There is little funding for regional rail. There is little funding funding for light rail systems or electric public transportation. There is no development of high speed rail systems and there is increasing highway gridlock. We build highways and people drive cars. So we build more and bigger highways, which lets more people drive cars. Then we build big-box retail stores in former farmland because people need space to park their cars that they drive on the highways.
I live in a suburb of Harrisburg, PA and people are shocked to learn that we used to have an electric trolley that kids could ride to and from school. Turns out it’s just one of many that were bought up and paved over by GM, Ford and the oil companies so people would take busses and buy cars. People here would love to be able to hop on an elevated rail system and ride it to work instead of bucking traffic. People would love for their kids to have the independence to go to soccer practice or their friend’s house or the mall by themselves instead of bugging their parents for a ride or a car or worse, riding their bikes along busy streets with no bike lanes or sidewalks.
There are a few small cities nearby (Lancaster, York, Lebanon, Mechanicsburg) that should be linked by a regional rail system. But the lack of funding and leadership from the state and federal government make this an impossibility. So we sit on what are effectively deserts, burning dinosaurs, waiting for the person in front of us to move, just to get anywhere.
Pennsylvania is home to two large cities and many smaller ones. They should be linked by a high-speed rail system that lets people hop on a train in Erie or Reading or Scranton and get off in Philly or New York or Pittsburgh in 2-5 hours. We have an aging population that creates a danger to themselves and everyone else on the road when they drive. (I’m sorry, but it’s true.) If they had the capability of traveling without the need for a car, their quality of life would be greatly improved.
For example, my grandparents live in Williamsport. It’s a small city in the north-central part of the state. In order for them to see us, it’s a two hour drive for them (which is difficult for my grandmother after her back surgery) or a two hour drive for us. So we rarely see them outside of a holiday or other special occassion. Amtrak doesn’t provide service, even though three or four rail lines come out of the city.
The highway bill is just that: a highway bill. Funding for Amtrak is being scaled back while the airlines and automakers are being bailed out with our money. Public transportation will improve the quality of life for many, many people, especially the elderly and it will decrease our reliance on automobiles and foreign oil. Expanding it will create thousands of jobs for both skilled and unskilled workers, and buying American made goods like rails and train cars will reinvigorate the ailing manufacturing sector.
But it subverts the dominant paradigm, so it’ll never happen.
