President-Elect Obama's selection of Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) to be his Secretary of Transportation is a true case of political bi-partisanship and a hopeful sign that progress can be made on a number of key infrastructure issues.
The DOT often does not attract much attention, but the prospect of major infrastructure improvements in 2009 as a favored way to use economic stimulus funds means that the sometimes sleepy Transportation department may be coming awake.
Since the days of the Erie Canal and the early post roads, transportation not only has been seen as a legitimate government issue, but also a federal one (as well as state and local). Sadly, however, transportation hasn't had much of a constituency lately. Maybe that will change now.
LaHood's district is in one of the few regions (central Illinois) that enjoys good passenger rail service so it is understandable that he has been a strong backer of Amtrak and a skeptic of privatization of passenger rail. Nonetheless, he is the kind of practical person who will want to review carefully the proposals of the recent Amtrak Reform Council studies that gained wide support for joint public/private partnerships in expanding passenger rail service in America. Real Amtrak reform would assure broad GOP support and the prospect of much more extensive passenger rail would assure Democratic enthusiasm in the heavily rail-dependent Northeast Corridor. Businesses will appreciate an alternative to planes for middle distance trips and environmentalists will cheer the green benefits of rail over nearly any other transportation option for either people or goods. Labor would need to address out of date rules and unwarranted costs. If necessary, the present union members could receive grandfather benefits. But surely union leaders could be persuaded--by a Democratic president--that sustainable passenger rail expansion would be substantial membership increases for the affected unions.
Rep. LaHood reputedly has good relations with Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the new Obama Chief of Staff, and is known to support the Chicago bid for the Olympic Games. Winning those games will require restructuring of the outmoded rail yards and services, a massive public works program that LaHood presumably--at DOT--could help enable. (Don't knock a little home state favoritism in the White House; it happens with almost every new president.)
Regardless, it would be a huge win-win strategy for an Obama Administration to make a commitment to an expanded passenger rail system at this time. With track improvements and new equipment and timetables, it is possible to revitalize passenger rail in only a few years.
How odd that neither Presidential candidate made an issue of passenger rail in the recent campaign. Still, this wouldn't be the first time for a president to govern with innovations that he didn't campaign on.
DOT, meanwhile, also can be home to other bi-partisan and green initiatives, including the plug-in hybrid car that Senator Obama has supported in Congress.
Maybe Secretary-designate LaHood also would be willing to take on a subject that is not so much an opportunity as it is a headache: the declining quality of air service in America.
Then there is the highway program. It would be a huge step forward if the DOT would start to show publicly its support for urban freeway tunnels to help reclaim the space lost to broad, single purpose highways in the 50s and 60s. Discovery Institute just happens to have a favorite pilot project available on the Seattle waterfront where the Alaska Way Viaduct has to be replaced.
Once again, appointment of a Republican Congressman to head DOT could turn out to be an inspired choice for a president wanting to get things done within a bi-partisan consensus.
