Roads vs. transit and the stimulus package

See "This Old House" from the New York Times, a column by David Brooks about the opportunity to build suburban town centers and the like vut to be more creative not just rote with the stimulus program, this report from the Washington Post, "Md., Va. Revive Hopes For Roads: Federal Funding Could Preserve Critical Projects," and this from the Engineering News-Record, "'Ready to Go' Highway Projects' Total Soars To $64 Billion."

As I said in another blog entry wrt President-Elect Obama and DC proper, "chance favors the prepared city" or in this case "stakeholder." The road lobby is well organized and based in the U.S. Unfortunately, while transit systems are U.S. based, usually government agencies, the manufacturers of most rail (heavy rail, light rail, streetcar, and railroad) equipment are foreign owned (it's another blog entry to write, which I won't, about the loss of this manufacturing infrastructure, which was once world-renowned) and less likely to have the same kind of access to politicians as the road builders...

From the article:

In all, AASHTO's survey says, there are 5,148 highway and bridge projects, totaling $64.3 billion, "ready to go"--meaning that their contracts could be let within 180 days. AASHTO estimates that those projects would support 1.8 million jobs. The survey reflects responses from the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

A January 2008 AASHTO survey counted 3,071 projects worth $17.9 billion that were ready to begin. That report was based on replies from 47 states and the District of Columbia. In the latest survey, Utah ranks first, with $10.8 billion in highway projects.

Hmm, Utah, that'll sure have a big impact on economic development, energy use, land use, etc.

Utah has a population of 2.55 million. Salt Lake City has a population of 180,000, and the region about 1.1 million. The daily ridership of the Salt Lake City light rail is about 53,000 and the commuter railroad about 8,000.

This reminds me of something I wrote for a local e-newsletter yesterday about sidewalk repairs and absolute vs. relative need.

DC splits up the money it spends on sidewalk repair by Ward. So each Ward gets a relatively equal amount. This means that priorities are set on a relative basis because they have to spend the money. So a relatively decent sidewalk not at the end of its useful life can get replaced in some Wards, while areas of greater need get ignored because the Ward has more serious needs than money available in any one year.

Or, it's like police officers in the 2nd District writing tickets for cars on hills not having their wheels turned towards the curb, when officers in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Districts are overwhelmed by assaults, robberies, and murders...