September 2006 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

After a half century of neglect, America now has a railroad system that the Bolivians would be ashamed of. There isn't another project we could do that would have a greater impact on our oil consumption than fixing our rail system and restoring passenger service. It's a project that would put scores of thousands of people to work at good jobs at every work level from management to labor. It would benefit people in all ranks of society. The fact that we are not doing it, or even talking about it, shows how unserious we are. We are entering an era of energy scarcity. We can't afford to ignore this task any longer.