June "On the Go" talks livability, sustainability, and traffic safety

Every day, we get dozens of insightful comments and questions from people on this blog, my Facebook page, and Twitter.  I appreciate everyone who takes a minute out of their day to let me know what they think about what we're up to here at DOT.

And I'm thrilled that I can engage in a real conversation with all of you in my ongoing Q&A series, “On the Go with Ray LaHood.”

Check out the newest episode now, which includes questions about what DOT is doing to promote livability, sustainability, and traffic safety:

Do you have a question you'd like me to answer?  You can:

• Post on my Facebook Discussion board;
• Tweet me using the #q4ray hashtag; or
• Leave a comment here on my blog.

Thanks for tuning in!  And keep the feedback coming.

Comments

[Lawrence H Kaufman]

If it givesyou such pleasure to have a dialog with blog readers, how come you have had nothing to say about the Amtrak disaster or the comment about your ignoring of this example of big truck "safety"?

[O.J. Papucci]

Honorable Ray LaHood,

I just want to say THANK YOU so much for your actions to encourage safe accessible transportation alternatives and for the collaboration between HUD, EPA and DOT to enhance livable initiatives.

Regards,

O.J. Papucci

[Miin J. Yan, PhD, PE]

Mr. LaHood:

US (as well as the world) needs high MPG transportations. It's great that you and the White House lead the discussion on the new 56.2MPG/2025 CAFE standard. Contrary to big 3's position that it cost about $50Bs just to meet the moderate 35.5MPG/2016, it needs not cost that much.

Actually it can even reduce current costs in production and per vehicles. The solution is in the out-of-the-box technologies. There are numerous abound. Just look around, US can find those solutions.

DOT can initiate a call for such solutions which should, most importantly, include outside Detroit small business start-ups.

Best regards,

MJ Yan, PhD, PE
VP Technology, Yan Engines, LLC
Ph. 1-614-761-5794
Web: www.yanengines.com –
D-cycle™: higher fuel efficiency and propulsion, lower cost and emission - better than hybrid

[Mel Lifshitz]

@Lawrence

I agree. I wanted to know the opinion of the author about that.

[Luke]

I love the collaboration with HUD and EPA.

[Jonothan]

It's good to see that DOT is making a concerted effort, in concert with the EPA and HUD, to make our communities more efficient - not just economically but environmentally. Add those two "E" words together and you have the "S" word: sustainability, or, more specifically the phrase, "sustainable (and sustained) growth".

Not just that, but because of an EPA-HUD-DOT joint task force, our tax dollars are being used more sustainably as well.

Of course, sustainability doesn't just mean protecting our land and advancing our trade for future generations - it means better livability for current generations, as well.

I think too many people make the mistake of thinking that to be sustainable you have to develop disciplined, day-to-day austerity, without considering that the sacrifice is its own tangible, all-area-of-daily-life-encompassing reward.

The transportation, affordable housing, and environmental impact-reduction measures taken in Ranson West Virginia, thanks to the Sustainable Communities Partnership, is a consummate example of how sustainability begets livability.

As far as car ownership is concerned, it's about time we start lowering our dependence on dwindling supplies of foreign oil and filling our air with it, and start realizing that the type of future-focused communities that DOT is working with HUD and the EPA to create don't necessitate, or benefit from this form of transportation on a mass scale.

On a closing note, I was in Denmark 10 years ago and still have a picture I took of a pile of bikes pressed against a large building that made me wonder how the first person to work that day was going to get on their ride home. I was informed that this was a communal bike pile and that you just took the first one you saw. The roads there were not crowded, the people not in a hurry while using them and the air not noticeably contaminated. Just something to consider.