When President Bush in November convened the gathering of 20 nations at the G-20 meeting in response to the economic recession, it was the most striking evidence to date that our economy is tightly knit with that of the rest of the world.
Whether we are addressing economic, environmental or transportation issues, we will make unsatisfactory progress if we think and act without concern to our interconnectedness. One of the great connectors is our infrastructure. Worldwide, the quality and sufficiency of water, energy, communications and transportation systems are the embankments central to our well-being.
The incoming administration, through the Congress, is poised to enact some form of transportation stimulus program. The challenge is to make it a meaningful first step for more pervasive transportation infrastructure renewal. To do so, it must be part of a package that extends beyond using transportation investments to jump-start job creation and economic recovery. It includes setting the stage for the major programmatic changes in the way we authorize and fund all modes of transportation to achieve new, world-class mobility results.
We need to take quick care of the backlog of projects that will improve the state of well-used and worn service corridors. But we should acknowledge that this approach alone won’t resolve issues concerning the focus and effectiveness our investments. We can’t continue to filter huge sums of federal money through modal silos and claim that this will put us in fighting form for competition in the global context.
The first question is, “What mode, mix or match will get the job done?” It is less useful to consider the default of highway solutions first (often only) and then, only secondarily, other modes.
Finally, the Interstate Era is over. It transformed our personal and commercial mobility. Spurred by the creation of a modern highways system, people and goods streamed from our cities. And we established new suburban and ex-urban business and lifestyle vistas. Yet 70 percent of our country’s population now lives in urbanized areas along every coast.
For the first time since the 1960s, the election brings us a president whose political experiences have been shaped within this urban environment. Part of his leadership challenge is to bring that urban sensibility to the policy, planning and funding discussions that include transportation as part of the new foundation for our economic renewal.