Scott Walker’s recent letter to Ray LaHood begging to divert high speed rail funding into highway expansions reveals a significant gap in his understanding of transportation policy and technology. In it, Scott Walker writes:
“More than 60 years ago, the federal government had the foresight to recognize that the American people no longer wanted to be limited by fixed-track passenger rail. The massive investment in our federal interstate highway system spurred the greatest economic expansion in our nation’s history. For us to now go backwards on transportation makes little sense. I believe that continuing responsible investments in our road infrastructure is a key to growing our economy and creating jobs.”
While it is true that the massive investment in highway expansion produced great benefits to the American economy in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, the rate of return has declined since that time:
As you can see from the graph, in the 80’s, the return on highway investment was actually lower than leaving the money in the private sector. Any good conservative should realize what that means: highway building in the 80’s destroyed jobs. Looking toward the future, changes in demographics and lifestyles are actually putting downward pressure on total vehicle miles travelled (or VMT) in Wisconsin. When VMT is dropping it is a safe bet that the benefits of road building are dropping too.
The Talgo trains of today are full of technological improvements that did not exist 60 years ago that allow for safe operation at higher speeds. Yet Scott Walker is stuck in the 70’s. Will Wisconsin pay the price for his nostalgic views on transportation?
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