"The upgrades now rolling across this route will do a whole lot more than safeguard millions of journeys and a huge slice of the US economy. They could enable America to finally run truly high speed trains. An ambition which has harboured since forever."
You may be someone who doesn't understand how much railraods contribute to a country's economy: even the US. The US has neglected this segment of the tranportation sector to its detriment. But it's also been neglecting an even worse segment of the transportation infrastructure: the one that services the automobile (which includes trucking).
I finally made it to Italy, despite having spent a lot of time in the French Alps, which happen to be literally next door. In fact, we were staying in Chamonix and went to Courmayeur, that happens to be in the Vallée d'Aoste someplace I've been wanting to visit for a long time.
Anyway, I was rather surprised that Italy is a leader in High Speed Trains. These two videos give you some ideas why I support HSR.
So much for Making America Great Again if Italy is kicking the US's but in this regard. These trains leave Acela in the dirt.
OK, while people may complain about subsidies for public transportation, they seem to forget that not taxing private cars for the privilege of driving is also a subsidy. Then there are also the toll roads.
Unfortunately, we will not have an educated discussion of this topic.
A bit of Eurail promotion. Not that I really need it since I would rather sit and enjoy the countryside as I go from city centre to city centre without the hassles.
I would rather see the money spent on rail travel than rebuilding a dying technology.
One thing I don't like about the US is its reliance on cars and planes. Especially since the US was once a world leader in high speed rail technology. Sure, DC has a really good public transportation system, but its Disneyland compared to the rest of the US. I don't think there are metros (subways) that go to NYCs airports, but it does have a fairly extensive underground system.
I had a weird feeling that number 3 would be what it is (no spoilers--watch the thing). Nope, I wouldn't live in North America even if all the changes I would like to see happened for a bunch of reasons.
Yeah, I know that the 1619 project and related rubbish would like us to believe that racism is the cause of all the urban problems, but that is a really bad excuse for doing nothing. My question is how can there be institutional racism if there are black people in positions of power? Like the president of the United States for 8 years was BLACK.
Please answer that before making any criticisms. And you might want to watch this as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTsqRHQ53rA. I would point out that class and wealth might be more important to look at than race, you might want to look up Ursula Burns as well.
And back to more important and useful issues. Thanks.
Jason Slaughter at Not Just Bikes says, "he's not an urban planner, but he plays one on TV." I would love have done something that I consider useful as a career, which urban planning or working for Greenpeace Europe would have been, but that's another story. Like Jason, I have travelled around and know that the North American car culture is not sustainable. While conservatives want to pretend that "The Green New Deal" and the change in culture to at least renewable energy is a somehow wrong: it's obvious that it is a necessity.
And the failure to pay attention to that will have worse ramifications than the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, which should have been a wake up call, but wasn't.
Jason points out that North American at one time had super mass transit, but went to car culture post war. I've been wanting to post this except from Lawrence Weaver's Introduction to the book "Small Country Homes of Today" in 1922:
Neighbourhood to Road. — Nothing at once costs so much and gives so little to show for it as road-making. If the chosen site of the house itself is not close to a good road, and a long drive is needed in consequence, a sum for road-making must be set aside which will probably distress the client not a little. In this connection the liability to motor dust must be considered, a factor governed largely by the prevailing wind.
Accessibility. — Neighbourhood to a railway station is not only a question of the personal convenience of those who live in the house, but affects the cost of building. Thoughtful folk will also consider how near the site will be to post and telegraph office, church and shops.
Public Services — Drainage, Water and Light. — Connection with municipal sewerage is a factor in cost. If there is no system near enough, when the house is built, it should be ascertained whether any extensions are likely in the future, as the design of house drainage somewhat discharges according to whether it discharges into a public sewer or into a private cesspool or septic tank. If it is contemplated that the house drainage shall discharge at a point beyond the site, by arrangement with an adjoining owner, care must be taken to ensure that such right is secured in perpetuity. A pure and plentiful water supply is infinitely important, both for drinking purposes and for garden use, and if no public mains are available, the possibility of getting a permanent supply from a private artesian well needs to be carefully explored. For lighting, in default of public gas or electricity, the respective merits of a private installation of electric light, acetylene or petrol gas need consideration.
This is from over 100 years ago. I wish that it had been written by Edwin Luteyns, but it wasn't. Still, it interesting that the advice was to be central, rather than spread. A copy of this book can be found at: https://archive.org/details/smallcountryhous01weav/page/n13/mode/2up
It's also interesting that the advice was to build near services, which is no longer the way things are done in North America.
Recycling and "renewables" aren't "new" either, but those are separate topics.
The problem is that some people need to hear the alarm clock ringing and stop dreaming of a past that didn't exist.
I do have to agree since I would see tourists visit, DC, London, Paris, and even NYC and love the public transportation.
Definitely, things can and should change since it makes no sense to sit on a road when riding public transporation can get you where you want to go much faster. I find having a car is more of a problem than an asset: especially since the thing sits idle most of the time.
This is a great video from Not Just Bikes on why this is:
Anyway, more on this subject if you want to take the time:
This is an interesting video on how the suburbs are not as profitable as pedestrian friendly downtowns.
Being from the lost city of Detroit has coloured my opinions on US development. This pretty much confirms my belief that it was indeed the city that committed suicide, as is the case with Flint and Saginaw. Nevermind that I haven't spent a lot of time in Detroit since I was a toddler, and even really been to the other two, but my encounters with the city make me think of European cities.
Particularly the ones that were bombed to shit during World War II. At least there was the Marshall plan for Europe. The US isn't as kind to its cities. One can come up with all sorts of glib reasons for why US cities are messed up, but I think Strong Towns pretty much has the problem figured out.
Still, the US hates its cities for some reason. They would prefer to see unprofitable development as opposed to having people live in population dense areas. Is this divide and conquer? Keep the people apart and alone so they are easier to manipulate?
Anyway, Urban3 is a consulting company that helps cities better understand the economic impact of development. They have worked with many American cities to better understand and visualize the costs of development, and uncover which properties are productive, and which are not. Some municipalities have been willing to share that information, and it has provided a fascinating glimpse into the financial problems caused by sprawling car-centric suburban development.
https://www.urbanthree.com/
The bottom line is that the current US model of sprawl is not sustainable.
It's amusing that the one person who is not from Minnesota, and has only been there on a layover flight knows about Strong Towns. This organisation was started by a planning engineer from Minnesota.
This explains the phenomenon of sprawl and traffic.
The previous clip mentioning Strong Towns was posted by someone who is of the same opinion I am about the US and urban planning: Emmigrate. On the other hand, people need to think about the points made by Strong Towns.
But my my point in the posts about the I-95 Bridge collapse is that there does need to be more options and alternatives to driving on an "arterial" road for the reasons presented in this video. Arterial roads get congested. Not to mention there isn't an alternative to an arterial form of transit if it becomes unusable.
The current US lifestyle is not sustainable for the reasons presented by Strong Towns. I am going to post their New Member Orientation Video, even though I have been supporting this group for a while now.
Like Strong Towns, I want to be a delivery mechanism for ideas that should become viral, whether that is in regard to urban development, the environment, addressing the US gun issue, US politics in general, and so on.
But these are ideas which need to be out there and discussed. Unfortunately, I think the institutions will keep them from being as widely disseminated and discussed as they should be.
I don't really care what political bias News Nation has, the segment this picture comes from was fairly accurate as to the problems that will be caused by this one small bridge having collapsed. They are talking about MILLIONS of people being inconvenienced by this. Toss in that the detour will take people onto a road which is even worse. It has TWO accident black spots in this stretch of highway. Both of these are on the detour route:
Accident Black Spot Philadelphia - Grant Ave and E Roosevelt Blvd
Accident Black Spot Philadelphia - Red Lion Rd and E Roosevelt Blvd
This means that the traffic following the detour will be on a very bad stretch of road.
Sure, SEPTA is talking about adding cars to the already over used regional rail, but that is not even a band aid on the wound. We are talking arterial bleeding in terms of what a disaster this one small bridge collapsing will cause.
I would be ecstatic if I were a terrorist and this sort of target had been taken out. In fact, there is another spot on I-95 which the results would have been far worse for traffic in this corridor than this had the accident happened there. That gives you an idea of how bad having an accident like this will effect transportation on the East Coast.
Unfortunately, the US is unprepared to deal with the problems caused by its failure to address the issues that this disaster has raised. I really wish that it would cut the partisan bullshit and start working on the problems the US is causing itself.
The US has to pull its head out of its ass sometime, and I hope it is soon.
One interesting thing about US politics is that the concept of subsidies is well camouflaged. Taxpayers subsidise Wal-Mart because the employees need to resort to social services to live on the low wages. Likewise, the US subsidises the automobile by giving free parking, not fully funding highway maintenance, Land use laws that favour sprawl, and so on.
The major one is the cost of petrol since that would be the one place where adding a road tax would make sense: make the users pay for maintaining the roads they use. The other alternative would be to have more toll roads.
But the issue of making sure that transportation is somehow set up to handle varied modes of transportation so that the country doesn't shut down if the main forms are put out of commission due to poor maintenance or weather.
Also, transportation and the issues related to it need to be addressed, since those are yet another thing which is ignored due to distractions in the US political process.
The term is also kind of nonsensical since it comes from the British sitcom "Yes, Minister" episode "The Bed of Nails"(S3E5). On the other hand, the US has pretty much put its transportation into cars and highways along with air. Rail transportation is of the third world calibre I would expect for the world's most affluent third world nation.
Which is disappointing since the US was once a leader in rail transportation.
I tossed in canals for good measure since I like canals: the old fashioned jobbies with longboats and towpaths. You can bike or hike beside them, or take a small craft for a leisurely jaunt around the countryside. Which are yet another thing that has been trashed in the US.
But the reason for this is that I heard that a section of I-95 in Philadelphia has collapsed which is a major transportation fuck up. And appropriate that it happened in the city that doesn't work. Philadelphia is a totally messed up city with a road system which was designed for horse drawn vehicles trying to deal with 21 century traffic. It has the subway to nowhere and destroyed its tramways. This means that a good section of the US east coast has been fucked by failing to have alternative forms of transportation which are actually viable for commuters.
Remember that air traffic on the east coast was buggered for several days due to the Canadian wild fires. So, air traffic is also not the answer.
This means that the two main forms of transportation in the US, highways and air traffic, really don't do the job. And rail is pathetic where it exists. Sure, the above video is in French, but the point is that the French have kept their rail transport viable and up to date. They are even proposing to stop internal flights of 500km or less in favour of air travel.
I would hate to have to rely on US rail transport to address the traffic on the east coast at this point.
Additionally, the US is going to have to make the road users pay for the proper maintenance of the roads which is going to truly bugger that method of transport, because the US can't run its current level of traffic on dirt roads and goat paths. And the problems with infrastructure are getting painfully obvious.
The real bottom line is that the US has been dodging issues using hot button issues ("culture wars") and not addressing the real problems of society: like health care, transportation, energy, the environment, and so on.
It ain't the Russians who make me want to see a change in the US political system. It's the homegrown oligarchs.
There is a plaque commemorating the US High Speed Rail pioneers at Princeton Junction, one of them was my step-father. The US could have rail service like this if the government was willing to foot the bill. But these quotes pretty much sum up why France can leave the US in the dust sitting in a traffic jam.
Rail subsidies are largest in China ($130 billion) and Europe (€73
billion), while the United States has relatively small subsidies for
passenger rail with freight not subsidized.
This film is in French, but you can get the point of WHY rail is important, yet the US is ignoring it.
Cross-subsidies between lines go a long way towards explaining the development of the high-speed rail system in France. Thanks to those subsidies,
it has been possible to develop a TGV service even in towns that are
located far from LGV lines. TGVs also can run on conventional lines provided the lines are electrified.
So, the US COULD easily develop high speed rail capable of speed in excess of 357 mph (or 574.8KmPH. TGV holds that record).
The sad thing is that the people chanting Make America Great Again are against a Green New Deal, which should have rebuilding rail infrastructure as an integral aspect.
Sadly, the clip is in French, because a lot of people in the US need to see it.
