The 2007 AASHTO Conference will be in Milwaukee this year. AASHTO (the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) members will have a lot to mull over while they enjoy their Milwaukee Mai Tais. Never had a Milwaukee Mai Tai? It’s a twenty ounce glass of Miller beer with a Dole canned pineapple ring floating on top. (Speaking of “special beers,” you’ll want to read this week’s Kansas City Pitch feature by Ben Paynter on the heady micro brew competition anchored at each end of Interstate 70 in Missouri).
State transportation administration is one place the rubber meets the road in the blend of business and government so popular since Milton Friedman was canonized and Sir Ronald beat back the faceless hordes of godless communism and tore down the wall. Republicans as bridge builders… something to ponder.
Blame Winston and RB for this morning’s rant. Winston has a post titled, “1984: Are We There yet?” and Chris sent an email pointing to yet another astonishing Republican mind fart:
“It doesn’t mean that the bridge is unsafe,” Transportation Secretary Mary Peters told The Associated Press after touring the site. “It could carry a rating of 50 for a number of years without getting substantially worse.”
Chris says, “Hell no, it’s not UNSAFE! Think of it as a Water Ride.”
Hey America, how’s that “public/private partnership where profits drive public service” working out for you?
Here in Dane County I felt the guilty pleasure of NIMBYism rewarded this week, when the American Transmission Company (ATC) announced two alternate routes for their controversial new power line. One route follows the highway to the north and one cuts through the fields and woods well south of our place.
Call it a victory for strong town government. Our township sits squarely astride the most direct route between the coal fired generating plant and the suburban sprawl, but over the years we’ve kept democracy alive here in the Town of Dunn and ATC didn’t want to risk struggling with our Town Meeting.
In Dane County we are not convinced that we need the power line build-out to address future energy needs. We don’t know if it’s economical and environmentally appropriate. In fact, we don’t have a good sense of what our future needs might be. Growth has slowed. Conservation is more palatable to consumers in he face of rising prices. But all of our data comes from the transmission company and the transmission company’s raison d’etre is to amass profit for its shareholders, They do this by building power lines.
The current boondoggle won’t be built through my back yard. Maybe with some organization and judiciously applied democratic process we can be sure it won’t be built in your back yard either. Meanwhile I’m looking forward to the 2008 Republican convention in Minneapolis almost as much I’m looking forward to the AASHTO Conference in Milwaukee. Multi-million dollar bridge projects are largely funded by the federal government. Just where was the bridge money that was needed to prevent the disaster in Minnesota? I think Bush may have to tell his Transportation Secretary that the “mission’s accomplished” and she’s done a “heckuva job.”
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