The Cumberland Road and the future

[ThomWV]

One of the first acts of the Federal Government (1811-1837) was to build the Cumberland Road. You probably never heard of it and its not important to look it up, but a road was built which eventually extended between Cumberland, Maryland and Vandalia, Illinois. Extending an earlier state road that connected the port city of Baltimore to Cumberland i.t is the route many immigrants took to the west. One of the first acts of the new Government was to facilitate public transportation and doing so lead to the growth of the nation.

The Railroad Act of 1862 put the strength of the Federal Government behind modern transportation once again and in 1869 Union Pacific Railroad joined with the Central Pacific at Promontory Utah connecting the east and the west The eighty years that followed gave us our ports and then airports, all heavily subsidized by the Federal Government. Without this communal transportation infrastructure our nation would never have risen to the demands of World War II, we would never have become the world's economic powerhouse.

The 1950's brought us the Interstates; the economic impact they have had on the nation has been profound. Indeed the legacy of President Eisenhower centers around this, his greatest achievement. The great leap in prosperity this nation enjoyed during the last half of the century would not have been possible without the improved transportation the Interstates provided

Now we embark, under the leadership of President Obama, on a high speed rail system stretching up and down the east and expanding into the west. Imagine the possibilities. New and economical propulsion systems that do not rely on petroleum will help free us from vulnerability to embargo while providing improved movement of both freight and people. If history has shown us anything it is that Government investment in the infrastructure of fast national transportation systems has always been to our benefit. If we build this system we will all be better off for it. If we build this system It will certainly be a high point in President Obama's legacy. Of course there are also the heavy manufacturing jobs building the cars and the rails, the white collar jobs in design and management, the construction jobs that would continue for decades. I, for one, am fully in support of the National High Speed Rail system that our President proposes.

[Xithras]

1. The Cumberland Road = US 40

I know you said it wasn't important, but I couldn't resist :)

My only concern with the proposal is that we must first abandon the current "lowest bidder" mentality that permeates all government spending. If Obama simply has the money doled out into the bureaucracy and the system is built using current methods of acquisition, we'll end up with rail cars built in Mexico, Chinese forged rails using Indian iron, and unskilled construction labor being done by undocumented hispanic workers. Design and planning? EDS has a dozen Indian firms that can handle that for a fraction of the cost of U.S. engineers.

The economic benefit of an outsourced rail system? Less than zero.

Don't say it can't happen either. Current government contracting procedures encourage EXACTLY this sort of thing. That's why FDR had to switch to cost-plus accounting for New Deal era projects...he knew that the only way these projects would help American workers would be to force employers to pay more to workers. The more they paid, the more they made. I haven't heard anything about any similar proposals this time around.

[ThomWV]

5. I have followed it all the way from the base of the blue bridge to Wheeling

And stopped at each landmark along the way. It is one of my favorite motorcycle rides. There is a great little cabin/shack/museum right in Cumberland at the very beginning of the road that is really interesting. Along the way there are toll houses, revolutionary war forts, and other points of interest. Its a wonderful ride.

[Oregone]

2. While I'm not disagreeing with you...

"we would never have become the world's economic powerhouse"

How's that working out for the US? Really, what is the inherent value of this status in itself, especially contrasted with the other non-powerhouse nations that may have a higher standard of living (refer to the HDI). It seems like a lot of touted "prosperity" has led to income disparity, debt, and insatiable consumptionism.

"The Railroad Act of 1862 put the strength of the Federal Government behind modern transportation once again and in 1869 Union Pacific Railroad joined with the Central Pacific"

Wasn't the government essentially empowering the wealthy upper class involved in this industry to make a massive land grab (a subsidized one at that). Although you can argue that this spurred economic prosperity, was it un proportionally directed at the upper classes? Would that prosperity eventually come to fruition in ways that could be more egalitarian?

"Without this communal transportation infrastructure our nation would never have risen to the demands of World War II"

Did we need to? Another Russian winter may have been equally effective. What this rise to demands has given us is a massively bloated and entrenched MIC that siphons public funds to their private shareholders, while profiting off of war. It has created a wealthy elite that not only profits off war, but may in fact instigate it.

"The great leap in prosperity this nation enjoyed during the last half of the century would not have been possible without the improved transportation the Interstates provided"

The great leap can also be attributed to unbridled capitalism and expansion, that has left many victims in its wake through each recession and corruption scandal weve worked through along the way. I am not saying transportation is bad. But perhaps it isn't good simply because it facilitates the mass expansion of capitalism and our economy. There are pitfalls here. The faster the roads, the further we travel to get to work or transport goods. Dylan once sang, "are birds free from the chains of the sky?" Our we free from the chains of these roads and the capitalistic system in which they support? Or as the system expands, do we become more enslaved to it.

"New and economical propulsion systems that do not rely on petroleum"

But it will still rely on energy, which the US is addicted to and must constantly import from Canada. Until the US makes sacrifices and negotiates with their own NIMBY policies, this isn't going to do a world of good. Yes, I realize people want to invest in green energy, but I do not think people understand the massive scale the US must go to in order to be completely independent (and don't forget, the population is exploding under that time period, as is industry, which creates more demand). It will be decades before we could support our current demand, much less massive rail system and the expansion we will go through in the years ahead.

"If we build this system we will all be better off for it"

I think we are better off because we have culture, arts, and anti-biotics (for a while still, thats been positive). As far as expansion, technology, who fucking knows. I don't mean to be contrarian here. We have the internet, so we can work at home. We have cars, so we can get to work faster and more consistently. We have media forms, to ensure a populace that is bent on consumption.

Are we better off from 90% of technological advances? Or just more enslaved? When our economy expands in the examples you cite, did our social consciousness grow with it? Did our lives and happiness levels improve? Is massive growth and expansions, perpetually, the answer to what ails man? Does growth address the human condition?

[leftstreet]

3. Hey, Robber Barons have to eat, too

Thoughtful and excellent post

:thumbsup:

[ThomWV]

4. Well, as long as you're not disagreeing with me ...

On becoming an economic powerhouse, you ask how's that working out for us? Well, you are sitting in front of a computer that would not be there except for at least 50 years of more or less continuous prosperity at a level never seen in the world before. I think that counts for something.

Next: as to empowering the wealthy that is just nonsense. Simply look to the farm belt to see what prosperity really looks like. The millions accumulated by the railroad barons was nothing compared to the wealth represented by communities that owed their very existence to the rail roads.

Next: Another Russian winter might have ended the war? Well, aside from being an unprovable proposition one would have to ask how, pray tell, would the Russians have ever held back the Germans for the first winter were it not for material and machinery supplied by the industrial giant, the USA? The second winter would have been moot.

Next: "The great leap can also be attributed to unbridled capitalism and expansion, that has left many victims in its wake through each recession and corruption scandal we've worked through along the way" Yes, there were causes other than our much improved transportation system, but without it none of the others could have existed. The second half of your comment isn't worth addressing.

Next: "But it will still rely on energy, which the US is addicted to and must constantly import from Canada." What, you mean there is no such thing as a perpetual motion machine? Of course energy is required. The point you miss is that we are embarking on production methods other than imported oil (mexico mostly) and natural gas (what I presume you were referring to in your comment). We won't accept less than improvement in sustainability and vastly lessened environmental impact, we are willing to pay for research, and in the end there is always the green giant - nuclear power.

Next: This was your silliest comment, " I think we are better off because we have culture, arts, and anti-biotics (for a while still, thats been positive)." So what? I think we'd be better off if hogs quit farting too - what has that got to do with transportation in the US? Do you think investing in one excludes the other?