Jim Bacon and EMR tune in on different MainStream Media outlets and today they saw different stories and came to different conclusions. Bacon reported on a Richmond Times-Dispatch op ed column by the US Secretary of Transportation (“Mary Peters on Virginia Transportation Policy”). EMR has been reading WaPo.
In SundaySource, WaPo splashes a lot of colored ink on “An Airfare To Remember: As the Cost of Travel Soars, Couples in Long-Distance Relationships Are Feeling the Pinch.”
True and touching but WaPo would do better to alert citizens to the economic, social and physical impact on citizen’s well being due to a deteriorating Mobility and Access system in the air, on the water and on land.
It is all well and good to chew over the cratering of IntraRegional transport – roadway congestion, deteriorating bridges and other realities – but let us not forget InterRegional transport. The headline from a 22 June WaPo Op Ed by David Ignatius puts the air issue in perspective: “Failing Airlines, Failing Government.”
We considered the impact of the declining health of Air Enterprises in a column “The End of Flight as We Knew It” on 21 April 2008. Things have gotten worse since. Last week the EU finally voted (640 to 30) to start forcing Air Enterprises to pay the cost of their upper atmosphere impact. That on top of fuel costs…
For years Air interests have pumped Agency and private Capital into a system of air Mobility and Access based on cheap fuel. They have convinced smaller urban enclaves that the saviors of their community’s economy will fly in and out of town. Uncle Sugar’s pork barrel has doled out grants to build a system that now will be so expensive it will only serve a few at the top of the Ziggurat.
Just yesterday WaPo reported that airport managers have come to the federal trough for help. (“Feeling Airlines’ Pain, Airports Seek Help in D.C.”) Sorry, Uncle Sugar has spent all his money in the casbah – protection money for cheap petrochemicals – and he has nothing to show for it but war casualties and debt.
On the water and on land, the problem is no better. In “Interstate Crime,” (28 February 2005) we outlined some of the problems with the Interstate System and the ideas floating around to “fix” it.
Most now understand the profound negative impact the Interstate Highway system has had on human settlement pattern – for a refresher see “Interstate Crime.” A growing number are coming to realize dysfunctional result of relying on Autonomobiles for Mobility and Access – See THE PROBLEM WITH CARS.
The foolishness of building a system of roadways that must be used by vehicles with vastly different weights and driven by persons with different skills is coming into focus as drivers get older and energy costs will result in vehicles that are smaller, lighter and more dangerous. See our 13 June Bacon’s Rebellion Blog Post “Aprera and the Tiger Riders.”
The dialogue in Jim Bacon’s Friday 11 July post “Get Over it” on the physics of InterRegional Mobility and Access via rail makes it clear how far citizens, even citizens of good will, are from coming to a well considered judgement on a course of action with respect to any mode of travel.
Where have the 100s of millions of dollars in transportation “research” gone over the past 60 years? To the Enterprises and Institutions that are the Haliburtons of the Autonomobile, the vehicle of choice of Business As Usual.
It would be so nice not to have torn up the street railway system – the Federal District hopes to have its system rebuilt by 2030. And what about those thousands of miles of abandoned railroads?
Seems like Ms. Peters should be worrying about the big picture, not giving op ed advice on finding money for IntraRegional short-term fixes. On the other hand she has not been in office for 60 years so it is hard to put all the blame on her.
Where is Will Owen when we need him?
EMR