The Stimulus Is Working

From Fast Lane, the Department of Transportation blog:

Here's the scorecard:

•$22 billion--nearly half of DOT's stimulus money--made available to the States;
•Over 6,600 projects approved
•Over 3,200 projects underway right now

And the future promises even more boosts to economic activity:

•$8 billion in high-speed rail development
•$1.5 billion in TIGER discretionary grants

Sounds great to me. Let's remember, there was never a promise of immediate relief. The President never said that no one would ever lose their job ever again. The stimulus is about creating and sustaining jobs as well as rebuilding our national infrastructure and expanding green technology to have a more robust economy and a better national future. There is a long way to go, but we could not have started without the stimulus.

Ray LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation, says it more succinctly:

I know the stimulus can't make up for every job our economy has shed. But we have supported over 5,000 jobs already, with up to 500,000 more on the way once the full effect of this landmark program is felt in the transportation industry.

And every job we do create or preserve should be counted as a victory.

ASCE 2009 Report Card For America's Infrastructure

The American Society of Civil Engineers have released a new report card for America's infrastructure and - no surprise - it is still bad. Horribly bad. Frighteningly bad. It's like we are a third world country. Furthermore, if you compare this new report card with the previous one in 2005, our infrastructure has maintained a solid "D" G.P.A. with our aviation services, roads, and transit systems functioning at a lower level than before. Everything else stayed the same - solid C's and D's all around. Oh, and infrastructure investment is only about 18% of the proposed economic stimulus plan. Unbelievable.

Another San Diego Sinkhole

There was another sinkhole San Diego yesterday:

Northbound Texas Street is closed from Madison Avenue north to Camino del Rio as city crews repair the sinkhole at Texas and Madison. The street is expected to remain closed until about 7 p.m., said Arian Collins, spokesman for the city water department.

The 4600-block of Texas is without water and will remain so until 4:30 to 5 p.m., Collins said. The problem was called by a leak in a service line, which connects a water main to a water meter, Collins said. "That started undermining some of the street," he said.

However, the sinkhole itself is actually pretty small, Collins said. "I think the hole we made to get down to it was bigger than the hole made by the water," he said.

It may be small in size, but it is also the second sinkhole in an urban neighborhood in just the last two months. The previous one in November swallowed a car:

Needless to say, I am totally for infrastructure spending. The sooner, the better.

Photo from signonsandiego.com

What I Have Learned This Week

A lot of talk out there in the internet tubes about the slamming Joe Scarborough received from Zbigniew Brzezinski on "Morning Joe". It's nice to hear that there are people who are not afraid to be completely honest about his "stunningly superficial knowledge". However, while Joe tried to recuperate, Mr. Brzezinski mentioned the Taba Summit. I had never heard of this before. I know about it now. Thank you, sir.

New Mexico Rail Runner now runs from Santa Fe: The Central New Mexico corridor, which is home to half the state’s population, contains Santa Fe, the state capital, and Albuquerque, the largest city and economic hub of New Mexico. The two cities are connected by a single four-lane interstate highway, I-25...The high real-estate prices in Santa Fe mean that many of the people who work there must commute from the Albuquerque metro area. Furthermore, the capital is home to many of the state’s cultural institutions and tourist attractions, and most out-of-state visitors are forced to make the 60-mile journey from the Albuquerque International Sunport by car. As the population of the region grows, commute times are expected to increase 80% on some routes by 2025, making the introduction of additional forms of transportation a priority to local governments.[7]

Roland Burris, Blagojevich's appointee for Obama's Senate seat, has a mausoleum. It's actually quite nice. It's bigger than my kitchen. And really, really weird.

Charles Barkley feels that speeding is understandable if the possibility of sex is the reason. Alabama's future Governor, everyone!

Yahoo!: Phoenix Opens New Light-Rail System

Awesome! But, the hot summers will be a huge test. Will people wait for the rail outside in the heat? Hopefully, the planners thought ahead and set up water mist systems at every stop.

My National High-speed Rail Service Idea

So, I have been dwelling on high-speed trains lately. Since 4am yesterday, to be precise. I keep thinking how wonderful it would be to have a fully-functioning, profitable, fun way to travel this beautiful land of ours. However, since I am obsessing, I thought it would be a good idea to post my ideas about high-speed rail service so I might stop obsessing. (I have found that it is the best way for me to move on. Expect in the near future a few posts regarding the frighteningly quick evolution of sea creatures and female Apache helicopter pilots. Oh, and Rhode Island. Although, I doubt a few posts will cure me of that fascination.)

Back to the rail, I have something that I scribbled out today. First, a few disclaimers. This is an idea about preliminary, yet national, high-speed rail service. A starting point, if you will. Second, I understand that having a rail from San Diego to Las Vegas is a little silly since one is proposed for Los Angeles to Vegas, but I live in San Diego so I have some bias regarding this. I admit it. I still want it. Lastly, I scribbled this out at 5am today and now - after a few relaxing mixed drinks - it still looks alright to me. I just wanted to put that out there. OK, here we go:

A California line is already proposed (Prop. 1A passed on November 4th). It would have a line starting in San Diego and going through Riverside, L.A., Central Valley, and splitting off toward either San Francisco or Sacramento. This is great but I think it should continue from San Francisco all the way to Seattle. It could follow the I-5 with a stop in Eureka and another in Portland.

S.D. - Phoenix - Central N.M. - Austin - Nawlins - Atlanta - Orlando - Miami

LA - Vegas - Denver - St. Louis - Nashville

St.Paul/Minn - Chicago - Cleveland - New York

Pittsburgh - D.C.

This is the part where you have to visualize the diagonal subconnections. Use the map.

S.D. connects to both L.A. and Vegas. Vegas connects also to Phoenix. Phoenix to Denver. Denver to New Mexico. St. Louis to Texas and Louisiana. Nashville to Atlanta.

Denver also to St. Paul/Minneapolis. St. Louis also to Chicago.

Cleveland to Pittsburgh.

This would be great for commerce as well as jobs. Someone who lives in Cleveland could work in Chicago. Someone like myself could get to Phoenix or Las Vegas to visit family in less than 3 hours. A barbecue fanatic can get Texas style for lunch and St. Louis style for dinner. To compare or brag or whatever.

I feel a little better now that I got that out. What do you think?

National High-Speed Rail Service

I love the idea of high-speed rail service in this country. I have wanted this for years, ever since I saw a tv special about the bullet trains around the world. Also, I was excited to see California Prop 1A was not only placed on the ballot, but also passed. I am not the type of person who jumps up and down with joy, but I did. I jumped. Yes, I am a dork about this stuff, but I can't help it. Last weekend I watched a video about the proposed high-speed rail plan for California and I actually got choked up a bit. I mean, I didn't cry but I did feel an emotional flurry similar to what I feel in the last 15 minutes of Radio Flyer. I'm sure a good part of it is because of the cheesy heart-string-tugging music, but still, I was moved.

Yep. It's official. I am a dork.

Anyway, the original point of this post was not to embarrass myself but too link to a press release today regarding the High-Speed Rail for America Act of 2008. A few quotes:

Sen. John Kerry: “A first-rate rail system would protect our environment, save families time and money, reduce our dependency on foreign oil, and help get our economy moving again."

Sen. Arlen Specter: “We must continue to focus our energies on building and maintaining a strong national passenger rail system in order to ease congestion of air and highway corridors connecting high-growth markets, as well as to meet energy and environmental goals.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg: “Investing in modern infrastructure is vital to the nation’s long-term economic and environmental health - and in the short-term, it would help put more Americans back to work."

Gov. Ed Rendell: “Expanding our nation’s critical rail infrastructure will make our transportation network more efficient, reduce traffic pressure on our already busy interstate highways, and improve the environment.”

Is this not totally awesome?

I am so going to get clowned for this post later.

Infrastructure News From Last Week

Wow. It doesn't look like the infrastructure report card of a nation that takes it seriously, does it? Fortunately, people are talking about it now. Politicians, economists, and the media are picking up on the dangerous failings of our infrastructure. There is even a proposition in California - Prop 1A - that finally allows the voters to decide whether or not we should have high-speed rail line service. Finally. Yep, people are talking. Hopefully, that talk will turn into some much needed action soon. As you can see, we are dangerously overdue.


NewsHour: Ray Suarez interviews PennDOT engineer Charles Davies about bridge repair.

Washington Independent: Taxpayers will remember that the first round of stimulus efforts came in the form of direct-to-the-door rebate checks — $600 for individuals and $1,200 for married couples. This time around, lawmakers are focusing on infrastructure projects, social services like unemployment insurance and direct aid to states, many of which are struggling with budget deficits. There’s even an emerging effort to have green-energy investment a central focus of the bill.

Forbes:
The $600 rebate checks provided by the federal stimulus package earlier this year may have been popular among taxpayers, but many economists think any future effort should focus on infrastructure spending and other targeted measures.
Spending on new roads, bridges and other public works projects would create jobs and provide more of a lasting boost to the economy than another round of rebate checks, several economists said. They contend a common concern about infrastructure spending - that it takes time to gear up and may not kick in until after the recession is over - is less compelling now because the U.S. economy likely will experience an extended downturn.

Mother Jones: McCain hasn't bought into this because (I'd guess) he still doesn't really appreciate the scope of our financial problems. Plus he probably associates infrastructure projects with earmarks, so he has a Pavlovian reaction against them. Obama has done a little better, but only a little. It would be smart, both politically and substantively, for him to at least start making more aggressive noises on a big, bold infrastructure plan.

Articles About Infrastructure From Last Week

Since I am constantly talking to other people about the crumbling infrastructure of this great country, I thought I would post some links to articles I have come across on the topic. I am also going to make a new label in the sidebar for this specific topic because, well, it would be easier. Here are a few links:

Huffington Post: No president has paid serious attention to infrastructure since Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had a vision for the future. His vision led to constructing the U.S. interstate highway system, the roads on which our economy has traveled for five decades. But Eisenhower's vision was for his future. That future is our past.

FresnoBee: Many of our most important public works projects have come in times of deep economic distress -- and they have been crucial elements in our recovery in those times.
Recall the Great Depression, when voters in the Bay Area passed bonds to build the Golden Gate and Bay bridges -- projects that lightened the impact of the Depression on that region and were critical to the postwar economic boom. Shasta Dam was built during the Depression, and remains a linchpin of the state's water system. The greatest public works project in the nation's history -- the transcontinental railroad -- was set in motion by Abraham Lincoln at the outset of the Civil War, the most troubled period of our history.

Market Watch: "Washington should follow Pennsylvania's lead on infrastructure investment. America's highways, bridges, tunnels, and mass transit have fallen behind because the federal government is contributing only 25 percent of infrastructure funding and the rest is coming from financially strapped state and local governments.
"In 1961, when Dwight D. Eisenhower left office, the federal government was allocating 12.5 percent of its non-military spending to infrastructure. Today, that percentage has fallen to 2.5. If Washington steps up its commitment of resources for infrastructure investment, we could create millions of jobs across the country and turn this economy around," Governor Rendell said.

Atlanta Journal Constitution: I would have the federal government send each state an amount equal to 5 percent of its current year general fund budget with the following stipulation on how to spend the money: 60 percent of the money should go to infrastructure spending on roads, buildings, airports, water and sewer projects, whatever the state’s priorities are. States could be allowed to spend the other 40 percent however they chose...People are tiring of bailouts and rescue plans. People don’t like seeing their tax dollars fly out the door to help people or businesses that seem to have created their own problems. However, this plan would send the money to people’s communities. Plus, at the end of the day, this plan will leave us with something lasting: new infrastructure that serves our community’s needs.

Australia To Spend Billions For Infrastructure

"The sooner that investment can occur in nation building infrastructure, the sooner we can realise the economic benefits of that investment," says Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese. This is awesome. Why don't our government officials realize that investing in infrastructure actually helps the economy? Jobs, commerce, communications,...why don't they get it? Why do sinkholes have to appear and bridges have to collapse to make our government leaders understand? And why do they forget about the importance after time has passed?

It's just too bad this latest bill did not include something. Too progressive,maybe?

Update: Looks like broadband service will be a starting point. Again, awesome.

PopMech: The Candidates' Infrastructure Plans

This is a short article about the differences between Obama and McCain's plans regarding infrastructure. Here is a short snippet under the topic of electric grids:

Backing clean coal and the seemingly inevitable tide of plug-in hybrids aren't exactly unique political choices, which might help explain the policy overlap. But drilling into the specifics of each campaign's energy infrastructure plans, the differences are clear. On the topic of electricity generation, McCain is making nuclear power a priority, with a stated goal of building 45 new plants by 2030. He hopes to eventually have 100 U.S.-based nuclear power plants to rival the number planned for Russia, India and China combined. Renewable generation sources, such as wind and solar, are generally supported by McCain, but his campaign has yet to lay out a detailed plan. Obama's proposal for boosting generation is, in many ways, the inverse of McCain's. Additional nuclear power will be considered, but the emphasis is on renewables. Obama's plan calls for renewables to supply 10 percent of the nation's power by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. To fund that push for wind, solar and other alternative energy sources, Obama proposes investing $150 billion over 10 years.

The other topics are dams/levees and roads/bridges. For an incredible article about the details of transforming our infrastructure, check out this by Eric Lofge.

I have become a weird infrastructure geek over the past 14 months since the I35W Bridge collapse. I consider myself to be relatively smart but it honestly never occurred to me that bridges in America could do that. I remember what happened to some bridges after the Northridge earthquake in 1996, but that was a natural disaster. Bridges falling down had always seemed like something only in morbid songs for kids. I have written other link posts here , here and here about infrastructure if you are interested. Also, Intrepid Liberal Journal had a well-written piece I will link to again because it was that good.

Business Week: Another Stimulus Package?

Here is a short post about the importance of infrastructure and innovation. I agree with the author that we all could forgo an extra stimulus check in order to get our roads and bridges up to par. I would feel better knowing that my best friend is safe when she travels on I-15 to work and back everyday. Or that my brother doesn't have to worry about the I-8/805 interchange crashing on him from above. These are problems normally associated with third-world nations, yet here we are. There are thousands of bridges in this country that are officially rated functionally obsolete. Don't believe me? See for yourself here. Check out the infrastructure in your community. Warning: the information you find might keep you up at night.

ILJ: Obama, McCain & The Infrastructure Thing

Excellent post in the Intrepid Liberal Journal blog about the presidential candidates' plans regarding our failing infrastructure. It includes a brief history of the genius of President Eisenhower with his implementation of the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act in 1956. Unfortunately, this bold move half a century ago has yet to be replicated or even aggressively maintained, the result of which we were painfully reminded on August 1, 2007. Whomever we choose in this election must make it clear that infrastructure programs must be in the forethought of the next administration. For all of our sakes.

NYT:Highway Fund Shortfall May Halt Road Projects

A major bridge collapsed 13 months ago and the government is still trying to figure out how to maintain roads and bridges. Underground steam pipes burst, sinkholes swallow people and shut down highways - and this is just a partial list from 2007. What will it take for our government to take this country's failing infrastructure seriously? What will it take for the people to demand it?

Highway Trust Fund Fact Sheet

Remarks by the Secretary of Transportation

One Year Anniversary Of I-35W Bridge Collapse

Watch the CBS video here about the lack of action repairing our infrastructure in the past year.

Also read the excellent book The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation by Stephen Flynn.