BUILD America 250 Act

[ElishaGOtis]

lol

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fong_043_rev1.pdf

"Hey could you guys pretty please comply with this law from 10 years ago?    "

At least someone is saying something regarding toll interoperability 

[Quillz]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

We'll see what the Senate does to it.

Not to get political and I'm not advocating for this one way or another but I had read Trump was pushing to include the Save America Act in the transportation bill IIRC. Not sure if that'll impact it or not.

You don't need to say "not to get political" when the thread is literally about something political. The previous Build Act was also political. Supporting candidate A or B is also irrelevant in this case.

[Plutonic Panda]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

We'll see what the Senate does to it.

Not to get political and I'm not advocating for this one way or another but I had read Trump was pushing to include the Save America Act in the transportation bill IIRC. Not sure if that'll impact it or not.

You don't need to say "not to get political" when the thread is literally about something political. The previous Build Act was also political. Supporting candidate A or B is also irrelevant in this case.

What I meant really is that I'm not gonna say whether I support that or not. Just repeating what I've seen.

[SP Cook]

You don't need to say "not to get political" when the thread is literally about something political. The previous Build Act was also political. Supporting candidate A or B is also irrelevant in this case.

I agree with this.  While they don't always do exactly what I would have done, the mods here do a good job of keeping the tone appropriate here.  There is a difference between a discussion that is by definition political, such as this, and allowing people to just turn every conversation into a polemic with the mandatory accompanying simplistic statements and personal namecalling.

As to some of the bill's content commented upon above.

- It is time to add the phrase "except in North Carolina, which just makes stuff up without logic or need" to any discussion of how interstates are numbered.

- More money down the Amtrak rathole is sad.  It just doesn't work and no amount of spending is going to change that. 

- Toll transponder interoperability, we are too far down the path to ever get things done now.  This is one of the great misses of transportation in the last couple of decades.  There should have been one (inter)national (Canada getting offered the chance to join in) clearing house for toll accounts and one universal transponder, which in the natural course of things would have eventually become just something built into the car, at least on high end cars, with no need to attach stuff to your windshield or whatever. 

[architect77]

New report shows surface transportation marginally improving:

https://www.roadsbridges.com/funding/news/55378975/america-spent-15-trillion-on-roads-heres-why-many-still-arent-getting-better

Make sure everyone is aware that says $1.5 trillion not $15 trillion spent over the last 30 years.

That works out to be $1 Billion per state per year, much less impressive.

[ElishaGOtis]

You don't need to say "not to get political" when the thread is literally about something political. The previous Build Act was also political. Supporting candidate A or B is also irrelevant in this case.

I agree with this.  While they don't always do exactly what I would have done, the mods here do a good job of keeping the tone appropriate here.  There is a difference between a discussion that is by definition political, such as this, and allowing people to just turn every conversation into a polemic with the mandatory accompanying simplistic statements and personal namecalling.

As to some of the bill's content commented upon above.

- It is time to add the phrase "except in North Carolina, which just makes stuff up without logic or need" to any discussion of how interstates are numbered.

- More money down the Amtrak rathole is sad.  It just doesn't work and no amount of spending is going to change that. 

- Toll transponder interoperability, we are too far down the path to ever get things done now.  This is one of the great misses of transportation in the last couple of decades.  There should have been one (inter)national (Canada getting offered the chance to join in) clearing house for toll accounts and one universal transponder, which in the natural course of things would have eventually become just something built into the car, at least on high end cars, with no need to attach stuff to your windshield or whatever. 

Let's see...

1) Amtrak's Northeast rail service between D.C. and NYC and Boston has turned a small profit for the last couple of years. It's wildly successful and absolutely vital for a region with congested airspace and maxed out I-95 conditions.

2) Regional intercity rail within 500 miles is absolutely efficient and will be expanding up and down the East coast. Virginia has committed to rail to meet the commonwealth's transportation needs through the 21st century. They are adding service to all parts of the state and are working with NC to connect Virginia's rail service to NC's successful intrastate service.

3) NC's Piedmont service serving central NC is solvent and successful without ever taking on debt. It can be done and currently there are 5 daily RTs serving all of central NC towns and cities.

4) Georgia and SC are studying whether high speed service could link Atlanta and upstate SC to Charlotte & NC's Piedmont service.

5) Anticipated growth in travel along the East Coast can only be accommodated with regional rail. The skies are full and even with GPS guidance there won't be much room for growth, and of course I-95 is heavily used now.

6) Amtrak's long distance service is what's a failure in terms of efficiency and travel times. But don't let the name itself tarnish the successful regional systems of today. It is the best and most relaxing mode of travel in the NE by far.

7) Our country can't afford to build new high speed track of any large scale. But Acela is doing a good job and making money on our old existing tracks now. There are hundreds of trains everyday using that railway to NYC. It's very important in supporting that region's GDP too.

That's where I think we keep getting ourselves stuck in a trap. The standards for "new build" HSR are becoming increasingly infeasible, yet the existing HSR lines are serving their purpose in very good ways. I'd say the focus should be on modernizing and implementing intercity rail regardless of speed, using HSR as a tool and not the focus. Similar to Brightline tbh (despite their financial woes)... it focuses on intercity services and only runs at 200km/h on a small segment. But even at that speed, they're still not technically HSR since that requires 250km/h for new build, something that the NEC only RECENTLY achieved...

Also regarding Brightline, I'm admittedly disappointed that the original P3 plan didn't go through with FDOT (per Gov. Rick Scott's proposal), because I think half of their financial issues they're running into could have been minimized this way...

[ElishaGOtis]

Looking at one of the amendments (on page 13), it adds two routes in the FL panhandle as high-priority corridors:
- US-98 between E Chase St (I-110) & US-331
- SR-85 between US-98 and US-90

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/mgr.pdf

[74/171FAN]

Moved the Amtrak Discussion.  (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=37184.0)