I had the pleasure to attend a meeting in New York last week sponsored by the Regional Plan Association related to the upcoming federal transportation reauthorization bill.  The meeting was designed to examine what America's transportation system should look like in 2050 and what steps need to be taken now to get us there.  Inevitably, throughout the gathering the issue of the economic stimulus continually arose.  At the end of the three day meeting, the participants developed a set of recommendations for this stimulus.   One of the goals of the group was to prevent the "porkfest" that Deron Lovaas, NRDC's Federal Transportation Policy Director, warns about on his blog.  These recommendations provide a very solid framework on which to make decisions about transportation investments. 

We are at a crossroads in terms of the American transportation system.  Our leaders are faced with some choices as they contemplate how to spend hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer's money.  We can create a transportation system that meets the needs of all residents, which means reducing greenhouse gas pollution, fostering our energy security, reducing traditional air pollutants, and providing a safe, reliable means to get from point A to B.  Or, we can fund a bunch of boondoggles  that will not result in a more efficient transportation system.  (By the way, one of the meeting participants taught me the origin of how the term boondoggle came to be known as a project that wastes time and money-see 1935 New York Times article).  I hope our leaders will choose the former.  

I also want to quickly hit on an issue that is often overlooked in the national transportation debate, the movement of freight.  It is easy to forget about the system that moves freight to our store shelves. There is a dark side to this segment of the transportation system because communities throughout the nation are suffering the impacts from the immense amount of diesel pollution caused by freight movement (see e.g. the example of communities hammered by pollution in Southern California).  We need to make sure that the national freight system works to minimize the impacts from moving TVs, toys, key chains, and other products on communities near freight centers (e.g. railyards, distribution centers, and ports).

In the end, there needs to be accountability for all projects.  Good projects that achieve the objectives mentioned above need to be funded.  And Congress should create a boondoggle resting place to toss to the side those projects that do not achieve our objectives.