"Cantor Offers Support For Building Bikeable, Walkable Communities."

The League of American Bicyclists has the details.

As anyone who has tried to ride a bike in a congested area knows full well, bicyclists need better infrastructure.  Bicyclists will be--and should be--part of any future pro-infrastructure coalition.

Intelligent Transportation Society of America on Capitol Hill

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America showcased some leaders in smart transportation on Wednesday night at the Cannon House Office Building.   As the traffic "heat map" picture below reminds us, the urgency of speeding up, and smoothing out, American transportation is, indeed, severe.

Among the political luminaries present were a Cabinet Secretary and at least seven Members of Congress.

ITSA President and CEO Scott Belcher (below) kicked things off, celebrating the broad participation of both the private and public sector at the ITSA event.

Belcher's first speaker was outgoing Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood (below) as one of the most engaged and involved transportation secretaries in US history.

In brief remarks, LaHood said that he would focus on just one aspect of smart transportation, the "V2V" pilot program currently ongoing in Ann Arbor, MI.   As LaHood explained, the goal is "To get cars taking to one another, and to their cars.  This is the next generation of auto safety."

Next up was Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who echoed LaHood in saying that the goal was to "make our cars safer."   And she also emphasized the importance of "data protection" and and resolving the "spectrum crisis" for transportation. 

The next speaker was Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who said that one goal for intelligent transportation was "coaxing more value out of the transport action system."  He argued that the current system for road funding, financed mostly by the gas tax, is on a "downward spiral." And while he noted that Oregon was the first state to introduce a gas tax, back in 1919, it was now his goal to replace the gas tax with a VMT.   The goal, he added is "a fundamentally different transportation experience," in which driving, parking, and everything can be paid for "seamlessly."  

In his remarks, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) emphasized the need for infrastructure repair and added that "the things that make America great are the things America makes.

Freshman Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) told the audience, "I campaigned in the idea of investing in American infrastructure," noting that "one-quarter of the bridges that are structurally deficient are in Pennsylvania."  Cartwright further added that "every car owner spends an extra $1300 a year" thanks to deficient infrastructure.  He declared, "There's no smarter way to protect the environment than to save energy," including by cutting down time stuck in traffic.  

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), an MIT engineering graduate, quipped to the audience that Congress needed "more engineers."  He further quipped that engineers would recognize that the number of his House office address, 314 Cannon, is the same as the first three numbers of Pi. 

Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) recalled that he had just been with President Obama as he spoke about climate change the day before; Tonko observed that intelligent transportation could play a key role in reducing greenhouse gases.  

And oh yes, Rep. John Mica (R-FL), the former chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, stopped by to say a few words.

Here are some shots of others, and other institutions, participating at ITSA: 

Infrastructure in the 21st Century Is Both Physical and Digital--Preview in Washington DC on Wednesday, June 26

Infrastructure will always consist of structural pathways that allow for the safe and efficient transportation of people and goods.

But in addition, infrastructure is any pathway that allows individuals and their commerce to interact and transact with one another.  That is, not just roads and bridges, but also pipes, wires, airlanes, sealanes, and spectrum space.

In other words, infrastructure is any system that helps people do what they want to do--physically or virtually.   All these kinds of infrastructure are necessary, and any one piece of infrastructure is not much worth much if it is not connected to, and embedded within, the larger system.  

After all, the Internet, the Internet of Things, "white space," and everything else from Silicon Valley still depends on physical underpinnings--from the equipment itself, to its installation, to its power supply, to its maintenance--is dependent on physical things and physical players.

There's no such thing as a "dumb" road, or a "dumb" pipe.   Al there are pieces of the system, all synergistically connected.

And of course, no infrastructure system can exist without a political framework of custom, habits, laws and contract-enforcement.   It was Aristotle who said, "Man is a political being."  If he were alive today, Aristotle might add, "Infrastructure is a political being."

Back to the present-day: The illustration above is from Airbiquity, a cloud platform company based in Seattle that offers connectivity for cars and roadways.

Airbiquity is one of many companies participating in the Intelligent Transportation Society of America showcase on Capitol Hill in Washington DC tomorrow.

Economic Development in Jacksonville, Florida--and in America

This is what economic development looks like, up close: The business leaders and folks of Jacksonville, FL all pulling together to establish their "Jax" as "America's Logistics Center."    The signs are visible on the Interstate 95, coming into town.

That is, Jacksonville is seeking to better integrate its seaport, its airport, its railways, and its roadways into an efficient hub for domestic and international commerce.  Their strategy seems to be working; as one drives by the airport, for example, there's a huge Mercedes-Benz facility/warehouse, pictured below:

To be sure, Jax faces competition; Memphis, for example, has dubbed itself "North America's Logistics Center."  And many other cities and locales, too, are transportation hubs--of course, they are, because that's how any place thrives.   The US needs all the logistics hubs it can get.

Competition among all these hubs is good, but underneath all of them, and their ambitions, we can see that infrastructure itself is vital.  

Indiana Governor Mike Pence on Infrastructure

Key text from Gov. Mike Pence's e-newsletter, dated June 21, reads, "Pence noted that there are four key factors in establishing a successful job creation strategy.... investment in key assets such as infrastructure."

Well put. 

Rich Lowry on Abraham Lincoln and Hamiltonian Infrastructure

From Rich Lowry's National Review article, highlighting his new book on Abraham Lincoln and his ideas.

In particular, Lowry notes Lincoln's lifelong support for infrastructure as a catalyst for economic growth:

"He was indeed a government activist, though at a time when government was different from what it is today — vastly less extensive and obstructive, with the wealth transfers of the modern welfare state nowhere in sight. Throughout his career he supported internal improvements (i.e., transportation projects), a protective tariff, and sound, duly regulated banking. These policies were associated with their share of waste and corruption. On the other hand, wherever canals and railroads touched, they brought the competitive pressure of the market with them; the tariff was a support to the growth of industry; the banks produced a reliable paper currency necessary for a cash economy. They all tended to create a vibrant, diverse economy open to men of various talents. Here is where Lincoln is guilty as charged: The agrarians are right that he sought to end the simpler, agricultural America in favor of a modern commercial and industrial economy."

"260 million people a day cross bridges in the USA that are structurally deficient"

USA Today has the details of a new report from Transportation for America.  260 million people a day going over bridges that could be dangerous?  Wow.  

"The structurally deficient bridges are 65 years old on average, and the Federal Highway Administration estimates that repairing them would cost $76 billion."

USA Today's Larry Copeland adds: 

"The report comes less than a month after the May 23 collapse of a span of the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River in Washington state. Part of the bridge collapsed when it was struck by a truck with an oversize load. That bridge, built in 1955, was not structurally deficient."

That's a point worth dwelling on: The bridge that collapsed last month in Washington State was not in this "structurally deficient" category. 

One might think that these data would be a spur to action.  

Rich Lowry's new book on Abraham Lincoln, on sale now

Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review and a regular on Fox News, has just published a new book, Lincoln Unbound: How an Ambitious Young Railsplitter Saved the American Dream--And How We Can Do It Again.

Rich's book is an exciting re-examination of Lincoln' thinking, which was based, of course, on the Hamiltonian ideas of Henry Clay and other advocates of the American System.

The book is sure to start a constructive debate on the right about the value of infrastructure, then and now.  

Free Congress Foundation Conference on Infrastructure on Capitol Hill

Last week the Free Congress Foundation, founded by the late Paul Weyrich, one of the godfathers of the conservative resurgence of the 70s, held a conference on Capitol Hill on the importance of transportation infrastructure.

Speakers at the conference included the President and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation, Jim Gilmore, the former Republican governor of Virginia.

Another speaker was Rep. Ralph Hall, Republican of Texas, who has represented the Lone Star State in Congress since he came in to Washington as part of the Reagan Revolution of 1980.   

In addition, Rep. Tom Petri, Republican of Wisconsin, was a speaker: 

The conference centered around an ambitious paper on economic dynamism and transportation, Surface Transportation: The Case for Growth, by Michael S. Bronzini,  emeritus professor at George Mason University.  

Infrastructure's Role in the "Rewinding" of America

George Packer, the well-known writer for The New Yorker magazine, has a new book out, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America.   It's a gloomy book, although amidst his pessimism, Packer includes suggestions--including a renaissance for infrastructure--that serve as grounds for hope.  

Joe Klein, the even better-known writer for Time magazine, wrote an article about Packer's book, including this passage: 

When Packer and I discussed his book over lunch, he told me that he had no snazzy solutions, just the “obvious” ones: real financial reform, better schools, more infrastructure spending. [Emphasis added.]  

If America is unwinding, as Packer suggests, then infrastructure could be part of the needed rewinding. 

The Diamond Anniversary of the New York World's Fair--and What It Means Today

On April 30, 1939, the New York World's Fair opened its doors.   It offered an exciting vision of the future, and a particular kind of exciting view of the future--a vision based on the march of science, building the tools upon which the World of Tomorrow will be made.

Today, as the Fair approaches its  75th anniversary--its diamond anniversary--we can look back at the Fair and see how a serious-minded vision of the future inspired the future that actually came to pass.   In other words, it helps to make a realistic forecast first, as a way of stoking up the future demand needed to make the forecast come true.

In the words of the Fair brochure:

"The eyes of the Fair are on the future — not in the sense of peering toward the unknown nor attempting to foretell the events of tomorrow and the shape of things to come, but in the sense of presenting a new and clearer view of today in preparation for tomorrow; a view of the forces and ideas that prevail as well as the machines. To its visitors the Fair will say: 'Here are the materials, ideas, and forces at work in our world. These are the tools with which the World of Tomorrow must be made. They are all interesting and much effort has been expended to lay them before you in an interesting way. Familiarity with today is the best preparation for the future.'"

So this fair was based on practical projection, not fantastical speculation.  The Fair's planners and designers sought to depict the world as it might be.  See for yourself; note in particular the famous Trylon and Perisphere.  The aesthetic and architectural vision is cooler than one might expect, but not in any way out of the realm of possibility.

And if there was a sense of wonder about the Fair--see picture below--that wonder was entirely earned:

No less a figure than President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to dedicate the Fair, just over 74 years ago.    He declared that Americans would come together at the Fair, "united in a common purpose to work for the greatest good of the greatest number, united in the desire to move forward to better things in the use of its great resources of nature and its even greater resources of intelligent, educated manhood and womanhood, and united in its desire to encourage peace and good will among all the nations of the earth."

One of the major exhibitors in the World's Fair was General Motors; its exhibit was called "Futurama," and that's exactly what it was.  Designed by Norman Bel Geddes, Futurama offered a dramatic and exciting look at the future.  Take a look: 

Not surprisingly, the GM vision was heavy on automobiles, and in fact, that's exactly what has happened over the last seven decades.   In 1939, the motor vehicle population of the US was about 30 million; today, it's north of 250 million.  

To take care of that many cars, new highways and bridges would be needed, and so the GM Futurama exhibit emphasized those, too: 

In other words, much of what Bel Geddes and GM foresaw 74 years ago has come to pass in America over these last seven decades.   

And that's the point: An inspiring vision inspires demand.   If people want something badly enough, they will find a way to pay for it.  

So as we think about the future of infrastructure in our time, we should be thinking about inspiration.  

It's inspiration, and imagination, that makes people want something.  With apologies to the famous quote from the 80s movie, "Field of Dreams," if you inspire it, people will build it.  

If people decide that they want this:

Or this: 

They will get it.   

And that's something to think about as the 75th anniversary of the World's Fair comes this April 30, 2014. 

Japan Plans New Infrastructure Market

MarketWatch reports that the Japan Exchange Group, operator of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, will create a new market to attract private capital for infrastructure.

As the piece details:

Nikkei said the new market will list funds for infrastructure investment and other sectors expected to grow in the future, such as renewable energy and overseas infrastructure projects, according to Japan Exchange officials.

Infrastructure investment funds pull in capital from private investors that is used to build airports, roads and ports, for example, along with energy facilities, gas pipelines and other infrastructure. The investors buy shares in the infrastructure itself or in the companies that manage it, receiving dividends or other gains. There are about 50 infrastructure investment funds listed world-wide, with a total market capitalization of 10.4 trillion yen ($110.24 billion) as of the end of January.

This new development is an indicator of three things: 

First, infrastructure spending as an economic tool is still in vogue--and probably always will be, because infrastructure is the stuff of economic growth. 

Second, in this market-oriented, libertarian-influenced world, infrastructure spending is always likely to have a strong public-private partnership theme to it.

Third, there's plenty of money to be made in infrastructure development.