I just happened across a tweet from Connecticut senator Chris Murphy in which he calls for "massive investment" in transportation. As is usually the case with Murphy, he offers no actual solution but does call for more spending. It might be nice were he to tell us all exactly what he wants to do with that massive spending, but that is hoping for too much from Connecticut's poster child for OCD who must always call for more spending no matter what the issue.
In discussing massive spending for transportation, it's worth taking note of the inability of the government to handle that spending/investment in an efficient or timely way that achieves the intended result. Let's look at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York since it is by far the largest supervisor of transportation spending in this region. In this century, the MTA has worked on four major transportation initiatives: 1) the Fulton station complex; 2) the Second Avenue subway; 3) the East Side Access project and 4) the extension of the subway to the Javits Center. The Fulton station was conceived as a way to tie all of the downtown subway and other transportation lines together and to make the system more coherent after the 9-11 attacks left part of the system in a shambles. The plan for a grandiose station was supposed to cost three quarters of a billion dollars and to take five years to build. That was an enormous commitment for a transit system that needed ongoing subsidies just to meet its operating budget. With its usual lack of control of the construction project, however, the MTA managed to spend twice the original budget and to suffer a seven year delay in completing the station. Remember, this is one station for 1.5 billion dollars. Remember also that after spending all that time and money, the transit system was not able to transport one more person than previously. The station does look nice though. The Second Avenue subway has been under construction off and on for more than half a century. One piece of it, however, will finally open next year unless there are further delays (which is likely). The cost for this line with its three stations on Second Avenue is about $4 billion which makes it the most expensive subway line per mile in the world. The East Side Access project takes trains from the Long Island Railroad and allows them to go to Grand Central Station rather than Penn Station in Manhattan. It is more than a decade late and is already more than ten billion dollars over budget. To call the project management a failure is an insult to failures everywhere.
The point of all this is that after truly MASSIVE spending by the MTA, there will be just a small increase in the ability of the transit system in New York to carry passengers. Tens of billions of dollars have been spent and there is little to show for it. In other words, rather than promoting massive spending, it would make more sense for the politicians to come up with solutions that will increase the ability of transit systems to carry more people more quickly and reliably and increase the ability of highways to move cars more efficiently. After those solutions have been reached, that would be the time to debate the cost. That debate, however, requires intelligence and focus. No wonder politicians like senator Murphy (who possess neither) talk about spending more rather than discussing the projects on which that spending should be made.
In discussing massive spending for transportation, it's worth taking note of the inability of the government to handle that spending/investment in an efficient or timely way that achieves the intended result. Let's look at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York since it is by far the largest supervisor of transportation spending in this region. In this century, the MTA has worked on four major transportation initiatives: 1) the Fulton station complex; 2) the Second Avenue subway; 3) the East Side Access project and 4) the extension of the subway to the Javits Center. The Fulton station was conceived as a way to tie all of the downtown subway and other transportation lines together and to make the system more coherent after the 9-11 attacks left part of the system in a shambles. The plan for a grandiose station was supposed to cost three quarters of a billion dollars and to take five years to build. That was an enormous commitment for a transit system that needed ongoing subsidies just to meet its operating budget. With its usual lack of control of the construction project, however, the MTA managed to spend twice the original budget and to suffer a seven year delay in completing the station. Remember, this is one station for 1.5 billion dollars. Remember also that after spending all that time and money, the transit system was not able to transport one more person than previously. The station does look nice though. The Second Avenue subway has been under construction off and on for more than half a century. One piece of it, however, will finally open next year unless there are further delays (which is likely). The cost for this line with its three stations on Second Avenue is about $4 billion which makes it the most expensive subway line per mile in the world. The East Side Access project takes trains from the Long Island Railroad and allows them to go to Grand Central Station rather than Penn Station in Manhattan. It is more than a decade late and is already more than ten billion dollars over budget. To call the project management a failure is an insult to failures everywhere.
The point of all this is that after truly MASSIVE spending by the MTA, there will be just a small increase in the ability of the transit system in New York to carry passengers. Tens of billions of dollars have been spent and there is little to show for it. In other words, rather than promoting massive spending, it would make more sense for the politicians to come up with solutions that will increase the ability of transit systems to carry more people more quickly and reliably and increase the ability of highways to move cars more efficiently. After those solutions have been reached, that would be the time to debate the cost. That debate, however, requires intelligence and focus. No wonder politicians like senator Murphy (who possess neither) talk about spending more rather than discussing the projects on which that spending should be made.
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