What about an Ode to the MTA? Or an Ode to Amtrak? Or an Ode to MUNI? An ode to the bike lane!
I think the last thing the United States needs is more people glorifying the horrendous car culture that has been built up in this country.
I think the last thing the United States needs is more people glorifying the horrendous car culture that has been built up in this country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XyRdJr4LSc
FYI, the reason that song means something is because this is the train line that Abraham Lincoln signed legislation to create and has been running daily service almost uninterrupted since the end of the Civil War.
The Kingston Trio - M.T.A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Jw_v3F_Q0
Now, the Illinois Central was a land grant railroad, but it received the land grants in 1850, under President Fillmore, not under Lincoln.
But seriously. You cannot ignore the the importance that cars have played in America. Ya ya ya, cars are terrible, Europe is better but also much smaller. I am definitely looking to the future and hope we design smarter cities but we cannot ignore the past. None of the options you listed are part of Americana imo.
To the contrary, commuter rail transit systems, primarily streetcars, were very much a feature of American cities from Cincinnati to San Francisco in the period from the late 1800s through the mid-century. Ignoring them is, as you yourself say, ignoring the past.
And we not just talking gas tax, billions has been stolen from the general fund to prop up the highway trust fund: https://www.pgpf.org/budget-basics/budget-explainer-highway-...