Streetsbloggers will want to tune in to PBS tonight for the latest installment in the Blueprint America series. NOW will look at where all that stimulus cash is headed. Here's the teaser:
President Barack Obama's stimulus money is nearly out the door and on its way to the states, but will it be spent in the way it is intended?
One alarming example: Mass transit. Cities and states, strapped for money, are cutting back on mass transit even as it becomes more popular with Americans. Meanwhile, President Obama is calling for increased mass transit as a necessary step toward energy independence. Will the government's investment dramatically revitalize our national travel infrastructure, or will states spend the money according to ‘business as usual’?
This week NOW on PBS -- with Blueprint America -- travels to North Carolina to see what the future holds for mass transit in these troubling financial times.
Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
The new $1.5 billion 9.1-mile Foothill A Line extension construction is complete, and Metro is currently testing. Rail service is expected to debut in the next couple months.
Metro ridership is growing, Metro low income (LIFE) program analysis, service changes this Sunday, Metro prepares for World Cup soccer, and an upcoming report on ICE rail impacts
