×
In response to my concerns that transit investment will be left out of the stimulus bill and then unable to break through in the post-recession environment, when deficits matter again and are huge, Ben Adler, an urban policy fellow at The Next American City, e-mails:
One important side note to your post on infrastructure priorities is that there is a whole other revenue stream for transportation. The gas tax funds road and mass transit construction and repair. So if the stimulus pot of money isn't used for high speed rail that doesn't mean the money can't come later on in the transportation bill, which allocates the gas tax revenues. Right now, the mix is at least 80-20 in favor of highways and roads. If transit activists get their way, the next bill will divide that money more evenly between transit and highways and/or increase the overall pot through an increase in the gas tax.That's a good point. It's general revenue spending that will shrink when the deficit needs to be closed. Policies funded out of dedicated revenue streams should be fine.
