What ever happened to “I think I can”?

Other transit advocates are trying to reconceptualize what our public infrastructure can do. Mark Reutter, the Progressive Policy Institute fellow, said politicians and transportation administrators “could be creative about how to finance high-speed rail” by considering ways to leverage the “huge infrastructure system” created by HSR. In his policy recommendations, Reutter has proposed giving state transportation departments the authority to leverage their rights-of-way by, for example, allowing them to be used as routes for energy distribution lines.

Lowering our horizons

“If we were to start all over again and do a long-term analysis of the interstate highway system in the 1950s, you couldn’t have done it,” explained Fitzroy. “You couldn’t have done an analysis that would have justified the massive expenditures. But the interstate highways made the U.S. economy.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) thinks investment in HSR is long overdue. “There’s in effect a negative interest rate [right now] — we’re essentially being paid to borrow money,” he said. “We should be building high-speed rail” in New York State. “These investments will make our economy more productive,” Nadler explained. “There’s only good that will come of it.”

Nevertheless, Sclar said, New Yorkers won’t be getting HSR any time soon. “The State of New York is worried about making ends meet; the economy is not doing so great. That’s the reason in the short term,” he said. “But why we’re not getting HSR is reflective of the longer-term pessimism,” he added. “If we did believe we could do it, we would come up with some much more interesting answers.”