Alex Marshall / Jan 16 2010
For Release Saturday, January 16, 2009
Citiwire.net
Well if you ever plan to motor west,
Just take my way, that’s the highway that’s the best.
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.
Well it winds from Chicago to LA
More than two-thousand miles all the way.
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six….
Well it goes through St. Louie down to Missouri
Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty.
You’ll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona, don’t forget Winona,
Kingsman, Barstow, San Bernardino.
Won’t you get hip to this timely tip
And think you’ll take that California trip.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.
– (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66, By Bobby Troup, 1946. Read More »
Alex Marshall / Dec 12 2009
For Release Saturday, December 12, 2009
Citiwire.net
As America gets ready for debate on federal transportation legislation next year, we’ll surely be told again to place our confidence in the familiar yardsticks of miles traveled per hour, average commuting times, cost per passenger.
But couldn’t we have license to think more fully and imaginatively about this sector that is not only essential economically but occupies so much of our lives?
When I was a teacher in Virginia 25 years ago, I used to drive 35 minutes each day from Virginia Beach to my job at a high school in Norfolk. I drove at 60 mph almost the entire way. Not a bad commute, though I noted even then that high speed freeway driving is tiring. Pay attention or you may kill someone, yourself included. Read More »
Alex Marshall / May 07 2009
For Release Sunday, May 10, 2009
Citiwire.net
If you’re one of my graduate students–or, I suspect, any American under 40–you’re unlikely to recognize the name of Michael Dukakis.
But Dukakis was the 1988 Democratic nominee for the presidency. And a lot more. He was twice elected governor of Massachusetts. Most governors had usually “presided,” letting their cabinet officers go their separate ways; Dukakis by contrast was the first governor ever to form a development cabinet focused on specific goals, led by revival of historic Lowell and all the Bay State’s declining older industrial cities.
Many political observers scoff at Dukakis, noting only how he frittered away a strong early lead against George H.W. Bush in his presidential bid. Read More »
Alex Marshall / Dec 26 2008
For Release December 28, 2008
Citiwire.net
While Congress gets ready for a rancorous debate over guidelines for spending billions in infrastructure stimulus funds, some states and cities are already getting deadly serious–not so much about bigger and fancier infrastructure projects, but smarter infrastructure systems.
Just this month, for example, New York City joined a group of far-sighted managers of waterworks nationwide by recommending a “sustainable stormwater management plan” to expand water and sewer capacity. The idea is not to build more plants or pipes but rather by invest in decentralized conservation systems and better maintenance.
Also this year, Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City’s transportation commissioner, made headlines when she put tables and chairs and bike lanes in the middle of downtown streets and said that the highest and best use of a thoroughfare was not necessarily more cars.
And James Rogers, president if Duke Energy, has been shocking utility commissions by insisting his company be paid for getting its customers to use less, not more power. Read More »
Alex Marshall / Aug 15 2008
For Release August 17, 2008
Citiwire.net
As a recent professor of U.S. Constitutional law, presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama doubtless knows that the founding rule book of these United States provides that “The Congress should have Power To . . . establish Post Offices and post Roads.”
Maybe that’s why Obama, in contrast to his opponent Sen. John McCain, is advocating the feds play a larger role in the creation and improvement of our national transportation network.
Obama laid out his themes clearly in a June 21 speech in Miami to the U.S. Conference of Mayors entitled “Strategy for America’s Future.”
“We’ll unlock the potential of all our regions by connecting them with a 21st century infrastructure,” said Obama. “You know why this is so important. You see the traffic along I-95 in Miami. You see the crumbling roads and bridges, the aging water and sewer pipes, the faltering electrical grids that cost us billions in blackouts, repairs, and travel delays.” Read More »