Tragedy and noble sacrafice
With the tragic collapse of the I-35W mississippi bridge, I have to wonder what political changes may result. Certainly similar constructed bridges around the country will be under pressure for new inspections, and perhaps some will be calling for raised gasoline taxes to cover our under funded road and bridge maintenance programs.
Locally, some 100,000+ cars will have to be rerouted for 1-2 years until the bridge can be replaced, and I expect a lot of unhappy people, most especially commuters.
I just wonder if this is a good time to be promoting buses, at least for commuting, to reduce the level of traffic on the remaining bridges. Obviously not EVERYONE is in a position to leave their car behind, but clearly more could bus than do, AND those who remain driving WILL benefit from those decisions.
I read a while ago about a fun term called "Negawatts", the cheapest electricity production is conservation. As well, I read that some businesses get special electricity rate contracts in exchange for being flexible in their access under peak times AND they can actually be PAID to NOT consume electricity in such times. You might say its a sort of bribe, a benefit gained by the minority who can deal with shutting down their electricity usage, BUT it works when its needed, and if its not needed often, everyone benefits.
I don't know how to do anything similar in transportation, EXCEPT perhaps to subsidize mass-transit. Well, the opposite side, high charges for parking helps too, but that can as well just drive businesses out of the city.
Anyway, I think it is a noble idea - to use tragedy to change behavior for the better. The continued war in Iraq and Afghanistan don't appear in our daily lives, even though the people there surely suffer daily more than we do, and the soldiers away from their family and friends, there's more than enough sacrafice around, and most of us can choose to ignore it.
Things like bridges don't fall down every day. Things that affect so many people's lives offer the widest impact in reflection to our decisions and awareness of what we have and what it costs us to keep.
Locally, some 100,000+ cars will have to be rerouted for 1-2 years until the bridge can be replaced, and I expect a lot of unhappy people, most especially commuters.
I just wonder if this is a good time to be promoting buses, at least for commuting, to reduce the level of traffic on the remaining bridges. Obviously not EVERYONE is in a position to leave their car behind, but clearly more could bus than do, AND those who remain driving WILL benefit from those decisions.
I read a while ago about a fun term called "Negawatts", the cheapest electricity production is conservation. As well, I read that some businesses get special electricity rate contracts in exchange for being flexible in their access under peak times AND they can actually be PAID to NOT consume electricity in such times. You might say its a sort of bribe, a benefit gained by the minority who can deal with shutting down their electricity usage, BUT it works when its needed, and if its not needed often, everyone benefits.
I don't know how to do anything similar in transportation, EXCEPT perhaps to subsidize mass-transit. Well, the opposite side, high charges for parking helps too, but that can as well just drive businesses out of the city.
Anyway, I think it is a noble idea - to use tragedy to change behavior for the better. The continued war in Iraq and Afghanistan don't appear in our daily lives, even though the people there surely suffer daily more than we do, and the soldiers away from their family and friends, there's more than enough sacrafice around, and most of us can choose to ignore it.
Things like bridges don't fall down every day. Things that affect so many people's lives offer the widest impact in reflection to our decisions and awareness of what we have and what it costs us to keep.
posted by Ares Olympus at 10:25 AM
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