Ed Glaeser on Obama's high-speed train plans

He is sceptical (all annotations and snarky comments are mine)

The problem is that while common sense requires transportation modes and spending to be targeted to the local environment, politics demands that federal programs spend everywhere [America is great . . . except for the South]. A serious high-speed rail project would forget about Texas and focus on saving hours in the Northeast Corridor. A rational transportation program would target money to the areas that have the most congestion. A smart transportation policy would recognize the wisdom of using our existing infrastructure more efficiently, with the help of congestion pricing, rather than building more roads. Unfortunately, wisdom seems to take wing whenever politicians start envisioning the shining splendor of fast trains.

I tend to agree here. High-speed rail lines don't seem to make sense in many of the areas they've been proposed (such as Texas, as Glaeser points out). Trains in general don't seem to make much sense in America, given current levels of sprawl. I like the idea of bullet-train systems just as much as the next man, but America is not Japan. We may want America to be less car-dependent, but buying more trains absent other actions to discourage current building and driving habits won't change that.



Hat Tip: Greg Mankiw