Let’s not fund “rearview mirror projects” – projects that make sense if we wanted to live like five years ago. Better to fund infrastructure projects that promote how we want to live fiveor ten years from now. More emphasis on telecommuting, virtual learning,recycling, internet shopping. AASHTO has a bias towards moving people places. Perhaps we should offer people alternatives to travel – work, learn and shop from home! I drive about 20 miles per week these days – I wish more people could join me!
Baby Boomers are staged to retire, but they won’t be able to, or won’t want to. They need to retool for the 2nd half of their lives working in knowledge work. (Education, Government, Non Profits, Health Care) They need to downsize their homes and drive less. The best place to do this is on university campuses. After retooling, combined with life experiences and resources, they can work on socially engaging projects to keep costs on check. Many students don’t even own a car, live in a small apartment. The infrastructure that is needed is low cost housing for boomers to return to college. I have posted my thoughts at http://sites.google.com/site/boomersuniversity/Home