Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickle?”

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

In my day, never was longer.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

I was promised a recession.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Second rate reporter says what?

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Every Week Is Infrastructure Week (Open Thread)

Every Week Is Infrastructure Week (Open Thread)

by | 94 Comments

This post is in: 

Leto linked to this in the comments recently.

Infrastructure Week 1

This is a static image, but here is the original source:

According to Leto:

the very first map you come to, which highlights private v public investment, should forever close the yaps of the dumb dumbs who harp on private investment being the best way. The private map is a few sparse dots, whereas the public map is almost entirely covered. It’s rhetorical conversation here, but man is this illustrative of why we should tax the F out of the rich.

In a different thread this week, someone mentioned new Amtrak routes.  I am an Amtrak person, just wondering what was being referred to, but since I don’t have the time to research I’m wondering if some of you already know without having to look it up.

Years ago there was a great early morning train from Champaign to Chicago, so you could get downtown by 9 am for a meeting or a day at the museums, and return home on the 4:05 pm train and be home by 7:00 pm.  Gone!  I have no idea who cut it, but I’m wiling to blame Reagan or some other Republican president. :-)

I thought some of you might like to nerd out on the maps while you are lollygagging over the weekend.

Talk about the awesome stuff that’s happening as part of the Perpetual Infrastructure Week, or talk about anything else.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Not to quibble but up until just now have always seen it written a lollygagging.

    Regional speak?

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: Me, too!  So that was a typo, not a misspelling. :-)  Fixed.

    I do believe that either one is acceptable, but I had never seen lallygagging until recently when I first used lallygagging in a post and I had to check to make sure I was spelling it right.  They offered the spelling with “a” as an alternate.

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    A couple of weeks ago, we saw a sign (CT? MA?) crediting the infrastructure act for the satin-smooth highway we were traveling on.

  8. 8.

    MagdaInBlack

    @MagdaInBlack: Too late to ETA: my commute involves several construction projects, and as much as I’d like to curse the inconvenience, I know it’s that it’s Bidens plan working.

  11. 11.

    different-church-lady

    But if you privatize the investment, you also privatize the benefit. CHECKMATE, LIBTARDS!!!

  13. 13.

    skerry

    Can someone explain the difference between discretionary and formula spending referenced in the map?

  15. 15.

    TriassicSands

    But, but, but Biden is old and he hasn’t done anything!

    Besides, Republicans will take credit for improvements in their own states and voters will believe them.

    And, even if Trump is in prison (which he won’t be, because everybody knows he’s never done anything wrong), he’ll do far more than Biden has done for infrastructure just like he did in his first term from 2017 to the present. (Since any day now he will be reinstated as the rightful POTUS.) I mean just think of all that WALL

    And, I’m pretty sure he’ll zero out the deficit and balance the budget. Expect the national debt to be gone in no more than five years (the beginning of his third term) through the magic of tax cuts for the rich.

  16. 16.

    Scout211

    In other travel news . . .

    Remember those “shiny happy” migrants in the videos that the DeSantis spokespeople used to defend their action of transporting migrants to Sacramento?  Well, they have been interviewed and you will not be surprised that their smiling faces did not mean what Florida officials said they meant.  link

     

    SACRAMENTO — 

    They saw themselves in the video that Florida officials offered up as proof of their consent to travel to California, but they said it’s not what it seemed.

     

    They were happy, yes. That part was true.

     

    They had finally made it to America after traveling thousands of miles over the span of three months from their home in Venezuela. They walked until their feet bled and caught a bus or a train when they could. Sometimes they went days without eating and collapsed with exhaustion.

    . . .

    Four migrants recently flown to Sacramento by the state of Florida spoke to The Times and asked not to be identified, worried that it could impact their upcoming court hearings or put their families who remain in their home countries in danger.

    . . .

    Members of the group — which also include former residents of Colombia and Guatemala — said they came to California because they were promised that they would be given a home, higher paying jobs and attorneys to help them more quickly obtain permits to work legally.

    . . .

    So the smiles on their faces in the viral video touted by DeSantis were real. But that’s because they were promised so much more, they said.

    The contractors hired by Florida state officials, who they met in Texas earlier this month, promised better-paying jobs elsewhere, they said. The husband and wife said they were pressured to sign paperwork in order to make the trip but didn’t understand that doing so was intended to waive the state of Florida from fulfilling the promises they made verbally.

     

    “We didn’t get what they told us that we were going to get. They said that if you take the flight, you can get shelter, you’re going to get work, you’re going to get food,” the man said. “And all we received was abandonment.”

    . . .

    They only came to Sacramento because they thought they were going to earn more money, which would allow them to help their children faster, she said. Now, they have no jobs and must start all over again.

    “I would’ve rather stayed there to make money,” she said.

    While Florida state officials have rebutted criticisms that the migrants were tricked in the name of a political stunt, some who spoke to media for the first time on Friday say they were blatantly lied to.

  17. 17.

    cope

    When I was going to college in Galesburg (western Illinois) and my family lived in the Chicago suburbs, I could take either a Santa Fe or Burlington train from downtown Chicago to Galesburg.  I took that trip either way many times.

  21. 21.

    Scout211

    @cope: We took the train from Burlington to Chicago several times to visit relatives when I was a kid.  It was a great experience for us when we were younger.  My father was not a fan so we switched to car trips.  Ugh.

    I just checked and the Burlington station is still a working rail station.  That town was so proud of its rail history.  We had many units in elementary school highlighting the rail history of Burlington. Field trips to the station, etc.  It was so cool.

    CB&Q  to BN to BNSF.  I don’t even know what it’s called now.

  22. 22.

    Geminid

    @TriassicSands: Twenty or so Republicans voted for the Infrastucture bill. Trump tried to discourage them, and the national Chamber of Commerce encouraged them.

    The others will try to take credit for any Infrastructure projects in their districts, and it will be up to Democrats to call them out. Besides other ways and memes, billboards might be good tools.

  23. 23.

    UncleEbeneezer

    What?  Are you suggesting tat the Private Sector (hallowed be its’ name) doesn’t sufficiently invest in and provide for our Billion$ of continual, infrastructure needs?  Say it ain’t so!   Next thing are you gonna tell me that religious institutions won’t step up and handle all of our social welfare needs (food, housing, adoption etc.), fairly and without discrimination, in America.

    /sarcasm

  28. 28.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Maxim: Oh, yes, played it a lot back in the 1980s and 1990s. It was a Monopoly-like game played on a map of the US rail network.

    (Ticket to Ride looks similar but the rules are completely different–in Rail Baron you were buying up real historical railroads to build your empire, and charging fees for riding on them.)

  29. 29.

    Leto

    Joe came out and less than 30 secs in he’s already, “I’m gonna go off script…”; here we go!

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    Infrastructure upgrades.

    I’m going to ride (for free this weekend!) the electric train that runs across LA. They just opened yesterday the new stations and routing. This means I can now ride from east LA county to Santa Monica and only change trains once and just stand on the platform and wait for the next train to change. No more having to walk from one end of Union Station to the other, go down 75 feet of escalator, wait for the subway, ride 3 stations, get off and back up 75 feet, wait for another train…… This will likely take around 20-30 minutes off my ride across LA. Considering the number of people that ride the train during rush hour traffic (standing room only) this is a major improvement. It is so far better and cheaper than driving that it is almost impossible to believe.

  32. 32.

    Ramalama

    @oatler: Weirdly in-grown toenail time. Roxy Music is headed by Bryan Ferry whose girlfriend, Jerry Hall, dumped him and headed for Mick Jagger, having and raising children and living life until such time that she split from Mick (one of his other girlfriends was having his child), and ended up with one Rupert Murdock. For a time. Jerry Hall was on a Roxy Music album cover, like the beautifully-lived elder Norwegian cover model wedded to Mick’s brother and is now having visa trouble in the UK.

     

    PS My brother in law worked for Metra. My father for a time worked the Burlington Northern line as a brakeman in Illinois. My Illinois family is chock-full of train nuts.

  33. 33.

    Shana

    Sometime in the mid-70s there was still passenger train service between Rock Island and Chicago. My middle school French class took the train up to see Marcel Marceau and have lunch at a downtown French restaurant. The Rock Island train station is now an “event space” or was the last time I was there.

    I believe the Amtrak stuff referred to is an expansion of passenger service into areas like C-U and the Quad Cities were there used to be passenger service.

  34. 34.

    Leto

    One of the most significant things he’s doing is continually stressing that it wasn’t him doing things, that it was all the people out here getting things done. Very effective here.

    “under my predecessor, infrastructure became a punchline. Under my administration, it’s a decades long promise.” Boom yo.

  36. 36.

    japa21

    @Scout211:  Still BNSF.  The Metra station is one block from my apartment and BNSF is the Metra train on that route.  Plus, the number of BNSF freight trains going through is quite high.  Fortunately, the apartment building is from the 50’s and it would take an explosion for us to hear anything more than a low rumble as they go by.

  37. 37.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Years ago there was a great early morning train from Champaign to Chicago, so you could get downtown by 9 am for a meeting or a day at the museums, and return home on the 4:05 pm train and be home by 7:00 pm. Gone! I have no idea who cut it, but I’m wiling to blame Reagan or some other Republican president. :-)

    Probably a safe bet. Republicans have been trying to kill Amtrak going back at least that far.

  38. 38.

    Another Scott

    Just back from dropping off our ballots for the party primary here in NoVA. We were surprised that there weren’t any school board candidates listed – we misunderstood that they were picked earlier.

    Make sure to vote, Virginia peeps (last day is Tuesday)!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: Sadly, the first link doesn’t work, and I can’t figure out how to find routes on the second one.  So there will be another train from Champaign to Chicago?

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    Amtrak is adding new service and new routes one at a time. They are announced on its website and also get good coverage in local and state media.

    The Infrastructure bill included $60 billion for Amtrak. At the time, the Amtrak head said this exceeded total new capital investment in Amtrak up until that time. The system’s service map had remained static, he said, while the nation added 130 million residents. Now it will finally be expanded.

    The Infrastructure bill also included funding for metropolitan area mass transit- buses, light rail, enhanced terminals, etc. I don’t know how much total, but New York City’s MTA alone will reciev $11 billion. There is also money for large projects like a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River, and for projects that will eliminate other costly bottlenecks

    Alas, still no high speed rail. However, we will  increase the amount of track which will support trains running at Amtrak’s top speed, 150 mph

  43. 43.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: the first link doesn’t work.

     

    That first link is  just the map with the proposed route changes.  The same map is also on the second link. I added the second link because that first one was wonky and it doesn’t include the rest of the information.

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus: ​Live 0.5 mile from a light rail station. For a decade I worked in a building with a station in front, 12 minute ride. So in bad weather, rail, good weather, bike. Not once did I drive (bumming a ride from the spouse excepted).

    Now it’s a 43-minute LR ride to the nearest station to my new location, but that’s just the beginning of the journey because it’s either a couple of buses or a truly terrifying walk. Needless to say, car commute it is (albeit once/week I cycle there, just because it’s possible and despite it’s not the least bit pleasant, an hour each way).

    Transit folks talk about The Last Mile and it’s virtually everything in making a rail system work.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_mile_(transportation)

  46. 46.

    Another Scott

    @skerry: This is way outside my field, in general there’s a whole bunch of jargon to go with different kinds of money that can be used for some things but not for others, etc., etc., but here’s what I found. BlueGreenAlliance.org:

    Grants

    At its most basic, a grant provides government funding that is not expected to be paid back. However, within this broad category, there are several subtypes of grants that are used to distribute funding in the Inflation Reduction Act.

    Mandatory Grant:

    A mandatory grant is any grant in which funds are automatically awarded to all eligible applicants. Mandatory grants are not typically given to private organizations or individuals. Rather, they are awarded to state or local governments. Mandatory grants are typically created by legislation that appropriates money for a specific program and determines eligibility for lower levels of government to receive the money to implement the program.

    Block grants—like the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants included in the Inflation Reduction Act—and formula grants—such as the High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate included in the law—are usually subsets of mandatory grants. We explore these subsets in more detail below. Discretionary grants are mutually exclusive from mandatory grants.

    Formula Grant:

    A formula grant is a type of mandatory grant where funds are disbursed according to a “formula,” or a fixed set of criteria usually written into the enabling legislation. The formula dictates whether an entity is eligible for funds, and if so, how much. If an entity meets the formula, the award is automatic. The formula may be as simple as a flat dollar amount per unit of population, or it may be much more complex, including various funding, eligibility, program, and compliance criteria. However, it is always intended to be quantitative and objective.

    Formula grants are typically awarded to either state or local governments. Large federal spending programs are often structured as formula grants to states, where every state receives an amount of funding based on its population and other characteristics, and then spends this funding to implement the program.

    Formula grants are quite similar to block grants, and many programs qualify as both. When a distinction is made, block grants provide more flexibility and breadth to the awardees, while formula grants have more specific and quantitative funding structures and requirements. Formula grants that are not considered block grants may instead be considered as categorical grants.

    Block Grant:

    A block grant is a mandatory grant awarded to a government entity by a larger government entity to fulfill a broad set of government functions. In the case of a federal block grant, the government defines a set of functions to be carried out, and then awards grants to state or local governments to carry out those functions at their own discretion. A prominent example included in the Inflation Reduction Act is the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant, which can be used for community-led monitoring and remediation of emissions, mitigating the effects of urban heat islands, and facilitating the engagement of disadvantaged communities in federal and state policymaking.

    Block grants are quite similar to formula grants, and many grant programs qualify as both. Block grants are mutually exclusive from categorical grants, as block grants give broad discretion to awardees to spend their funds, while categorical grants have highly specific requirements.

    Discretionary or Competitive Grant:

    A discretionary grant, also called a competitive grant, is a grant where awardees are chosen among a pool of applicants based on a review process. The review process will generally involve a set of fixed criteria based on the grant program, funding agency, or specific Request for Proposal (RFP), but it will also most likely involve some degree of subjective judgment.

    Federal discretionary grants are typically awarded by federal agencies. There may be enabling legislation that allocates money for a specific grant program, or the grant program may be created by the agency using its existing budget. Either way, the agency typically has a good amount of control over how to evaluate applicants and award funds. State and local government agencies, private companies, nonprofits, labor unions, and individual people may be eligible applicants, depending on the grant program.

    Mandatory grants are mutually exclusive from discretionary grants.

    Categorical Grant:

    A categorical grant is any grant from the federal government to state and local governments to fund a highly specific set of programs and activities. Head Start is a classic example of a categorical grant in which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funds local awardees to operate childcare programs following a specific set of federal guidelines.

    Categorical grants may be structured as either mandatory or discretionary grants, and they may be structured as formula or project grants. Categorical grants are mutually exclusive from block grants, as block grants give broad discretion to awardees to spend their funds, while categorical grants have highly specific requirements.

    Project Grant:

    A project grant is any grant awarded to fund a specific project, initiative, or service. These are typically competitive and may be awarded to government agencies, nonprofits, or private companies. Project grants are often considered a subset of categorical grants. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Capital Investment Grants are an example of a project grant program.

    The page has much more about the various categories of loans and the various categories of tax credits and deductions.

    And that’s just a broad overview – I’m sure it’s even more complex in the details.

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: When I would go visit my older sister at the University of Illinois, the train from Champaign to Union Station was quite the party train.  The trains were always full, with lots of students sitting on the floor because there were no seats available.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: The first link won’t load at all for me.  And the second link has a HUGE blank space at the top – perhaps where a map should be?

    If I scroll way down the page i can click on “Midwest” and this is what I get:

    Every Week Is Infrastructure Week (Open Thread)

    This tiny little map which I cannot make bigger.  Maps and I get along about as well as ne and time zones.  Oh well, we can’t all be good at everything.

  49. 49.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: So there will be another train from Champaign to Chicago?

    Actually, maybe not. It looked like it at first glance in the map from the wide view. (I read on another page that the light blue lines were the proposed new routes). Just now I looked at the Illinois routes with a close-up view and from close-up it looks like no, the Champaign to Chicago route is not on the prosed new routes.

    Sorry to get your hopes up. ☹️

  50. 50.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Leto:

    One of the most significant things he’s doing is continually stressing that it wasn’t him doing things, that it was all the people out here getting things done. Very effective here.

    It does mean he’ll never get the political benefit from most of it. If the programs aren’t slashed by some future administration, they’ll be able to take credit and cut the ribbons.

    But that’s how it is when you actually do big things. And it makes it hard to manage long-term projects in a democracy.

  51. 51.

    Another Scott

    @Ruckus: Excellent.

    Modern public transit is great.  I’m glad it’s going to make such an obvious improvement in your trips.

    More, please.

    (In my case, my driving door-to-door commute is about 22 minutes; Google tells me a bike ride would be 75 minutes, public transit at least 2 hours and 20 minutes, walking about 4 hours and 20 minutes…  :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  52. 52.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: The best trip I ever took from Champaign was to New Orleans when tons of Jackson State students were returning to school after Easter vacation. Serious party with a conductor who sang every stop

    And then there were the trips to Carbondale that were. . . trips in every sense!

  53. 53.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: Wow, both links load on my iPad with Chrome.  added: and I have slow internet.

    But the whole thing was a mistake. See #49. Sorry.

  54. 54.

    Ksmiami

    @Geminid: the WPA under FDR did a great job of sponsoring art that showcased the effects of the new deal from roads to railroads etc.

  55. 55.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: As a Bostonian what I’d really like to see (apart from the legendary North-South Station Link) would be an inland or other dedicated route for passenger trains between Boston and NYC, so they wouldn’t have to poke along at an agonizing pace through Rhode Island and Connecticut, but there’s nothing like that in these plans. At least the view is good.

  56. 56.

    Leto

    Wrapped up and here’s what we covered: it was all about jobs. Dignity of work. Covering billionaires should pay their fair share. Covered infrastructure, generally and specifically with the north Philly bridge collapse. Covered the CHIPS Act and how it’s going to bring thousands of good paying union jobs. Talked about how he’s reduced the deficit by 1.3T and inflation has gone down for 11 straight months. Ended it by reiterating just how much he needs our help. Well, ya got it bud.

  58. 58.

    Another Scott

    WaterGirl, Amtrak tells me the City of New Orleans goes from Champaign to Chicago.  Today, it was scheduled to leave at 6:10 AM and left 8 minutes late, arrived at 8:48 AM (27 minutes early).

    CHM to CHI, train #58 City of New Orleans.

    I can’t find a decent way to post the link for that information.  I started here:

    https://www.amtrak.com/content/amtrak/en-us/stations/chm.html

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    @Another Scott: Yeah, the City of New Orleans originates – not surprisingly – from New Orleans, and it is frequently hours late, so it can’t be counted on if you need to get to Chicago for a meeting.  (Or a connecting train.)

    There used to be a train that just went between Champaign and Chicago, so it could be counted on to be pretty much on time all the time.  That’s what I want back!

  65. 65.

    KithKanan

    @Another Scott: It’s perhaps ironic that the named route that became the title of the most famous song about “the disappearing railroad blues…” is still running half a century later when it had only operated under that name for about a quarter-century when the song was written. It did disappear for about a decade during that time, though.

  66. 66.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: Yeah, I took Amtrak to Colorado to visit my sister when I was a senior in high school, and I recall getting high in the bathroom with some guys I met on the train.

    I don’t know if things were different because I was young (and possibly stupid) but grown-up me would definitely not be getting high in the Amtrak bathroom with a bunch of guys I didn’t know.

    In fact, with the way different drugs are often cut with things you don’t intend to be taking, I’m kind of surprised anybody is good with buying drugs off the street or getting drugs from some person at a party.

  67. 67.

    Avalune

    We are trying to get out of Philly now. Got to shake hands and get a photo with a certain hoodied Senator on our way out of the venue.

  68. 68.

    Avalune

    Before Biden came out a local had an emotional speech about being about to face a new round of chemo and how important it is that affordable healthcare isn’t on her plate. Educators addressed book banning, white washing history and extremism.

    Biden said how the hell [enter issue] almost enough to make a mild drinking game :)

  70. 70.

    kalakal

    @Ramalama:

    Bryan Ferry whose girlfriend, Jerry Hall, dumped him and headed for Mick Jagger

    I suspect it was the prospect of being known as Jerry Ferry that led to the split

  72. 72.

    Kayla Rudbek

    What I want to find are maps of the 19th century and early 20th century railroad routes by state, so I can make comparisons between them and the highway system.

    Also, I want a several-times-a-weekend train from DC to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It would be so less congested and dangerous than driving.

  73. 73.

    neabinorb

    Until 2019 there was daily Amtrak service between Indianapolis and Chicago. Three days a week on The Cardinal (Chicago-DC) and four days a week on The Hoosier State (Indy-Chicago). Then the republican legislature cut the state funding for The Hoosier State, and now there are just three days of service. Can’t have nice things, you know.

  75. 75.

    Another Scott

    @Avalune:

    WhiteHouse.gov – Biden’s remarks before leaving Andrews.

    9:37 A.M. EDT

    Q Good morning, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: The only reason we’re going to Philadelphia: It’s my wedding anniversary. (Laughter.) And we figured I — with my Philly girl, we’d go to Philly. You can smile; it’s okay. It’s a lousy joke.

    Anyway, I — the reason I’m excited about today is just like what we did last week in the — with the environmental groups.

    I think — I’m told this is the first time ever this early that every single union has endorsed me. I’ve been told that’s never happened before. And the good news about that is: I also met yesterday with some businesspeople. Businesspeople and unions are beginning to work together like not before.

    And so, I’m — I’m excited about — this is the beginning of something big, in terms of changing the economic balance.

    […]

    Good, good.

    More, please.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  77. 77.

    Redshift

    @Another Scott:

    Just back from dropping off our ballots for the party primary here in NoVA. We were surprised that there weren’t any school board candidates listed – we misunderstood that they were picked earlier.

    Yeah, the candidates for the “non-partisan” offices aren’t picked in primaries. But to seek the Democratic endorsement, contenders have to pledge not to oppose the endorsed nominees, so there isn’t more than one Democrat (per opening) on the November ballot.

    Fairfax Dems opened up the party endorsement process to more than just county party members for the first time this year, to have more community involvement. There was some hand-wringing about potential ratf*cking Republicans, but it wasn’t a completely open process — participants had to register in advance, and could be rejected if they had a history of voting in GOP primaries or were known Republican activists. And as it turned out, everyone running seemed (to me) to be good Dems, so the worst they could do was try to get a less competitive Dem nominated. (There weren’t any obvious choices for that either.)

  78. 78.

    Geminid

    @Another Scott: The IBEW local in the DC area emphasizes the benefits for contractors from working with their union. WTOP radio’s newscasts are “sponsored by IBEW Local 25- where contractors come to grow.”

  81. 81.

    WaterGirl

    @bois: I can’t tell if this is a first comment that should be approved or an abandoned comment because something went wrong.

    Please let me know with a reply.

  82. 82.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Not Biden-related, but I recently discovered that the Athens, Greece Metro system now has a direct link right from the arrivals terminal at the airport to the main ferry boat pier at the port of Piraeus. Not even across the street from the pier – I mean the escalator up from the subway puts you right at the pier.

  83. 83.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I rode that Champaign to Chicago route once. When I was in grad school at Michigan State I looked into taking the train home to Grand Rapids, MI and the shortest route on offer was Lansing to Kalamazoo to GR and the times for that were few and far between. Most of the routes went Lansing to Chicago to Grand Rapids.

    The thing is I think Lansing is the third largest city in the State, Grand Rapids the second, and Lansing is right on the way from Detroit to Grand Rapids. So the three largest cities in the State, no direct rail route. It’s nuts. Grand Rapids to Chicago runs relatively frequently though.

    Anyway I wound up taking the bus home. It’s only about an hour and was mostly other students so it was fine

  85. 85.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    Just got back from my ride across LA and I have to say it’s fun to beat the car traffic on a long train ride.

    The LA Metro system is not the only train service in LA, I live less than 1/2 mile to the MetroLink train, which is diesel/electric and 2 1/2 miles to the Metro all electric. The new Metro service, with 3 new  underground stations to change lines is amazingly better as of Friday and I’ve been riding it for over 6 yrs.

  87. 87.

    RevRick

    @Kayla Rudbek: At one time, it was possible to travel by interurban trolley service from Boston to Chicago. Up until the early 50s, there was trolley service that ran on a regular schedule from Allentown to Philly, a 50-mile trip.
    Our preference for cars killed much mass transit.

  89. 89.

    Ruckus

    @RevRick:

    Mass transit is being improved in Los Angeles County quite a bit. And it helps to remember that LA County is more populated than 40 states. The train ride I did today is fully in LA County and it takes approx 2 hrs to cover approx 39 miles. Part of the time the train runs down the freeway and it’s faster on a non commute day than driving. On a commute day…..

  91. 91.

    normal liberal

    @Another Scott: Thanks for this resource – I work in transportation planning, typically involving formula grants and discretionary grants.  Trying to explain state and federal grant programs to officials and the public is really challenging.  The really massive influx of new discretionary grants under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is genuinely historic- my agency is launching several related planning projects that we couldn’t have dreamt of before the IIJA kicked in.

  93. 93.

    Geminid

    @Kayla Rudbek: Train service between DC and the eastern shore is only a distant possibility now, because the Chesapeake Bay is in the way. The Eastern Shore is serviced by rail lines coming from the north, through places like Newark, Delaware.

    But how would you feel about riding in a clean, safe bus running to and from good terminals, one at the DC end near a Metro station? I don’t know if this is being done yet but such service would be an effective substitute for rail.

    More generally, intercity bus transit is on the rise. The buses are nicer, with wi-fi etc. Not as fast as trains, they can connect to trains as well as carry a lot of passengers directly. Buses are not as fuel efficient as trains either, but bus fleets nationally are beginning to add battery-electric buses to their fleets, also fuel cell buses in smaller numbers. Buses probably will be an increasing part our transportation mix going forward.

  94. 94.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Besides local and state media, and Amtrak itself, Trains Magazine (trains.com) is a very good source for passenger rail news.

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