Reacting to LaHood and 'Livability'

19 January 2010 - 1:00pm

The National Journal Online talks to three transportation experts about the recent statements by DOT Secretary LaHood that the agency would begin using livability-based funding guidelines for major transit projects. Will it work?

Lisa Caruso talks with James Corless, the campaign director for Transportation for America; William Millar, President of the American Public Transportation Association; and Anthony E. Shorris, Director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at NYU.

Shorris: "It's long past time for the US to follow in the footsteps of so many other Western nations by learning to evaluate its infrastructure investments using more sophisticated tools than we have seen to date. For more than a decade, the UK has used tools for project evaluation that reflect the multiplicity of goals that public sector investments should achieve and the EU has done some very thoughtful work on these issues. Our appraisal of the benefits of surface transportation projects needs to go well beyond simply estimating reduced travel times for commuters, and even beyond reducing CO2 and other pollutants."

Source: National Journal Online, January 19, 2010

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We want it to be more like business, except when we don't

I'm sure there are opponents out there who will harrumph at this change. But this is the direction that businesses are going: triple bottom line. The opponents have asked for years to move in this direction. This is the result. One wonders whether they will harrumph at this too...

Best,

D

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Practitioners will need to break free from their silos and forge a better understanding of the interrelatedness of these fields.