[BIKE] Lack of Intermodal Transportation Investment threatens US Economy

[John Boyle]

I found an interesting article that connects the lack of investment in rail and bus with our position in the global economy. http://www.emagazine.com/view/?2129 According to a new report from the University of Denver Intermodal Transportation Institute, “America’s long and successful ride to prosperity is threatened by a transportation infrastructure incapable of meeting future requirements. The interdependent network of roads, bridges and terminals is growing increasingly antiquated, congested and disconnected and therefore incapable of providing the productivity and prosperity support upon which the nation has depended for the last century and a half.” “All forms of surface transportation in the U.S.—road, rail and maritime—are crowded in places and the situation is worsening rapidly,” as the Tribune reported. “Yet the U.S. government is paying little attention. And rather than embracing the passenger train as one solution, as Europe has done, the U.S. is starving an already inadequate Amtrak system, members say.” “I don’t see anyone in power doing something about this,” said one software entrepreneur quoted in the newspaper story. He added that transportation wasn’t mentioned once in the first two Presidential debates (though it is a major concern of most voters). In a statement, the Bush administration tried to defend itself, pointing to its “record level of spending for surface transportation projects.” But as any schoolboy knows, this spending is mainly pork-barrel roadway expansion pushed by the well-heeled highway lobby, which makes the problem worse rather than better. “You can’t build out of congestion,” says the old adage, and it’s 100 percent correct. (JB's Note: to be fair the pandering to the highway lobby in Washington is a bi-partisan effort) "I had a vivid reminder of the intermodality problem when I arrived in Pittsburgh recently on an Amtrak train. The only way to get from the station to any point in the city was a wheezing cab. Sure there were buses, but no nearby bus station (other than Greyhound), no posted bus schedules, no coherent maps. The bus drivers we stopped didn’t even know what bus to take. Pittsburgh has both an innovative dedicated busway system and a subway, but we didn’t have a clue about how to use either one, and nobody we asked could help."