Our Highways are NOT crumbling

[1995hoo]

For those who hadn't seen it, the OP is the person who, in a Fictional Highways thread, claims that nobody rides Amtrak, despite also claiming to live in the Boston area. Anyone who lives in the Northeast Corridor knows that (in non-pandemic times, anyway) the claim that "nobody rides Amtrak" is demonstrably false. I'd be riding Amtrak to New York more often than I have been if it weren't for the pandemic. I'm not going to make the absurd argument that Amtrak, or the airline shuttles, are perfect and are all that's needed, but I'm also not so stupid as to argue that simply upgrading and widening the highways is the only capacity that's needed in the Northeast Corridor. All three are important. (Among other issues, while I'm fortunate enough to have parking if I drive to New York for business, for most people parking is a huge expense and problem, and there are always the hassles of driving to where you need to be in the city–that is, kernals12's widened highways might just expedite your access to the backup to get through the Holland Tunnel.)

I just don't understand I-778, the Cross Bronx Realignment (Which destroys active Amtrak train tracks) and the Long Beach Expressway which would basically destroy Long Beach, NY.... The original nassau expressway proposal was supposed to end at a bridge going to long beach, not cut it in half.


Although you're Clearview Expressway proposal seems good, obviously the Cross Island and Belt parkways would have to be upgraded.

I got rid of the Long Beach Expressway. I-778 is there because most of the vehicles that used the old West Side Elevated Highway were trucks going from New Jersey to New Jersey. Hardly anyone uses Amtrak, while the Cross Bronx Expressway is always bumper to bumper, so I think it's a good tradeoff to right Robert Moses' wrongs

The boldfaced is a demonstrably false statement in the very busy Northeast Corridor. Go look at the morning lineup in Boston or DC for the early Acela runs to New York or at Penn Station in the afternoon for the return trip (last time I was on the Acela this past January, the train was completely sold out, and that's not too unusual for the 5:00 southbound departure from NYP). I realize you claim to hate public transit, so I assume your comment is consistent with that, but if you dumped all the Amtrak riders in the Northeast Corridor onto the highways, you'd have a lot more traffic in the way.

Certainly in most of the rest of the country Amtrak is not competitive in the same way it is in the Northeast Corridor, which is unique for a host of reasons.

But the point is, we're not talking to someone who claims to be realistic. He has his agenda, summarized in the tagline below his avatar, and it appears from his comments that in his mind that agenda trumps all other considerations (pun completely intended).

I suggest we remove the worthless post-9/11 airport security procedures that have made every flight much longer from door to door.

I don't necessarily disagree with that statement on the whole, but I don't see how it has anything to do with anything in my comment. In my case, I'd still opt for Amtrak over the airline shuttles for trips to New York because Amtrak drops me at 34th Street in Midtown, directly on the Seventh Avenue Express two stops from my destination, whereas the shuttles take me to LaGuardia and I still have the lengthy hassle of getting from there to Lower Manhattan. I know plenty of other people in the DC area (and some in Boston) who feel the same way, even when their destination is in Midtown–in this particular instance, flying doesn't really save much time, even if you have TSA Pre-Check and can skip the worst of the security queues.

Of course, as long as the pandemic remains an issue, if I need to travel to New York I'll drive.

[hotdogPi]

I don't really understand why lack of access to food is really an issue. I worked at Stop & Shop, which is about 20% more expensive than Market Basket and about the same as Shaw's, independent stores, and everything else.

Bananas: 49¢ per pound, or about 20¢ per banana depending on the size
Plantains (large Hispanic customer base): 25¢ each until about January 2020, where they became 3/$1. I think they're 2/$1 now, but I'm not sure.
Apples and pears: About $1.49 per pound depending on the type, or 60¢ per apple or pear
20 lb rice: $14
Crackers: There's a Hispanic brand that has 99¢ listed on the box, so Stop & Shop can't choose to charge more for it. I think it's about an 8 oz box.
Frozen pizzas: There are some small ones that are $1.
Bread: Anything on clearance is 1/3 off, and there's often quite a lot of it, although that might be because it's a low-volume store. Store brand white bread is 99¢ regular price; healthier bread is obviously more, but even white bread isn't as bad as junk food.
Half gallon Sunny D: $1 (this must be something that Sunny D chose, as there's no way Stop & Shop would choose to set it that low)
Store-brand string cheeses: $7 for a 24 pack. This is 29¢ per cheese stick.
48 oz applesauce: $2.19. If this is 5 servings (about what happens when I have it), that's 44¢ per bowl.
Goya "Maria crackers" (in the Hispanic section): 69¢ for what can be eaten in 15 minutes if you eat quickly, and the only reason I ate it all in 15 minutes is because that's how long break usually lasts as an employee. There are also 4-packs that cost less per cracker.
Water bottles (mainly useful for when you're not at home and want to bring one or two with you): $3 for a 24-pack, much cheaper than getting a single one while you're out.
18 Popsicle brand popsicles (not unhealthy; it's mostly frozen water, and the sugar is the same sugar you would get from eating a fruit): $3.50, or 20¢ per popsicle.

(Gray section added before I saw the reply about it being about accessibility and not price.)

In addition, many customers used EBT (the electronic system of payment that SNAP uses).

[seicer]

I was referring to the infamous number of pork barrel projects he brought to his state, the most famous one being a transit project, the Morgantown PRT. I think West Virginians prefer their pickup trucks.

It's only pork barrel if it's not your state. Gotcha. So while we can expend an ungodly amount of money for projects that aren't wanted even at a local level (your fantasy Roosevelt Boulevard freeway or expanding the US 1 freeway in Crystal City or ramming more freeways in NYC, Boston, and in any developed area), providing decent two- and four-lane roads in a mountainous state is... waste. It's a state that is highly dependent upon the federal government for funding thanks to its low population density, poverty, reliance on a few industries (coal), and terrain, not all the fault of its people.

The Morgantown PRT may be "pork" to some, but it was built as a research project between Boeing and the federal government and carries 16,000 people daily (and 75 million total without any major incident). Because it connects downtown and three WVU campuses across steep and unforgiving terrain, it really does serve the population well that buses would not be able to because of topography and the street grid. The PRT runs on a dedicated right-of-way free of intrusions.

Ignoring your classist comment about the good people of West Virginia.

[webny99]

I don't really understand why lack of access to food is really an issue. I worked at Stop & Shop, which is about 20% more expensive than Market Basket and about the same as Shaw's, independent stores, and everything else.

I guess you were replying to seicer, but between the intermittent posts and the page switch, I almost thought you had the wrong thread.

He specifically pointed out McDowell County, WV, which is ranked 3142/3142 for life expectancy in the nation, and its lone Walmart pulled out in 2016. While poverty rates are very high there, it's not an issue with price so much as accessibility. Many people there have to travel an hour or more on winding Appalachian roads just to get to what most of us would consider a normal grocery store with plenty of fresh produce, etc.

[seicer]

Food deserts are rife in West Virginia, as in any poor area: https://www.wvpublic.org/podcast/inside-appalachia/2015-10-02/whats-an-appalachian-food-desert-and-why-are-they-increasing

[formulanone]

Goya "Maria crackers" (in the Hispanic section): 69¢

These are actually a solid snack with some peanut butter, as a nice combination of lightly sweet and salty. Cheap eats back in the day!

The cellophane packaging leaves a lot to be desired; they're delicate so you'll get a few that are...crumbling.

[jmacswimmer]

I propose we merge all these kernals12 threads together and title it "Compilation: kernals12 in one thread".  They all seem to have the same format:

-A very specific thread title and initial post with cherry-picked data and baseless claims to back the pro-highway agenda
-Critiques and arguments from those with more intimate knowledge of the issue, such as locals or DOT employees
-These critiques and arguments are then immediately dismissed by the OP with no real counterargument

Reads Fritzowl to me

For those who hadn't seen it, the OP is the person who, in a Fictional Highways thread, claims that nobody rides Amtrak, despite also claiming to live in the Boston area. Anyone who lives in the Northeast Corridor knows that (in non-pandemic times, anyway) the claim that "nobody rides Amtrak" is demonstrably false. I'd be riding Amtrak to New York more often than I have been if it weren't for the pandemic. I'm not going to make the absurd argument that Amtrak, or the airline shuttles, are perfect and are all that's needed, but I'm also not so stupid as to argue that simply upgrading and widening the highways is the only capacity that's needed in the Northeast Corridor. All three are important. (Among other issues, while I'm fortunate enough to have parking if I drive to New York for business, for most people parking is a huge expense and problem, and there are always the hassles of driving to where you need to be in the city–that is, kernals12's widened highways might just expedite your access to the backup to get through the Holland Tunnel.)

This 100%.  The demand for transportation in the northeast corridor is such that no one mode can handle the load - you need the planes, trains, & automobiles (& buses) to compliment each other!

One example: As congested as the Lincoln Tunnel is in the AM (pre-pandemic, anyway), imagine how much worse it would be if not for the heavy bus ridership and XBL to accommodate it.  What if all those bus riders drove by themselves instead?  What if (read: when) the North River Tunnels fail and all that rail traffic is pushed to either the PATH, or to the Holland/Lincoln Tunnels?

(Which brings me to another point: infrastructure trouble isn't limited to just highways - look no further than the aforementioned North River Tunnels, nearby Portal Bridge, and the long-stalled Gateway Program. But that's neither here nor there.)

Or perhaps an example closer to home for the OP: How about when an MBTA red line train derailed outside JFK/UMass in June 2019 and took out a bunch of signaling equipment, all during morning rush hour?  With the one transportation mode offline, others had to pick up the slack:

-I-93 became far more jammed than normal
-Ubers to downtown spiked to >$100
-The adjacent Commuter Rail honored subway fare to South Station and thus became far more crowded than usual

I'm sure the Mass Pike & I-95 would also be far more congested than they currently are if not for the Framingham/Worcester and Providence/Stoughton commuter rail lines running in those same corridors, respectively.  (And I-95 as a whole would certainly be far worse from DC to Boston if not for the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and multiple airline routes.)

[hotdogPi]

I'm sure the Mass Pike & I-95 would also be far more congested than they currently are if not for the Framingham/Worcester and Providence/Stoughton commuter rail lines running in those same corridors, respectively.  (And I-95 as a whole would certainly be far worse from DC to Boston if not for the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and multiple airline routes.)

To add to your point: a 2% decrease in traffic volumes is much more than a 2% improvement in rush hour travel times. (The exact number can't be calculated without knowing the length of rush hour, which varies each day.)

[kphoger]

So ... poverty lines ... mean nothing anymore? It's all about pointless vanity now?

Actually, I've been really skeptical about poverty lines for quite a while now.  For one thing, every department seems to have its own definition of the poverty line, so it's a moving target.  But maybe that's beside the point.  My real problem is with any figure leading to 13% of Americans living "in poverty", when the federal minimum wage provides enough money to buy a value meal at Chick-fil-A every hour.  Sorry, but I spend a decent amount of time in Mexico, and my perspective leads me to consider the various definitions of "poverty" that are used to be grossly skewed.

[hotdogPi]

So ... poverty lines ... mean nothing anymore? It's all about pointless vanity now?

Actually, I've been really skeptical about poverty lines for quite a while now.  For one thing, every department seems to have its own definition of the poverty line, so it's a moving target.  But maybe that's beside the point.  My real problem is with any figure leading to 13% of Americans living "in poverty", when the federal minimum wage provides enough money to buy a value meal at Chick-fil-A every hour.  Sorry, but I spend a decent amount of time in Mexico, and my perspective leads me to consider the various definitions of "poverty" that are used to be grossly skewed.

This 13% accounts for:

• People who aren't working or are working part-time only; this includes people outside the labor force such as retirees and college students
• People who are paid the federal minimum wage in an area with a higher cost of living (such as southern NH)
• Transportation costs cutting into wages (59¢ per mile driving, and if you're in an area with decent transit, you're probably in an area with a higher cost of living)
• Restaurant workers where the tipped minimum wage is less than regular minimum wage
• If your home is cheaper, it probably needs repairs more often
• Having to pay credit card debt (sometimes by necessity), which often has ridiculous interest rates

[1995hoo]

I propose we merge all these kernals12 threads together and title it "Compilation: kernals12 in one thread".  They all seem to have the same format:

-A very specific thread title and initial post with cherry-picked data and baseless claims to back the pro-highway agenda
-Critiques and arguments from those with more intimate knowledge of the issue, such as locals or DOT employees
-These critiques and arguments are then immediately dismissed by the OP with no real counterargument

....

This is an outstanding idea.

[Max Rockatansky]

I propose we merge all these kernals12 threads together and title it "Compilation: kernals12 in one thread".  They all seem to have the same format:

-A very specific thread title and initial post with cherry-picked data and baseless claims to back the pro-highway agenda
-Critiques and arguments from those with more intimate knowledge of the issue, such as locals or DOT employees
-These critiques and arguments are then immediately dismissed by the OP with no real counterargument

....

This is an outstanding idea.

I concur.  This is becoming a new forum meme at this point.

[hotdogPi]

I don't think kernals12 is a troll, unlike dzlsabe.

I have a pretty specific vision of how to improve efficiency, and they usually don't work:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=28032 (Removing access to side streets to make something a high-speed road?, November 2020)
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25286 (Idea for subsidizing carpools, July 2019)
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=24465 (Freeway rain shields, February 2019)
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=23163 (Alternative to bidirectional "green wave" in places where it is impossible, July 2018)
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=21432 (Converting railroad tracks to self-driving car lanes, October 2017)
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=19092 ("Crosswalk regions" proposal, October 2016)
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=16637 (Idea: Straight on red after stop if there is no street to the right, October 2015)
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=16279 (My idea for 10 mph (16 kph, 4.5 m/s) pedestrian conveyor belts, August 2015)
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=11623 (Idea for different speed limits per lane, February 2014)
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=10418 (Idea to keep cars moving at a stoplight, September 2013)

Is it a problem that I have these grand ideas for improving efficiency that turn out not to work after all? My common theme is to keep cars moving without making the anti-car people get upset.

[Max Rockatansky]

I don't think kernals12 is a troll, unlike dzlsabe.

I agree, I really get the vibe he believes in what he writes and tries to be serious about it.  I don't think a lot of it is necessarily well informed nor is free of personal bias though which leads people to think otherwise.  To that end I was convinced that this was another DZ situation, but it hasn't played out that way. 

[US 89]

This thread is a train wreck.

(Or rather, car crash, since the OP seems to prefer we stick exclusively to that mode.)

[kphoger]

So ... poverty lines ... mean nothing anymore? It's all about pointless vanity now?

Actually, I've been really skeptical about poverty lines for quite a while now.  For one thing, every department seems to have its own definition of the poverty line, so it's a moving target.  But maybe that's beside the point.  My real problem is with any figure leading to 13% of Americans living "in poverty", when the federal minimum wage provides enough money to buy a value meal at Chick-fil-A every hour.  Sorry, but I spend a decent amount of time in Mexico, and my perspective leads me to consider the various definitions of "poverty" that are used to be grossly skewed.

This 13% accounts for:

• People who aren't working or are working part-time only; this includes people outside the labor force such as retirees and college students
• People who are paid the federal minimum wage in an area with a higher cost of living (such as southern NH)
• Transportation costs cutting into wages (59¢ per mile driving, and if you're in an area with decent transit, you're probably in an area with a higher cost of living)
• Restaurant workers where the tipped minimum wage is less than regular minimum wage
• If your home is cheaper, it probably needs repairs more often
• Having to pay credit card debt (sometimes by necessity), which often has ridiculous interest rates

Other than tipped wages for restaurant workers, that entire list also applies to every other non-Communist country.

Also, I had never fully considered the first point.  So, when I was a college student living on campus at a private university, with my tuition 80% funded by financial grants and the rest covered by my middle-class parents, with the cost of housing and meals completely covered, with a car on campus in my parents' name, with a little bit of spending money to use for occasional recreational activities... I was officially living in poverty because I had no income?  That doesn't exactly make me have more confidence in the validity of the poverty line.

Also, I'm not so sure about your second point.  I used to live in DuPage County, Illinois, where the median list price for a house is north of $300k–but its official poverty line is the same as the federal poverty line.

[jmacswimmer]

This thread is a train wreck.

(Or rather, car crash, since the OP seems to prefer we stick exclusively to that mode.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpAvcGcEc0k

[hotdogPi]

So ... poverty lines ... mean nothing anymore? It's all about pointless vanity now?

Actually, I've been really skeptical about poverty lines for quite a while now.  For one thing, every department seems to have its own definition of the poverty line, so it's a moving target.  But maybe that's beside the point.  My real problem is with any figure leading to 13% of Americans living "in poverty", when the federal minimum wage provides enough money to buy a value meal at Chick-fil-A every hour.  Sorry, but I spend a decent amount of time in Mexico, and my perspective leads me to consider the various definitions of "poverty" that are used to be grossly skewed.

This 13% accounts for:

• People who aren't working or are working part-time only; this includes people outside the labor force such as retirees and college students
• People who are paid the federal minimum wage in an area with a higher cost of living (such as southern NH)
• Transportation costs cutting into wages (59¢ per mile driving, and if you're in an area with decent transit, you're probably in an area with a higher cost of living)
• Restaurant workers where the tipped minimum wage is less than regular minimum wage
• If your home is cheaper, it probably needs repairs more often
• Having to pay credit card debt (sometimes by necessity), which often has ridiculous interest rates

Other than tipped wages for restaurant workers, that entire list also applies to every other non-Communist country.

Also, I had never fully considered the first point.  So, when I was a college student living on campus at a private university, with my tuition 80% funded by financial grants and the rest covered by my middle-class parents, with the cost of housing and meals completely covered, with a car on campus in my parents' name, with a little bit of spending money to use for occasional recreational activities... I was officially living in poverty because I had no income?  That doesn't exactly make me have more confidence in the validity of the poverty line.

Also, I'm not so sure about your second point.  I used to live in DuPage County, Illinois, where the median list price for a house is north of $300k–but its official poverty line is the same as the federal poverty line.

I'm not sure how the poverty line is defined; the list I gave was reasons that people could actually be living in poverty.

[kphoger]

I'm not sure how the poverty line is defined; the list I gave was reasons that people could actually be living in poverty.

That is very likely due to the fact I pointed out earlier:

For one thing, every department seems to have its own definition of the poverty line ...

"The poverty line" doesn't exist.  There exists a multitude of poverty lines, each calculated according to the needs of the agency/department publishing the data.

[index]

I'm not sure how the poverty line is defined; the list I gave was reasons that people could actually be living in poverty.

That is very likely due to the fact I pointed out earlier:

For one thing, every department seems to have its own definition of the poverty line ...

"The poverty line" doesn't exist.  There exists a multitude of poverty lines, each calculated according to the needs of the agency/department publishing the data.

If you want my take on it, the poverty line is only a figure for determining around where an area is doing money-wise. It can never be an exact science. (The way we calculate unemployment rates is also massively flawed, in my opinion. If we also count people who have given up looking for work and those that want to look but are not able, our numbers become much higher) There are a lot of other factors that might inhibit one's economic conditions that the poverty line doesn't account for. Local cost of living, internet access to name two additional factors, along with what 1 mentioned. You might be above the poverty line but you could still barely be cutting it. Most Americans, more than the poverty line might suggest, can't afford an unexpected expense worth a few hundred bucks without throwing their financial situation into chaos.

I propose we merge all these kernals12 threads together and title it "Compilation: kernals12 in one thread".  They all seem to have the same format:

-A very specific thread title and initial post with cherry-picked data and baseless claims to back the pro-highway agenda
-Critiques and arguments from those with more intimate knowledge of the issue, such as locals or DOT employees
-These critiques and arguments are then immediately dismissed by the OP with no real counterargument

Reads Fritzowl to me

Dug this up:

[kernals12]

I was referring to the infamous number of pork barrel projects he brought to his state, the most famous one being a transit project, the Morgantown PRT. I think West Virginians prefer their pickup trucks.

It's only pork barrel if it's not your state. Gotcha. So while we can expend an ungodly amount of money for projects that aren't wanted even at a local level (your fantasy Roosevelt Boulevard freeway or expanding the US 1 freeway in Crystal City or ramming more freeways in NYC, Boston, and in any developed area), providing decent two- and four-lane roads in a mountainous state is... waste. It's a state that is highly dependent upon the federal government for funding thanks to its low population density, poverty, reliance on a few industries (coal), and terrain, not all the fault of its people.

The Morgantown PRT may be "pork" to some, but it was built as a research project between Boeing and the federal government and carries 16,000 people daily (and 75 million total without any major incident). Because it connects downtown and three WVU campuses across steep and unforgiving terrain, it really does serve the population well that buses would not be able to because of topography and the street grid. The PRT runs on a dedicated right-of-way free of intrusions.

Ignoring your classist comment about the good people of West Virginia.

Hundreds of thousands of people use those roads every day, they are not wasteful.

[SectorZ]

   
• High-speed rail
• Passenger rail in general
• Freeways that still tear through urban areas
• The very existence of the Rust Belt
• Pedestrian and cyclist accessibility
• Public transit
• Road safety
• Traffic deaths
• 70% of our dams will be over 50 years old in five years
• Weather-related power outages are 10 times more frequent than in the 1980s
• Increasing damage from natural disasters, even when adjusted for inflation comparing to ones of the past
• Among many, many other things.

The decay is very real. Populations in the Midwest and Rust Belt continue to shrink. West Virginia continues to get poorer. Just because there is growth doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is enjoying that growth. I am experiencing decay itself with the electric grid. I went years without having any major disruptions to my power only to be hit with at least a dozen this year. It doesn't seem like there's very much stopping another 2003-style blackout from happening either.

https://www.wbtv.com/2020/11/12/charlotte-sees-dramatic-jump-power-outages/

Citation needed for some of those and the traffic deaths thing is, pardon my English, complete bullshit.

[kernals12]

I propose we merge all these kernals12 threads together and title it "Compilation: kernals12 in one thread".  They all seem to have the same format:

-A very specific thread title and initial post with cherry-picked data and baseless claims to back the pro-highway agenda
-Critiques and arguments from those with more intimate knowledge of the issue, such as locals or DOT employees
-These critiques and arguments are then immediately dismissed by the OP with no real counterargument

Reads Fritzowl to me

For those who hadn't seen it, the OP is the person who, in a Fictional Highways thread, claims that nobody rides Amtrak, despite also claiming to live in the Boston area. Anyone who lives in the Northeast Corridor knows that (in non-pandemic times, anyway) the claim that "nobody rides Amtrak" is demonstrably false. I'd be riding Amtrak to New York more often than I have been if it weren't for the pandemic. I'm not going to make the absurd argument that Amtrak, or the airline shuttles, are perfect and are all that's needed, but I'm also not so stupid as to argue that simply upgrading and widening the highways is the only capacity that's needed in the Northeast Corridor. All three are important. (Among other issues, while I'm fortunate enough to have parking if I drive to New York for business, for most people parking is a huge expense and problem, and there are always the hassles of driving to where you need to be in the city–that is, kernals12's widened highways might just expedite your access to the backup to get through the Holland Tunnel.)

This 100%.  The demand for transportation in the northeast corridor is such that no one mode can handle the load - you need the planes, trains, & automobiles (& buses) to compliment each other!

One example: As congested as the Lincoln Tunnel is in the AM (pre-pandemic, anyway), imagine how much worse it would be if not for the heavy bus ridership and XBL to accommodate it.  What if all those bus riders drove by themselves instead?  What if (read: when) the North River Tunnels fail and all that rail traffic is pushed to either the PATH, or to the Holland/Lincoln Tunnels?

(Which brings me to another point: infrastructure trouble isn't limited to just highways - look no further than the aforementioned North River Tunnels, nearby Portal Bridge, and the long-stalled Gateway Program. But that's neither here nor there.)

Or perhaps an example closer to home for the OP: How about when an MBTA red line train derailed outside JFK/UMass in June 2019 and took out a bunch of signaling equipment, all during morning rush hour?  With the one transportation mode offline, others had to pick up the slack:

-I-93 became far more jammed than normal
-Ubers to downtown spiked to >$100
-The adjacent Commuter Rail honored subway fare to South Station and thus became far more crowded than usual

I'm sure the Mass Pike & I-95 would also be far more congested than they currently are if not for the Framingham/Worcester and Providence/Stoughton commuter rail lines running in those same corridors, respectively.  (And I-95 as a whole would certainly be far worse from DC to Boston if not for the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and multiple airline routes.)

Some random DOT employee is not a better source of information than the Federal Highway Administration.

[kphoger]

Most Americans, more than the poverty line might suggest, can't afford an unexpected expense worth a few hundred bucks without throwing their financial situation into chaos.

But that's not the same thing as living in poverty.  At least, that's my take on things.  Poverty means you can't afford necessities–not that you don't have enough saved up to cover a hypothetical situation.

[index]

   
• High-speed rail
• Passenger rail in general
• Freeways that still tear through urban areas
• The very existence of the Rust Belt
• Pedestrian and cyclist accessibility
• Public transit
• Road safety
• Traffic deaths
• 70% of our dams will be over 50 years old in five years
• Weather-related power outages are 10 times more frequent than in the 1980s
• Increasing damage from natural disasters, even when adjusted for inflation comparing to ones of the past
• Among many, many other things.

The decay is very real. Populations in the Midwest and Rust Belt continue to shrink. West Virginia continues to get poorer. Just because there is growth doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is enjoying that growth. I am experiencing decay itself with the electric grid. I went years without having any major disruptions to my power only to be hit with at least a dozen this year. It doesn't seem like there's very much stopping another 2003-style blackout from happening either.

https://www.wbtv.com/2020/11/12/charlotte-sees-dramatic-jump-power-outages/

Citation needed for some of those and the traffic deaths thing is, pardon my English, complete bullshit.

Pardon not granted. The statement that the US has some of the worst traffic deaths in the developed world is a factual statement, and your statement is, pardon my English, complete bullshit.

Just like I said earlier in the thread, I suggest that people turn down the aggressive-territorial-animal dial and maybe, I dunno, hold their words before they start to sling shit. Because it could end up getting thrown right back at you.

   
• High-speed rail Does this have to be proven?
• Passenger rail in general Does this have to be proven?
• Freeways that still tear through urban areas Does this have to be proven?
• The very existence of the Rust Belt Does this have to be proven?
• Pedestrian and cyclist accessibility https://i.imgur.com/Oxz6FbZ.png We are now rapidly outpacing Europe by this metric and this figure saw a dramatic spike yet again, surpassing them
• Public transit Does this have to be proven?
• Road safety Traffic deaths are used to measure this
• Traffic deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
• 70% of our dams will be over 50 years old in five years https://spanberger.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2953
• Weather-related power outages are 10 times more frequent than in the 1980s https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/weather/weather-blog/weather-related-outages-increasing/97-cec33823-0d2c-4122-8ef1-d8bb9fe052d2  https://medialibrary.climatecentral.org/resources/power-outages  https://www.ourenergypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/climate-central.pdf
• Increasing damage from natural disasters, even when adjusted for inflation comparing to ones of the past https://www.pnas.org/content/116/43/21450   https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/10/billion-dollar-natural-disasters-rising-these-states-better-prepare.html  https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/2018s-billion-dollar-disasters-context
• Among many, many other things.

Most Americans, more than the poverty line might suggest, can't afford an unexpected expense worth a few hundred bucks without throwing their financial situation into chaos.

But that's not the same thing as living in poverty.  At least, that's my take on things.  Poverty means you can't afford necessities–not that you don't have enough saved up to cover a hypothetical situation.

In my mind having a safety net is a necessity. If an unexpected expense of a few hundred dollars crashes your entire life as you're already hardly making ends meet, you're not in a very good situation.