San Francisco Water and Rail | Gregor.us
I can never decide which is sadder: the Obama Administration's token 12-15 billion dollars for national railways, or, the greenblogger, transportblogger, and mainstream media's belief we're pursuing a new rail policy. The United States has for years been piled high with unfunded rail projects, just waiting for a green light. But the 12-15 billion allocated so far will, at best, provide nothing more than seed money for mega projects like high-speed rail while neglecting the myriad smaller projects across the country. In the same way the Obama Administration has no energy policy, they have no transport policy.
While it may take a while, eventually the country will bet once again on the railroads (did Warren Buffet read Stilgoe's Train Time?). The old line that comes down through Petaluma to San Rafael (seen on the first map) is a good example of the current revival in two ways. First, the formation of the new Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) shows strong community support for the project, and they've been successful in winning measures through balloting. Second, the difficulty that SMART has now run into is largely financial, and is pretty much courtesy of the recession. These twin influences, public interest in rail transport as oil prices resume their advance, and financial pressures, will likely define rail buildout in the years ahead. But regions rich in an existing rail footprint-especially near water-will have fewer hurdles to surmount.
In the early 60s, the Bay Bridge was reconfigured for road traffic only: the lower deck for Eastbound and the lower one for Westbound. Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
