America's Transportation System

Passenger and freight transportation systems have a number of similarities in the investment evaluation process, with a few significant differences. The table below offers an initial look at the stakeholders for each and their relative financial interests.

In the late 1800s, the transcontinental railroad was underway from being built. For many in that day and age it meant a multitude of opportunities. But for others, it meant that everything that they had worked hard to bring into the world was going to come crashing down on them.

Richard White’s 2011 book titled Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America is about the corrupt and mismanaged transcontinental railroads and bold arguments of the story how they came and went. In this book White describes how the construction of the transcontinental railroads across the US in the late nineteenth century would change America socially, economically, and politically. He also describes the companies that built these railroads and argues with three main points on why they were corrupt companies. First I’d like to go over the three different ways that the railroads would affect America, socially, economically, and politically.

The Ann Arbor School District is facing about a $20 million shortfall over this year and next year school budget. The district currently spends about $7.2 million on transportation and is looking at outsourcing its bussing as part of an effort to deal with its budget shortfall. The districts goals are to try to stay away from making cuts to instruction, and cutting teachers. More Michigan public school districts contracted out in 2009 for at least one of the three main support services –food, custodial or transportation- according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s annual privatization survey. The school districts are not mandated to provide transportation services, and some districts have stopped providing transportation completely to save on cost. The estimated per-pupil savings estimates from transportation privatization are significant as the state Legislature discusses reducing the state-aid foundation grant per pupil.

The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.

“If any act symbolized the taming of the Northwest frontier, it was the driving of the final spike to complete the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.”1 The first railroad west of the Mississippi River was opened on December 23, 1852. Five miles long, the track ran from St. Louis to Cheltanham, Missouri. Twenty-five years prior, there were no railroads in the United States; twenty-five years later, railroads joined the east and west coasts from New York to San Francisco.2

The capital funding needed to implement these plans will come from “federal, state, local and private sources” (California, 2017). When California’s High Speed Rail is complete, the projected estimated budget will be about 61 billion to 84 billion dollars. To implement this costly project, the HSR Authority created a variety of plans over the years. In 2002, a senate bill was passed for a bond worth 9.95 billion dollars to finance the California High Speed Rail. This measure was delayed for seven years unto the voter’s dismay due from the undesirable tax hikes. In 2008, Prop 1A was passed; the first bill to pass that was passed and supported by state voters to finance the California High Speed Rail. Developing the first section of the High Speed Rail will be from Madera to Bakersfield which will cost an estimated 6 billion dollars. Financing this segment of the IOS, or Initial Operating Section, will come from Prop 1a, and any other remaining balances will be funded by state and local bonds, and “federal support” (Funding, 2017). When former California Governor Edmund G. Brown declared that the California High Speed Rail would be a number one priority in his faculty, he signed bill “SB 1029” that approved over8 billion dollars, from both state and federal government, in

With the upcoming presidential election, this year there is one very unnerving fact that has received overwhelming bipartisan recognition; America has a serious problem with infrastructure and something must be done. Across the country, dams, roads, sewage systems and bridges were built with Works Progress Administration funds in the 1930s. Seventy years later, they are in despair. As a nation, we must address Americas’ failing infrastructure and close the ever-increasing infrastructure deficit before the backbone of America crumbles right under our own two feet. To do so U.S. policymakers must act now to raise funds, without increasing our national debt. No intervention by the government will lead to a continuance of deteriorating the health

The First Transcontinental Railroad, completed in 1869 by the U.S. government under president and former Army general Ulysses S. Grant, was a defining moment in American history. The railroad, which stretches across 1,900 miles of mountainous terrain, was completed nearly 6 years after construction began in 1863. The First Transcontinental Railroad became the cornerstone of the economic prosperity in the western United States, allowing American citizens to conveniently travel to the west coast in a matter of days. The creation of this railroad, along with the American dream of unifying the coasts, is what ultimately drove Americans to colonizing and transforming the west into the urban environment it is today. Significantly, this railroad became the physical manifestation of Manifest Destiny, or the idea that America not only could, but was destined to be connected between its coasts. The First Transcontinental Railroad became the physical manifestation of the American Identities consisting of American Exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, as well as the fundamental American ideals such as prosperity, freedom, and democracy which were first brought to the continent in the 1600s.

Introduction: Federal grant agendas offer state and local governments varying steps of flexibility over the use of grant funds. For example, block grants provide only extensive factors for using those funds, leaving state and local government’s significant liberty when they make spending results. By contrast, state and local governments face more spending limitations on how they use categorical formula grants. For example, definite standards govern the types of roads that state governments may improve using federal highway grant funds. Though, among all probable road schemes that meet the recognized standards, states are normally able to select which ones to fund. Project grants deliver state and local governments the minimum tractability over

Americans are not unfamiliar with the concept of a budget, in fact, most follow a budget on an everyday basis, however, the topic of a public budget can be overwhelming to many them. Although many Americans might have a small concept of how the federal budget works, very few are familiar with their local budget process, and even less familiar to their adopted annual city budget. Every local budget is as unique as the cities who developed them. The following paper will summarize, evaluate, and compare El Paso Texas and San Diego California’s 2012 budgets. It will compare their revenues, expenditures, and budget format. It will attempt to analyze the similarities and differences and determine the causes of such similarities and differences.

In 2013 the American Society of Civil Engineers released a report card after carefully analyzing United States infrastructure. The experts awarded the infrastructure a D+, which is usually considered a failing grade. Experts also pointed out the fact that most United States infrastructure is approaching the end of their expected life-spans. Those who are in charge of maintaining and repairing infrastructure have expressed a dire need for more funding. Deficient infrastructure has already caused thousands of deaths and will continue to do so if Congress does not step up. Congress should increase taxes in order to maintain and repair our failing infrastructure. Increasing taxes would not only help to ensure the people’s safety but it would also prevent the government from going further into debt and it's a fairly quick solution.

Of the money gathered by the state, almost 1 billion dollars is sent to other state agencies (such as the Department of Public Safety, Education, and other state colleges and state parks).3 This money is regulated by the state government to go to these other agencies, which detracts from the department of transportation’s ability to handle road maintenance. So, even before taking into account the increases due to inflation, the budget of TxDOT is decreased by $1 billion dollars (almost half of which goes to the state’s educational system).

Funding for projects is always a topic of discussion, payments for a sculptor to sculpt a statue, and hiring wrecking crews for doing their job are just small examples. The funding cost for Light Rail is extremely high when it comes to construction, these prices are something that a any+ billionaire can personally handle. These prices are always subject to change because of materials used and the constant change of technology. Through the talks of this new transit system coming to San Antonio, different funding options have been suggested, raising taxes,

Along with hover boards and flying cars, high-speed rail is one of the most iconic futuristic technologies discussed today. With great success, European and Asian countries such as Germany, France, Japan and China have been enjoying bullet trains for decades. Japan has been a leading innovator of high-speed trains, and has currently developed a train capable of 315 mph (Shadbolt). This MagLev is revolutionizing public transport and changing how the world view trains forever. The average European high-speed train can travel at speeds in excess of 220 mph (“The 10”). The United States is falling behind in this highly efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly high-speed train race. With the amount of traffic congestion between