The future of Midwest transportation looks a lot like the future of American transportation

At the Department of Transportation, we are working hard to help our recovering economy while we prepare our nation's infrastructure for the future. On Wednesday, I had the good fortune to speak about those twin challenges at a symposium--hosted by my alma mater, Bradley University--on the Future of Midwest Transportation.

It turns out that the transportation needs of the Midwest look a lot like those across the country: an efficient and sustainable network to move products like wheat and soy from growers to markets or  from factories to consumers. The people of the Midwest--like those elsewhere--need options to get to and from work or the grocery store or a medical center.

Everyone seems to agree that the infrastructure we have struggles to meet our current needs and cannot meet the future demand we anticipate. If you look at the Midwest and across America, you will see roads that are overburdened, bridges that have deteriorated, transit systems that need to be upgraded.

When you're stuck in traffic trying to get to work with no viable public transit option, you want to see those shortcomings addressed immediately--if not sooner. It's frustrating.

And, if you're unemployed, you're also frustrated, but what you want above all is a good job.

So, on the one hand we have jobs that need to be done: revitalizing our transportation infrastructure for the 21st century. And on the other hand, we have people who need jobs.

Well, in the Midwest and across America, the Obama Administration has been matching the people who need jobs with the jobs that need doing. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we have more than 14,000 transportation projects currently under way. We're repairing tens of thousands of miles of roadways, runways, railways, and transitways, and--more importantly--employing tens of thousands of Americans.

Where we can, we're leveraging region-specific resources. For the Midwest, that means making more effective use of the Great Lakes and the many rivers flowing into America's central north-south artery, the Mississippi River. Through our TIGER grants and our Marine Highways Program, we're doing just that.

Talking with Bradley University students about their engineering projects

Then there's high-speed rail. Businesses and residents in the Midwest are looking forward to the opportunity to zip from Detroit to Chicago or Chicago to St. Louis with fast downtown-to-downtown travel times. And they're looking forward to the economic development and job opportunities high-speed rail will bring to their cities and to the towns along the way.

Air travel must also remain viable, particularly for longer distances. And the skies over the Midwest's airports are as congested as they are in other regions. That's why we're committed to reducing travel times and delays with the next generation air-traffic control system.

The challenge of reliability. The challenge of efficiency. The challenge of sustainability. These are not Midwestern challenges. They are not Republican or Democratic challenges. They are American challenges.

And this DOT will help America meet those challenges by continuing to support good jobs today while we help build the transportation infrastructure of tomorrow.

Comments

[Mary Beth Ikard]

Mr. Secretary, I was so grateful to get to meet you at Wednesday's Symposium, and appreciated all of your remarks. Please continue the good fight in advocating for rail passenger transit and multi-modalism (bike/ped considerations, etc). I hope the DOT's commitment to diversity of mobility choice successfully manifests in the new T bill.

[Thomas Dorsey]

Mr. Secretary,
I understand the 2035 U.S. High Speed Rail across America timeline. I also understand that a contentious Congress has to fund most of it. But when are you going to publish an Interstate High Speed Rail Network map that sews together our 50 largest metro areas with 200-220 mph High Speed Rail, complimented with the 110 mph routes to smaller metro areas?

As you know with Peak Oil, Global Warming and Population Growth, we don't have time to waste.

[Thomas Dorsey]

Mr. Secretary,
I'm a bit amused when I read blog comments criticizing true High Speed Rail in America. I would bet that most of the critics haven't rode Acela, let alone 200-220 mph world-class HSR systems in Europe and Asia.

Those continents may be easy for HSR critics to dismiss, but they should ask themselves, why is oil-rich Saudi Arabia building a 200 mph HSR network? Why are dozen of other nations doing the same? Do they know something Americans don't know?

[Saul Davis]

As a dedicated rail traveler who, gasp, does not have a car, I can only applaud your efforts to support expanding rail transportation in America. The railroads never truly recovered from the government's reliance on them during World War II, and it is only fitting that the funding for expansion come from the federal government.
I am convinced Amtrak can offer much higher-speed service by adding more service on busy routes, and making one of those trains express with no stops. That would take hours off of most schedules. After all, in the 1930s, we had very fast service between our major cities, because there was local and every-stop "milk train" service as well.

That said, if the State of Wisconsin remains uncooperative, the State of Minnesota should not be made to suffer, so please look at re-routing additional service to the routes through Iowa. That would fulfill the need of providing service to or near Rochester as well as to the Twin Cities. There should be several routes to choose from, and a fast way through northern Illinois.

[Neil M.]

Two thirds of the oil in America is used for transportation purposes. These investments should lower our reliance of this fossil fuel not just because it will be better for the environment but also because it will reduce our dependance on foreign oil. That create jobs and make us independent from these countries that we get most of our oil from.