Transportation "frankness"

Another interesting example of communication comes from Mississippi. On an e-list there is discussion about how the director of the Mississippi Transportation Department, and a member of the AASHTO board of directors, Butch Brown, called Ray LaHood, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, an a**hole. He backtracked later and said partly his frustration is due to his perception that USDOT is over focused on urban areas, and not enough focused on freight transportation management--removing trucks from freeways would make it easier to accommodate automobiles.

See "Transportation: Leadership an issue" from the Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion-Ledger. From the article:

Brown said he disagrees with LaHood's policies that tend to favor high-speed rail development instead of highways in rural states like Mississippi. He said he apologized. Brown, who is battling cancer, said he also was stressed with dealing with the death of Northern District Transportation Commissioner Bill Minor. ...

I responded in the thread how nothing prevents Mississippi from stepping up itself, and focusing on the issue. Here's what I wrote:

Norfolk Southern has a monster corporate communications campaign on the need for the federal support of freight rail to take trucks off I-95 and I-81.

The CSX double stacking project, that makes it possible to run doublestacked containers from Norfolk to Ohio is another example of this kind of thinking. It rec'd federal support.

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/05/csx_plans_190_million_rail_upg.html

I don't know what publications Butch reads. If he reads _Progressive Railroading_ like I do, he'd see frequent coverage of those issues. I look at Trains Magazine on occasion, it also covers this topic.

I don't know the state of transpo planning in Mississippi, which Butch has more sway over than Ray LaHood. Nothing prevents Butch from stepping up on this issue, as have the members of the I-95 Corridor coalition along the east coast or the members of the I-81 Coalition, which is parallel to I-95 but a bit more inland.

The State of Ohio transportation dept. is updating their state plan and dealing with supply chain transportation issues for key industries located in the state is one of four priority coverage areas.

FWIW, in DC I am a strong advocate of more systematic freight transportation management, including time shifting deliveries to off hours, to reduce the impact of lane blockage in the central business district as well as neighborhood commercial districts.

Clearly, the Mississippi Department of Transportation needs a more robust information support unit, not to mention more expansive planning.

Interestingly, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger article points out that Mississippi has the only elected transportation commissioner in the U.S., and how this ends up creating problems. It is interesting that "more democracy," something for which I advocate, often results in less effective action.

That's because special interests do a better job of capturing these positions, because the most motivated have the most to win and the most to lose, so they pump a lot of money into the campaigns, to better ensure the results they are seeking.

It means that in a place like Mississippi, the likelihood is that the road building coalition will put more money into getting an amenable commissioner, and sustainable transportation proponents are not likely to even make it through the nominating process.

Democracy does have its downsides.