Highways Aren’t The Best Investment Anymore

I’m a little worried that too much of this upcoming Jobs bill is set on creating jobs through highway improvement. I’m all for lowering unemployment through public works projects but highways don’t provide as much bang for your buck as high speed rail or a greater emphasis on the infrastructure of cities would.

With highways you build them and then…that’s it. Very little revenue returns from it. That isn’t to say no revenue is created just, not a lot. By contrast, if you have high speed rail you’re opening up commerce between cities (like highways), you’re getting revenue through tickets (a hell of a lot more than you do from toll booths) and you’re offering an alternative to the pollution-heavy car and trunk culture. It’s just a much better idea…which is why I think the highways-to-create-jobs provision is in there just to get Republicans (who tend to be more pro-highway) to vote for the Democrats’ bill.

–Daniel Strauss