Friday, December 19, 2008

A Nice Word

Ray LaHood from today's press conference:
We have a task before us to rebuild America. As a nation, we need to continue to be the world leader in infrastructure development, Amtrak, mass transit, light rail, air travel, and our roads and bridges all play a vital role in our economy and our well-being as a nation.
What no HSR, Walking, Biking and (insert forgotten mode here)?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey! The new SecTrans has already used the words "light rail" in a sentence more often than Mary Peters! Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

Anonymous said...

Agree with above... Here's hoping...

Anonymous said...

The bike portion may be an afterthought, but it's there.

Walking, unfortunately, is not a consideration for anyone. Hi, sidewalks? C'mon new administration, say something about fixing sidewalks.

kenf said...

If I remember correctly, walking is the second most common mode of transportation in terms of miles traveled, after you know what.

Also, just about all trips contain a walking segment.

Anonymous said...

So long as he says transit and Amtrak along with roads and bridges I think we have nothing to fear (at least now). I know they are only words but some politicans fail to mention anything but "roads and bridges" when talking about transportation. So I'd say it sounds promising. And certainly him calling out light rail is also a good sign (maybe, just maybe, that means he supports LRT over phony BRT "almost rail" gimmicks??).

I think it is almost a given that if you support transit and Amtrak that you support walking and biking. The problem is people who think the car is the only way to get around for trips under 300 miles and the airplane for anything over 300 miles.

About the only thing we had heard about him with regard to transportation was the bike award he received and his participation in the congressional bike caucus.

I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt now.

Justin said...

OK! Calm down. You do not really expect him to name EVERY mode. do you?

From that speech, LaHood seems to recognize ALL modes of transport, which may be a good thing.

Mary Peters is he not. That alone, is a good thing!