• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

This fight is for everything.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

In after Baud. Damn.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Optimism opens the door to great things.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

The revolution will be supervised.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Every Week Is Infrastructure Week (Open Thread)

Every Week Is Infrastructure Week (Open Thread)

by WaterGirl|  June 17, 202312:35 pm| 94 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

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!

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Saturday Morning Open Thread: Country Pride (Friends in *Those* Places, Too)
Next Post: Lazy Afternoon Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  1. 1.

    Sister Golden Bear

    June 17, 2023 at 12:44 pm

    Frist!

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    June 17, 2023 at 12:44 pm

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

    Regional speak?

  3. 3.

    MagdaInBlack

    June 17, 2023 at 12:45 pm

    That map makes me happy.

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2023 at 12:47 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 12:52 pm

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

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    June 17, 2023 at 12:57 pm

    Infrastructure adjacent?

    Feelin’ Groovy.

  7. 7.

    Scout211

    June 17, 2023 at 12:57 pm

    Amtrak Proposed Expansion 2023

    WaterGirl, your route to Chicago is in your future!

    amtrakconnectsus.com

  8. 8.

    MagdaInBlack

    June 17, 2023 at 12:59 pm

    @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.

  9. 9.

    oatler

    June 17, 2023 at 1:02 pm

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/17/norwegian-roxy-music-album-cover-star-kari-ann-moller-fights-to-stay-in-uk-post-brexit

  10. 10.

    Baud

    June 17, 2023 at 1:02 pm

    🚧🛣️🚉🛤️👍

  11. 11.

    different-church-lady

    June 17, 2023 at 1:07 pm

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

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 17, 2023 at 1:09 pm

    @NotMax:

    I love that song very much. It never yet has failed to bring a smile to my face. Thank you, NM.

  13. 13.

    skerry

    June 17, 2023 at 1:10 pm

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

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    June 17, 2023 at 1:11 pm

    @Scout211

    “The aristocrat of locomotive trains.”
    ;)

  15. 15.

    TriassicSands

    June 17, 2023 at 1:15 pm

    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

    June 17, 2023 at 1:19 pm

    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

    June 17, 2023 at 1:19 pm

    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.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    June 17, 2023 at 1:19 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Y’know, not a bad topic for a Medium Cool. Media that never fails to coax forth a smile.

  19. 19.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    June 17, 2023 at 1:26 pm

    My Chicago suburb has a Metra line that goes downtown. It’s a godsend for someone like me, who never drove in Chicago before moving here at age 70

  20. 20.

    hells littlest angel

    June 17, 2023 at 1:33 pm

    Eat Tax the fuck out of the rich.

  21. 21.

    Scout211

    June 17, 2023 at 1:33 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 1:38 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 1:40 pm

    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

  24. 24.

    Leto

    June 17, 2023 at 1:40 pm

    Dr Jill Biden came out and the crowd lost it. Also it’s their anniversary today.

  25. 25.

    Maxim

    June 17, 2023 at 1:42 pm

    @Scout211: Memories of the old Rail Baron board game. Anyone else ever play that?

  26. 26.

    lollipopguild

    June 17, 2023 at 1:42 pm

    @TriassicSands: Trump will make just ONE phone call and the national debt will be GONE!

  27. 27.

    Baud

    June 17, 2023 at 1:43 pm

    @Leto:

    Sounds like a good time with good people.

  28. 28.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 17, 2023 at 1:49 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 1:49 pm

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

  30. 30.

    Alison Rose

    June 17, 2023 at 1:49 pm

    OT: Today is the last day of the auction to benefit Little Hill Sanctuary in Watsonville, CA. They’ve been trying to raise funds to move to a new property that will be less susceptible to flood damage, and now they also have a high vet bill for one of the animals. There’s a lot of cute items by local artisans here if anyone is inclined to bid!

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2023 at 1:50 pm

    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

    June 17, 2023 at 1:50 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 1:56 pm

    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

    June 17, 2023 at 1:57 pm

    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.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 17, 2023 at 2:02 pm

    @NotMax:

    Great suggestion! Water Girl, you listening?

  36. 36.

    japa21

    June 17, 2023 at 2:08 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:10 pm

    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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:15 pm

    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.

  39. 39.

    frosty

    June 17, 2023 at 2:16 pm

    @Maxim: Yes, Rail Baron! Great game.

  40. 40.

    raven

    June 17, 2023 at 2:17 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: When my old man was in school after WW2 they would use boxcars to ferry students from Champaign to Chicago! They were closed in but legend has it that partied down!

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2023 at 2:18 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:20 pm

    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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:23 pm

    @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.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    @Scout211: I think it’s still BNSF.

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    June 17, 2023 at 2:26 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:27 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:28 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:31 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:35 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:36 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:37 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:37 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:39 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:39 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:41 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 2:41 pm

    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.

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    June 17, 2023 at 2:42 pm

     

    This is too cute 🥰 for words.
    Just adorable 🥰

    The Abuelita cookies and pinata😂😂😂
    https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8JdMvyK/

  58. 58.

    Another Scott

    June 17, 2023 at 2:46 pm

    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.

  59. 59.

    skerry

    June 17, 2023 at 2:54 pm

    @Another Scott: Thanks! I understand a bit more.

  60. 60.

    HumboldtBlue

    June 17, 2023 at 2:55 pm

    @NotMax:

    Did someone say lollygaggers?

  61. 61.

    laura

    June 17, 2023 at 2:59 pm

    @rikyrah: Please proceed to Customer Service on the Mezzanine Level to collect your internets.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2023 at 3:12 pm

    @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!

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    June 17, 2023 at 3:15 pm

    @WaterGirl: 👍

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2023 at 3:17 pm

    @Scout211: Oh well, I appreciate your looking into it anyway!

  65. 65.

    KithKanan

    June 17, 2023 at 3:18 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 3:20 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 3:30 pm

    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

    June 17, 2023 at 3:34 pm

    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 :)

  69. 69.

    Maxim

    June 17, 2023 at 3:38 pm

    @Ruckus: That’s fantastic. Now if they’d expand that up to the AV …

    @rikyrah: As the yoots say these days, 💀❤️

    @Another Scott:

    the City of New Orleans

    Paging Arlo Guthrie … Arlo Guthrie to the courtesy phone …

  70. 70.

    kalakal

    June 17, 2023 at 3:42 pm

    @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

  71. 71.

    Avalune

    June 17, 2023 at 3:43 pm

    This is a pretty good article on our rally. https://apnews.com/article/president-joe-biden-unions-democrats-presidential-campaign-8242bafc4e61ed88f7f211c621132102

  72. 72.

    Kayla Rudbek

    June 17, 2023 at 3:50 pm

    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

    June 17, 2023 at 3:54 pm

    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.

  74. 74.

    Anyway

    June 17, 2023 at 3:59 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Did someone say lollygaggers?

    Haha! That’s a classic – where my mind went immediately…

    Sadly Susan Sarandon ruined it for me. Haven’t seen it in years.

  75. 75.

    Another Scott

    June 17, 2023 at 4:20 pm

    @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.

  76. 76.

    Redshift

    June 17, 2023 at 4:22 pm

    @Avalune: Very cool!

  77. 77.

    Redshift

    June 17, 2023 at 4:32 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 4:41 pm

    @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.”

  79. 79.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2023 at 4:53 pm

    @Avalune: So he was in good form!

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    June 17, 2023 at 5:01 pm

    @Redshift: 👍

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  81. 81.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2023 at 5:02 pm

    @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

    June 17, 2023 at 5:21 pm

    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?

    June 17, 2023 at 6:16 pm

    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

  84. 84.

    RevRick

    June 17, 2023 at 6:41 pm

    I shared this tweet on my Facebook page.

  85. 85.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2023 at 6:54 pm

    @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.

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2023 at 7:06 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Nice!  Someone there cares about good government.

  87. 87.

    RevRick

    June 17, 2023 at 7:09 pm

    @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.

  88. 88.

    Timill

    June 17, 2023 at 7:46 pm

    @Kayla Rudbek: This may help:

    https://www.loc.gov/collections/railroad-maps-1828-to-1900/articles-and-essays/browse-maps-by-state/

  89. 89.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2023 at 7:53 pm

    @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…..

  90. 90.

    ChiJD Doug

    June 17, 2023 at 8:18 pm

    @cope: hardly hard Knox at all.

    I’ll see myself out

  91. 91.

    normal liberal

    June 17, 2023 at 10:31 pm

    @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.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    June 17, 2023 at 10:46 pm

    @normal liberal: 👍

    Glad to help!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Geminid

    June 18, 2023 at 8:23 am

    @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

    June 18, 2023 at 8:28 am

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

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Image by HinTN (5/22/25)

Recent Comments

  • Gin & Tonic on Thursday Evening Open Thread (May 22, 2025 @ 10:00pm)
  • Suzanne on Thursday Evening Open Thread (May 22, 2025 @ 9:54pm)
  • Sister Golden Bear on Thursday Evening Open Thread (May 22, 2025 @ 9:54pm)
  • dnfree on Wednesday Evening Open Thread: An Exemplar for Our Global Embarrassment (May 22, 2025 @ 9:54pm)
  • Suzanne on Thursday Evening Open Thread (May 22, 2025 @ 9:52pm)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!