Philadelphia Transportation Thread

[DBR96A]

So now that Philadelphia (city proper) is growing again, it's time to twist some federal arms and get money to upgrade the ridiculous Schuylkill Expressway into something befitting a major world city. The fact that the two busiest highway segments in Pennsylvania have 1950's-era engineering is a cruel joke, and must be rectified. In other words, what they're ready to do for I-83 through Harrisburg (another obsolete highway segment) must be done for I-76 into Philadelphia and I-376 through Pittsburgh. Besides, I'm sure that it'll be less expensive to upgrade both those highways combined than it was for Boston to do the "Big Dig."

No, I have nothing against trains. In fact, I want the Keystone West line upgraded too, so that Pittsburgh can be connected better with eastern Pennsylvania, and I'm glad that the freight rail lines around Pittsburgh are being upgraded to handle double-decker trains. With that said, world-class cities have both modern train systems and modern highway systems, not one or the other. Even in Europe and Japan, where public transit use is high, any city that's worth a shit has well-engineered highways to go with their well-engineered transit. Besides, I'm not advocating a new highway on the exurban fringe, which really is a waste of money. I'm advocating the improvement of existing highways.

Every city that's worth something should be encouraged to upgrade their existing infrastructure when necessary -- and in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, upgrading those two highways is long overdue.