Word: transit
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Carter Administration has not been helpful. Instead of seizing on mass transit as a major means of conserving gasoline, Jimmy Carter barely mentioned it in his April 1977 "moral equivalent of war" speech that kicked off his energy program. Last spring Carter finally stated that part of the windfall tax on oil companies should be set aside for mass transport. Yet the Administration still lacks a coherent policy or an effective advocate for it. Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams is a firm supporter, but he lacks the backing of the President and the other Georgians in the White House. After...
...considerable federal aid from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, which was founded in 1964 during Lyndon Johnson's presidency. UMTA provides 80% of the construction funds after states and local communities have raised the first 20%, and this year it will contribute $3.3 billion to 5,803 transit undertakings...
Unfortunately, squabbling among local communities slows the selection process. Since most rapid transit authorities encompass at least two and sometimes as many as eight city and county governments, new plans tend to become ensnarled in local rivalries and prejudices. Virginia Governor John Dalton has just sidetracked a planned 1% sales tax in the state's northern counties that would have helped support the Washington Metro underground-and-elevated rail system. Detroit's plan for a southeastern Michigan transit system is being blocked by opposition from adjoining towns whose leaders say that they must pay more than a fair...
Still, some heartening progress is taking place. Baltimore is digging its first subway, an eight-mile system scheduled to open in late 1982. In April, Buffalo began construction of a 6.5-mile subway and elevated transit system, which is expected to be completed in 1984. Last month Miami broke ground for a 20.5-mile elevated rail system that will run north-south through the city. Late last month Atlanta put into operation the first 6.7-mile segment of MARIA (for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority). In the next two years, 13.7 miles of the proposed 53-mile subway-and-elevated...
...worry in Atlanta: What happens next? So far, the city has received more federal cash per capita for transit construction than any other U.S. urban area, but UMTA has not made any substantial commitments for funds after 1981. MARTA'S advocates are especially fearful, since the Federal Highway Administration plans to widen the expressways next to one main route of the proposed MARTA line. Unless MARTA can grow into a full-fledged network of interlocking routes, it will end up an uneconomic and inconvenient half measure that hould not have been started in the first place...