LaHood: ?America is one big pothole? - The Hill's Transportation Report (http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/infrastructure/281461-lahood-america-is-one-big-pothole-right-now)


"At one time ... we were the leader in infrastructure," he said. "We built the interstate system. It's the best road system in the world, and we're proud of it. But we're falling way behind other countries, because we have not made the investments."

...

"The next decisions that will be made by this Congress, by this administration will have to be bold if we're going to continue our efforts to fix up our roads, keep our highways in a state of good repair, to fix up unsafe bridges," he said. "We need a bold plan, and a bold way to fund it."


So while the rest of the world is building HSR our outgoing Secretary of Transportation laments that we didn't spend more money, that we don't even have anyhow, fixing our roads. Nice.

LaHood: ?America is one big pothole? - The Hill's Transportation Report (http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/infrastructure/281461-lahood-america-is-one-big-pothole-right-now)



So while the rest of the world is building HSR our outgoing Secretary of Transportation laments that we didn't spend more money, that we don't even have anyhow, fixing our roads. Nice.

He generally talks about funding both, not one exclusively. Both forms of transport have their virtues.

It seems to me that for larger countries it's harder to build an extensive HSR network where as in smaller countries, it's a cinch. How's Russia coming along with their HSR network?

High-speed rail in China refers to any commercial train service in China with an average speed of 200 km/h (124 mph) or higher. By that measure, China has the world's longest high-speed rail (HSR) network with about 9,300 km (5,800 mi) of routes in service as of December 2012. The world's longest line opened in China on 25 December 2012. It runs 2,298 kilometers (1,428 miles) from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou.
High-speed rail service in China was introduced on April 18, 2007. Daily ridership has grown from 237,000 in 2007 to 1.33 million in 2012, making the Chinese high-speed rail network the busiest in the world.China's high speed rail network consists of upgraded conventional railways, newly built high-speed passenger designated lines (PDLs), and the world's first high-speed commercial magnetic levitation (maglev) line. The country has been undergoing an HSR building boom with generous funding from the Chinese government's economic stimulus program. The network is rapidly expanding and the total network length of above 200 km/h lines is expected to reach 18,000 km (11,000 mi) by the end of 2015, or 40,000 km (25,000 mi) total network length under another definition of high speed rail.(High-speed rail in China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China)).

I believe China is bigger than Russia.

“There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
― Robert F. Kennedy

High-speed rail in China refers to any commercial train service in China with an average speed of 200 km/h (124 mph) or higher. By that measure, China has the world's longest high-speed rail (HSR) network with about 9,300 km (5,800 mi) of routes in service as of December 2012. The world's longest line opened in China on 25 December 2012. It runs 2,298 kilometers (1,428 miles) from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou.
High-speed rail service in China was introduced on April 18, 2007. Daily ridership has grown from 237,000 in 2007 to 1.33 million in 2012, making the Chinese high-speed rail network the busiest in the world.China's high speed rail network consists of upgraded conventional railways, newly built high-speed passenger designated lines (PDLs), and the world's first high-speed commercial magnetic levitation (maglev) line. The country has been undergoing an HSR building boom with generous funding from the Chinese government's economic stimulus program. The network is rapidly expanding and the total network length of above 200 km/h lines is expected to reach 18,000 km (11,000 mi) by the end of 2015, or 40,000 km (25,000 mi) total network length under another definition of high speed rail.(High-speed rail in China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China)).

I believe China is bigger than Russia.

“There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
― Robert F. Kennedy

I agree with all this. They also are rolling out broadband at speeds about 10x our own internet infrastructure and doing it even to long neglected rural areas. If they would loosen up with that censorship firewall and stop nannying their people that would help.

High-speed rail in China refers to any commercial train service in China with an average speed of 200 km/h (124 mph) or higher. By that measure, China has the world's longest high-speed rail (HSR) network with about 9,300 km (5,800 mi) of routes in service as of December 2012. The world's longest line opened in China on 25 December 2012. It runs 2,298 kilometers (1,428 miles) from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou.
High-speed rail service in China was introduced on April 18, 2007. Daily ridership has grown from 237,000 in 2007 to 1.33 million in 2012, making the Chinese high-speed rail network the busiest in the world.China's high speed rail network consists of upgraded conventional railways, newly built high-speed passenger designated lines (PDLs), and the world's first high-speed commercial magnetic levitation (maglev) line. The country has been undergoing an HSR building boom with generous funding from the Chinese government's economic stimulus program. The network is rapidly expanding and the total network length of above 200 km/h lines is expected to reach 18,000 km (11,000 mi) by the end of 2015, or 40,000 km (25,000 mi) total network length under another definition of high speed rail.(High-speed rail in China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China)).

I believe China is bigger than Russia.

“There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
― Robert F. Kennedy

China is significantly smaller than Russia, which is the largest country in the world. China is closer to the US in size though, so it's a better comparison.

China is significantly smaller than Russia, which is the largest country in the world. China is closer to the US in size though, so it's a better comparison.

Yeah, I was going to say, Russia covers 11 time zones, lol.

As far as population density goes:
United States 88.6/sq mi.
Russia 21.5/sq mi.
China 363.3/sq mi.

I don't know if those countries would be borrowing against themselves to finance these rail networks or what but if they're taxing the people, then you can see why it is feasible in China and not in the US and Russia, lol.

China is significantly smaller than Russia, which is the largest country in the world. China is closer to the US in size though, so it's a better comparison.

My bad, thanks for the correction.

I don't know if those countries would be borrowing against themselves to finance these rail networks or what but if they're taxing the people, then you can see why it is feasible in China and not in the US and Russia, lol.

They don't spend near as much as the United States does in military, foreign occupation and related defense expenditures (combined).

I agree with all this. They also are rolling out broadband at speeds about 10x our own internet infrastructure and doing it even to long neglected rural areas. If they would loosen up with that censorship firewall and stop nannying their people that would help.

Our problem is not the internet backbone that connects cities to cities, it is the last mile from the local office to your house, partially due to it is collectively much more costly to replace the line to every house than the few lines that connect upstream. Though in part because at best most places have a duopoly on wired connections, so their is little incentive to give better connections or lower prices.

I guess we tried to ignore it but the issues doesn't seem to be going away on its own.

Former DOT Secretary LaHood: 'Let's Raise the Gas Tax' | CNS News (http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/former-dot-secretary-lahood-lets-raise-gas-tax)


(CNSNews.com) - Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says unless Congress acts, the Highway Trust Fund will run out of money at the end of fiscal 2014 -- "because people are driving less, driving more fuel-efficient cars, and the gas tax hasn't been raised in many years."

Of course I am not surprised at Neil Cavuto's take on it.


Neil Cavuto noted that billions of dollars in tolls and fees and state and local gasoline taxes also are earmarked for infrastructure improvements, in addition to what the Highway Trust Fund provides: "Methinks that someone is absconding with a lot of that money," he told LaHood.

The Highway Trust fund started falling short in the late 1950's (just 5 years after it was created) and has relied on transfers from the general fund every since. The current gasoline tax only raises half the money that is spent by the Highway Administration so we don't need just a small tax increase - we need to double the current gasoline tax just to break even. In reality, we probably need to triple it or we fall right back into deficits OR we find a more economical mode of transportation to invest in.

I guess it will come as little surprise that those who use their cars the most will be the same ones who think the gasoline tax to pay for the roads is high enough already. Today the federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. It needs to go to 55.2 cents and 73.2 cents respectively.

Not trying to derail -- I'm sure the gas tax needs to be raised and road revenue needs to look at other streams, but ...
Why the hell is the gas tax a fraction? For starters, let's raise the gas tax one tenth of a cent and quit this stupid $2.89 AND 9/10ths of a cent for gas!
I wonder what just the extra $0.001 per gallon would do.

That 9/10 isn't the tax, that is the gas stations doing that. I was really hoping that the when gas went over $3 per gallon they would drop that non-sense but their marketing departments keeps them doing it.

Also, the federal tax isn't the only tax on gasoline. The state and local governments also tax it.

Here is a link of where your fuel taxes go. Apparently there are no local taxes in the state of Oklahoma.
Gasoline tax information - Oklahoma Gas Prices (http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/tax_info.aspx)

You hear a lot about Russia in the news, but its GDP is only about one-third the size of the UK's, and their influence has been in serious decline for more than a century.

Despite their posturing, Putin stated last month in his annual address to parliamentarians and senior national officials, "We do not aspire to be called some kind of superpower, understanding that as a claim to world or regional hegemony."

Understatement of 2013.

By the way, presidential administrations since Eisenhower have failed to invest in highway infrastructure, preferring to kick the issue down the road (literally). One day it will devolve into a crisis and have to be dealt with, as we are witnessing in Detroit, and are about to witness in Illinois with their unfunded pension liabilities.