One of the standard figures of speech that politicians like to use is "kicking the can down the road." In a time when it counts as long-term thinking to set the alarm for the next morning, this is exactly what happens time and again.
Even though infrastructure is needed for an economy to run it is initiated by "the government" which makes it an easy target for political play. Infrastructure is an investment without a direct or short-term return, and so is often the first victim when politicians run on austerity and fiscal prudence but really cater to immediate gratification and private consumption at the expense of long term thinking and communal benefits.
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| Rail Transit. Who pays is main question at this time |
And so it is that the good people of Maryland elected a new governor who ran on the promise of lower taxes and smaller government, and who disparaged two long-term public infrastructure transit projects during the campaign. These projects represent $5.3 billion dollars of transit investment, $450 million that have already been sunk into planning and design. They have been in development for over 12 years, and both are
recommended projects in the transportation apportionment approved in the federal budget adopted by House and Senate in the final hours before the holidays.
It wouldn't be without precedent that a Governor would scrap an advanced or even fully-funded transportation project. The Governors in three states rejected federal High Speed rail (HSR) money that had been set aside for their states. Governor Christie not only
rejected a rail tunnel under the Hudson River that is desperately needed, but even repaid the feds some money.
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ICC: More money for roads and bridges? The current MD
Governor took the ICC over from a republican and completed it. |
The narrative of these actions is always the same: We can't afford the big expenses of these long-term infrastructure projects, they are government "boondoggles," they bust the budgets and so on. Those who spin this story are the same ones who promote and benefit from the policies that promote short-term ...
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