Anecdotally (which means that I don’t have any empirical data on this, but it feels this way), transportation spending is second only to defense spending when it comes to waste, inefficiency, and a general syndrome of money going to politically-influential districts rather than where it would make the most sense.
But then the Obama administration started banning earmarks in the stimulus bill and, I thought, leaving decisions on the allocation of funds to an independent central authority rather than to bickering legislators. I was rather surprised, then, to read this:
The stimulus law provided $26.6 billion for highways, bridges and other transportation projects, but left the decision on how to spend most of it to the states.
The results have been predictable: disproportionate amounts of money for roads in the middle of nowhere, while important urban transit projects go unfunded. Seattle, for instance, got none of the first tranche of federal stimulus funds; Charlotte got less than 2% of North Carolina’s.
This is why we need an Urbanist Party: so that city-dwellers can finally punch their weight in politics (Obama is the first president from a city in living memory) and so that local, state and federal government starts paying much more attention to the people who really make any modern economy run.
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The infrastructure part of the stimulus was distributed really haphazardly. My county of 150,000 got the same amount as San Diego.
In this region, a big chunk did go to the local transit authority which is being used to buy newer, more efficient buses. I thought that might turn out to be a “leak” of stimulus to foreign producers, but the newer buses I see now are built in California.
So here, the stimulus is working as intended.
- Posted by Bob_in_MAAs a former resident of North Carolina, rest assured that the corridor running between Charlotte upward to Raleigh has received plenty of funding for the past 25 years, and that probably will not change soon either. Specifically, I-40 / I-85 / I-540.
NC may not be completely analagous to other states, but at it’s most extreme those rural areas get neglected anyway. The further you become from Raleigh, the worse the economic landscape anyway. Maybe they’ll spend some stimulus funds upgrading Bonner Bridge, a notoriously “shifty” structure spanning the Oregon Inlet.
- Posted by GriffThe NYT hints at, but doesn’t actually come out and say, why this might be the case. To a degree state legislatures do have an inbuilt tilt towards rural areas, much as the electoral college does.
But the mechanics of grabbing stimulus spending, in particular the deadline, favored projects with the minimum degree of hassle, and these were located in rural areas. Here’s why:
1) For new projects, gaining rights-of-way in a timely manner is expensive, or simply impossible.
2) Decision-making processes are slower because cities tend to have larger and more cumbersome governments, which need to work harmoniously with state authorities.
3) Cost. Building complex bits of infrastructure in cities in much more expensive. Labour and transportation costs are frequently higher because there isn’t as much space lying around to store materials.
4) Complexity. Integrating new projects or even rehabilitation projects into existing transit networks is a complex task. These cannot be made shovel-ready as quickly as rural proposals.
With luck cities can compensate for this with a larger chunk of state funding, though the Times doesn’t explore this angle.
- Posted by Gari N. CorpLiving in NYC and never driving a car might have something to do with your point of view.
- Posted by Eli BakerI pulled the below info directly off the North Carolina board of transportation site; using this analogy below for annual state budget of $4 billion (all sources), I would strongly surmise that Charlotte/Mecklenberg Cty is very well represented.
“The equity formula was created in 1989 by the General Assembly. It requires that State Transportation Improvement Program funds be distributed equitably among regions of the state. Monetary distribution is based 50 percent on the population of a region, 25 percent on the number of miles of intrastate highways left to complete in a region and the remaining 25 percent is distributed equally among the regions for the STIP. Urban loop, congestion mitigation and air quality funds, and competitive/discretionary federal grants are exempt from the formula.”
Poorer areas including Martin, Washington or Tyrell counties in the east suck eggs based on this formula, no ? To be fair, of course it makes little sense to spend money in these regions sparsely populated. Lucky for them all they lie on a major route to the coastal areas (Nags Head, Manteo, etc). Else, just ignore them !
go suck some eggs, Charlotte mayor. You get plenty of funds anywho
- Posted by GriffBut Felix, all the “real Americans” live in small towns!
- Posted by MitchA decent article on Obama’s misallocation of transportion funds can be found here
“Put transit where the people are”
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editor ial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/07/03/put _transit_where_the_people_are/
The author, Edward L. Glaeser, is a Harvard professor who specializes in housing policy.
- Posted by Peter SchaefferI would add there’s a bias against cities because they are perceived as more wasteful. There is truth in that.
Another issue is that money which goes to urban areas is often tussled over in ways that highlight class and racial divisions the political system prefers to paper over - and which are beyond the purview of highway departments.
And add in that the GOP has no hold on urban areas so they will point at waste and inefficiency - sometimes in barely muted racial terms - to tar the Democrats. It becomes politically easier to send money where it won’t bite you, even if that’s the wrong long-term choice.
- Posted by jonathanAs for the urban / rural debate, it’s sooo great that everything we need comes from the cities, including all the wonderful soil to grow delicious ears of corn outside your 10th story apt window.
Nothing grows out in the country or the sticks, except for rednecks and NRA permits :) Oh yeah, toby keith CD collections too
- Posted by Griff