What is a transportation mojo and have we, as Americans, lost our? Part 2

Investing in the Status Quo

As we struggle to maintain our existing infrastructure, China is building from the ground up, so planners there have room to dream, while l American transportation planning happens on top of a legacy infrastructural network with some very entrenched players.

The history of transportation planning in the U.S. reads like a clash of vested interests. What one group wants, another opposes, either because it disrupts their quality of life, or does not deliver to their doorstep and one of the most powerful weapons transportation foes wield is the law itself.

Different Legal and Environmental Framework

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is one mechanism meant to safeguard undisturbed habitats and a protect sensitive environments, which another difference with a place like China, which does not have one. Far too often, however, NEPA and other state and local regulations meant to prevent the environment are used to choke the life out of unpopular projects or those that infringe upon the interests of entrenched groups. Tai said that to complete a heavy rail project in the U.S. would take seven-to-10 years. The swing has everything to do with how many lawsuits opponents throw in the path of new construction, and their willingness not to back down in a fight. The Bay Area corridor of the California high speed rail plan is a very prominent example among many in this country. Communities who don’t like what the plan envisions for their area are willing to pull the breaks on the entire project and use whatever means are at their disposal to do so.

“There’s a lot of stakeholders you just can’t cut around, like you can with large scale infrastructure projects in places like China or Korea,” said Mathis.

How Might We get our Mojo Back?

Strong leadership is needed and Tai said that President Obama, with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as his point man, has already made a strong case for new investment in transportation. Tai said that another strong pro-transportation leader is Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN), who is chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and has pushed for more transit funding, including modes of alternative transportation including transit, biking and transit oriented development. Now what is needed is for Congress itself to approve funding.

If the people lead, the leaders will follow

Crawford thinks that artists and collectives are a good place to look for emerging trends in transportation. In particular he sees very promising developments from people who can use transformation data to craft compelling narratives about how people move through space. Infographics, Crawford said, are far more effective tools than transportation theories, and their potential is just now being realized.

“I think the artists temperament of the people who I see who are doing doing really cool things with transportation visualization are coming from communities where people are thinking about a lot more, not just about the cool art project side of things, but how they situate themselves within their communities and within their cities.” said Crawford. “And they’re thinking through a lot of the stuff people are going to have to start thinking through in the next 10 or 15 years about the the whole mess of transportation systems that gird our entire way of life.”

Image: Creative Commons