Summary: Just 50 years ago, the United States had the world’s best transportation infrastructure, leading the way in innovation and construction. Now, as China and other countries are developing Maglev trains, world-class airports and extensive subway systems, the U.S. is struggling to even repair cracked pavement. Still, there are signs that U.S. is finally moving forward again. Next American City Editor-at-Large Diana Lind talks with Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Robert Puentes about President Obama’s recently announced plan to rebuild and modernize roads and railways, the potential to create new investment tools to facilitate national- and regional-level thinking in infrastructure investment, and the likelihood of a gas tax. Plus: promising transit investments in Denver and Salt Lake City; what the ordinary citizen can do to advocate for transit spending, and how the recession just may end up being the fuel for innovation.
