I know y’all are super excited to ride bikes, walk, and take trains, right?
Buttigieg: Biden plan will usher in a new transportation era
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday that an infrastructure plan expected soon from President Joe Biden will offer a “once in a century†opportunity to remake transportation in the United States, where cars and highways are no longer king.
Speaking at the Austin, Texas-based South by Southwest conference, which is being held virtually this year, Buttigieg compared the new possibility to the creation of an interstate highway under President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s and a transcontinental railroad under President Abraham Lincoln a century before that.
“We start with something unglamorous, which is fixing and improving what we’re already got — there’s been a trillion dollar backlog just in the roads and bridges we already have,†he said. “But I’ll add there are some things that need to be reduced … sometimes roads need to go on a diet.”
He said the U.S. can no longer follow a 1950s mentality of building roads and communities based on moving as many cars as possible, but must adapt to the reality of climate change and ensure the safety of growing numbers of bicyclists and pedestrians on the streets.
“The design choices we make, how fast cars move, whether there’s bike lanes and sidewalks … green space even, all of this is part of that view,†Buttigieg said. “Sometimes we do need to add a road or widen one. Just as often, I think we need to subtract.â€
The new era is an old one, with bikes instead of horses. Of course, the big wigs won’t be giving up their own use of fossil fueled vehicles. They won’t walk or bike. And, last time I checked, our Constitution made this kind of dictatorial power verboten.
On Thursday, Buttigieg said he saw opportunities to build out high-speed and other passenger rail in strongly Republican states, not just coastal, Democratic areas in the Northeast and California. He said that could reduce car-dependence, create jobs and help the environment. But he acknowledged he “can’t do it alone,†without major federal investment and support from Congress.
I notice people like Pete do not take the train. But, you peons will have no choice, unless you want to walk or bike. Why does ‘climate change’ always seem to involve authoritarian centralized government?
Read: Mayor Pete Explains Going Back To The Past For ‘Climate Change’ »