Our Foolish Federal Transportation Policy

The Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, has famously declared "the end of favoring motorized transportation" in federal policy.  Don't I know it.

Today (Friday) I foolishly attempted to make a quick run to the bank at 4 p.m.  I needed to be back by 5 p.m.  The trip is less than 12 miles and my computer indicates it should take 15 minutes.  Round trip, plus 10 minutes for my transaction, should still leave 20 minutes to spare for my 5 p.m. appointment.

At 4:30 p.m., I abandoned the attempt, having gotten only 8 miles downrange and scrambled to get back home by 5.  On the outbound leg, I averaged well under 20 miles per hour, travelling exclusively on "freeways."  The radio reports on the metro-area traffic made no mention of any accidents or other notable impediments on my route.  The weather was partly cloudy and 60 degrees.  The idea that a 23-mile round trip is not possible in the 4 o'clock hour bodes ill for our future.  Sixteen miles per hour, even in rush hour, is not acceptable in a modern economy.

Seconds Count
In today's Wall Street Journal, an article on UPS caught my eye.  The delivery company is getting rid of keys for its iconic brown vans, replacing the keys with electronic fobs.  This "keyless" system is expected to save $70 million a year, by saving 1.75 seconds with drivers pushing a button instead of turning a metal key in a lock.  Those seconds adds up to 6.5 minutes a day, per driver. 

I'm not UPS.  I could abandon my trip and save the errand for Monday.  UPS can't.  The parcels have to be delivered.  And those 6.5 minutes will be swallowed up if it takes an hour and a half to go 23 miles.  In our modern economy, seconds count, but our transportation policy assumes otherwise.

Instead, the feds follow fashionable policies to promote bikes and trains--nineteenth century technologies--as 21st century transportation solutions.  Instead, we should focus on removing transportation bottlenecks and reducing overall travel times for the dominant forms of transportation.  Bicycles and intra-city rail are niche applications, not capable of moving significant numbers of people or cargo, at the speeds we need, to have a competitive economy.

Favoring motorized transportation has produced the world's strongest economy, why stop now?