A history of failure

I believe a large part of why we are where we are as a region today is because of a lack of vision and a reluctance to move ahead. It's funny that Pittsburgh and the surrounding region is very innovative, and is still a center for research and development, yet at the same time, there is a tendency to look backwards, and hold onto the past, and become mired in the now, rather than focusing on the future.

This lack of visions has seeped into all areas. From industry (the exodus of the steel industry and manufacturing in general), to government. Because this blog supposedly focuses on transportation, I'll concentrate on how the lack of vision and poor decision making up to this point concerning transportation has got us to where we are now as a region. I'll highlight some transit and highway plans* that never were, never got off the ground, or maybe should have never been. It's amazing to me the number of transportation plans in the Pittsburgh area that have gone no where (and continue to go nowhere aka "The Maglev" or "The Springfield Monorail"). Stay tuned!


*That's right, I said highways. While my tendency is to bad mouth highway spending and driving, and to talk up mass transit, it would be naive of me to think that any city can survive in our culture without a logical highway system.