Use the Stimulus to Make Transportation More Like the Internet: John Norquist in Planetizen

While the Obama Administration is readying to harness the power of the internet and social media, it should put the same principles to work to improve our transportation systems with the stimulus bill, says John Norquist in a compelling op-ed at Planetizen.

President Obama should insist that Congress move federal transportation policy in a new direction. He need only look to the Internet, employed to such definitive effect by his election campaign, for a telling example of how 21st century transportation systems should work. Internet traffic makes use of a network of linkages, breaking up large volumes of data into small packets and distributing them through a web of available nodes. It’s fast, and it’s reliable. The same model applied to transportation networks will allow all modes of traffic to flow over multiple redundant routes, making travel times quicker, driving, walking and bicycling easier, and transit service more viable. At the same time investment in streets will remove barriers to urban real estate development, promoting the proliferation of neighborhood amenities and leading, ultimately, to shorter commutes and fewer car trips..

Read and share a concise version of CNU's plan for generating stimulus jobs improving walkable transportation networks. Delve deeper with an illustrated background paper on the proposal prepared in cooperation with leading transportation engineer Rick Chellman and colleague Brian Bochner, a past president of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.