Making The Stimulus Right

The Congress for the New Urbanism (of which I am a member) has released a great proposal on shifting the transportation part of the stimulus to both improving rail systems and improving street grid networks to promote more walkability and better access for neighborhoods.

They may still get that bill, if they rally around a couple clear priorities:
1) Join with the smart growth coalition Transportation for America in calling for the bill envisioned by Transportation Committee Chair James Oberstar, with billions more for Amtrak and existing public transportation systems — plus provisions for prioritizing repair of dangerous bridges over highway expansions.

2) Urge Congress and the Obama Administration to go one step further, directing the bill’s pavement dollars not just to gas-intensive highways (and major bridges) but to the walkable streets on compact blocks that support good transit-service and lively sustainable neighborhoods. There are plenty of these walkable streets in big cities, walkable suburbs and small towns across America. They’re where our transportation system functions most efficiently and adds lasting economic value – and CNU and partners have a practical proposal into Congress for identifying and funding them.

A good Economic Recovery and Reinvestment bill will invest strategically in streets and transit — and give the Obama Administration a home run, not just more spending on the status quo. “Getting the right mix of transit and road funding in this bill is essential,” says CNU President and CEO John Norquist, “but funding the right kind of roads is just as important. Communities across the country realize their future is in walkable, livable, fuel-efficient neighborhoods — they want to build up the infrastructure that supports that vision. If the pavement portion of this stimulus winds up looking like just another superhighway bill, it will be a step backwards from energy independence and from lasting economic recovery in home and real estate markets, which is where the economic crisis started.”

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