Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

Obama’s Stimulus: Too Much Emphasis on Roads and Bridges?

There's a lot of reaction from members of the the Streetsblog Network to President-elect Obama's address this weekend. Some transit advocates, like The Transport Politic, are putting a positive spin on it, and Ryan Avent at The Bellows says, "it’s really amazing to see the wave of public intellectual criticism [for] Obama’s potential stimulus plan." Avent adds, in another post:

I have yet to see is any evidence that Obama intends to embark on amajor program of new road construction. And until we see definitiveevidence of something like that, transit supporters really ought tocalm down.

But others -- like Cap'n Transit -- are hearing the refrain "roads and bridges" way too many times. Trains for America puts it this way:

We here at TFA, along with practically every other blog about non-autotransportation, have been holding our breaths waiting for anything atall substantive about how the Obama administration is going to takeadvantage of this unique time to refocus attention on our overcrowdedand underfunded transit systems.

What do you think?

Also on Streetsblog.net today, a post from The Overhead Wire about the lack of transit power brokers with the political will of Robert Moses.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: The H.A.R.D. Fight Against Hit-and-Runs

Streetsblog USA senior editor Kea Wilson sits down with Tiffanie Stanfield of Fighting H.A.R.D.

December 12, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Have an Apartment in Every Garage

New York City is turning homes for cars into homes for people.

December 12, 2025

How Chicago Cyclists Are Fighting Food Insecurity (And ICE Crackdowns)

"We're on bikes, we're outside, and we see street vendors not only as beloved members of our community but also as some of the most vulnerable, because they have to be outside to earn a living. And so that's where our role as community organizers, advocates, and caring neighbors comes into play."

December 11, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: ‘The Dawn of the NIMBYs’

"We kind of live in this eternal present of cities being a certain way and always seeming to remain that way." And that's bad, says today's guest.

December 11, 2025

Report: Speed Cameras Working in San Francisco, Floundering in Bureaucracy in L.A.

Great progress and success in the Bay Area, while So Cal lags.

December 11, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines See Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind

Yes, it's political, but transit agencies are still going to have to grapple with the perception that it's unsafe.

December 11, 2025
See all posts