The first sketches of American Recovery and Reinvestment has been released:

Modernize Roads, Bridges, Transit and Waterways: To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, modernize public buildings, and put people to work cleaning our air, water and land.

• $30 billion for highway construction;
• $31 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long term energy cost savings;
• $19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments;
• $10 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption.

• To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs – rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing public buildings, and putting people to work cleaning our air, water, and land.
• Highway Infrastructure: $30 billion for highway and bridge construction projects. It is estimated that states have over 5,100 projects totaling over $64 billion that could be awarded within 180 days. These projects create jobs in the short term while saving commuters time and money in the long term. In 2006, the Department of Transportation estimated $8.5 billion was needed to maintain current systems and $61.4 billion was needed to improve highways and bridges.
• Transit: Public transportation saves Americans time and money, saving as much as 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline and reducing carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons each year.
• New Construction: $1 billion for Capital Investment Grants for new commuter rail or other light rail systems to increase public use of mass transit and to speed projects already in construction. The Federal Transit Administration has $2.4 billion in pre-approved projects.
• Upgrades and Repair: $2 billion to modernize existing transit systems, including renovations to stations, security systems, computers, equipment, structures, signals, and communications. Funds will be distributed through the existing formula. The repair backlog is nearly $50 billion.
• Transit Capital Assistance: $6 billion to purchase buses and equipment needed to increase public transportation and improve intermodal and transit facilities. The Department of Transportation estimates a $3.2 billion maintenance backlog and $9.2 billion in needed improvements. The American Public Transportation Association identified 787 ready-to-go transit projects totaling $15.5 billion. Funds will be distributed through the existing formulas.
• Amtrak and Intercity Passenger Rail Construction Grants: $1.1 billion to improve the speed and capacity of intercity passenger rail service. The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General estimates the North East Corridor alone has a backlog of over $10 billion.
• Airport Improvement Grants: $3 billion for airport improvement projects that will improve safety and reduce congestion. An estimated $41 billion in eligible airport infrastructure projects are needed between 2007-2011.
• Transportation Security Administration Explosive Detection Systems: $500 million to install Aviation Explosive Detection Systems in the nation’s airports, improving security, and making life easier on travelers by speeding security lines. Funds are competitively awarded based on security risk.
• Coast Guard Bridges: $150 million for ready-to-go investments to repair or remove bridges deemed hazardous to marine navigation, thereby removing obstructions and improving the safety of marine navigation.

See also, BQE Figure Ground.

As long as we have been agitating for additional freight rail infrastructure spending (disclosure: I have family who works for CSX), let’s talk about the Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project. New York City, is a region of many infrastructure pinch-points: there are only so many bridges, tunnels, and ports which can service the region. Geography, density and land pricing round out the difficulties infrastructure projects encounter. The Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project was begun in 1998 by New York City Economic Development Corporation and taken up by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). The proposed plan would link Jersey City and Brooklyn via a dedicated freight rail tunnel, connecting existing rail infrastructure in New Jersey with existing rail infrastructure in Brooklyn. This tunnel is intended to reduce the total vehicle miles traveled by trucks in the New York/New Jersey region. Currently rail freight, to move East of the Hudson River, has to either travel an extra 280 miles round trip to Selkirk, NY, use a low-capacity float bridge (barge) in New Jersey, or the freight stops in New Jersey and is rubber-wheeled into New York, clogging either the Lincoln Tunnel or the GW Bridge.

The already completed Draft Environmental Impact Statement pegs the cost for a Double Tunnel System, with existing infrastructure on both sides of the tunnel upgrades, at $7.4 billion which would allow for the greater flexibility and freight volume.
The benefits of the rail tunnel are:

• Improve the movement of goods within the region by generating annual user benefits of up to $44.6 million. User benefits are a combination of savings to drivers from decreased congestion, as well as reductions in accidents, roadway maintenance costs and air pollution;
• Create a more-modally balanced goods movement system by diverting up to 14.9 million tons of freight from truck to rail;
• Improve the regional environmental quality by eliminating approximately 1.0 million truck trips per year on the Hudson River crossings and reducing commodity truck vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) by approximately 4.5%;
• Improve regional economic development by creating up to almost 30,000 new jobs and generating $1.6 billion in personal income; and
• Provide strategic system redundancy to the region’s Hudson River crossings by creating another option for crossing the Hudson River.

Not only would it get trucks off the street, the tunnel would remove economic bottlenecks in the region. Commerce and the environment wins. This project is arguable “shovel ready” and I implore the New York and New Jersey Congressional Delegations to advocate for its inclusion into the infrastructure stimulus.
Read more about the Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project.

Read some of Kazys Varnelis’ recent writings, especially where is the good new architecture? and it will put you in the same funk I am in.
Can you refute that architecture as a profession is distinctly broken now? We made a go of it as lapdogs to developers building condos, shopping centers, and whole cities in oil-producing states. While Dubai aspires to turn green, both development money and oil profits are gone, with the world facing a prolonged period of Super Contango. We are just at the beginning of the precipice, and there is much more pain to be felt before we find the bottom.
This much I am sure of: I doubt that I will personally build anything of substance in the next 18 months. Which is fine; most of my recent work has focused on smaller installations and spaces which top out at 10,000 square feet. This isn’t what concerns me about this recession or my place in it. My concern is what’s next?
The fundamental question we have to face is, can paper (digital) design move the profession forward? And can I eat while doing this work? Whither this generation’s New York Five? Or the response by Venturi, et al?
How this recession shapes the profession is still an unwritten book; to be sure, there will be for quite some time, too many architects chasing too few jobs, and making not enough money. Where will we all go?
I’m going to open up comments to see what you have to say.
What are you going to do?

• Will Electric Cars Fuel Urban Sprawl?
• Playground in the Sky
• DIY City – with a NYC Meetup tonight
• More pro-freight rail propaganda: Back on Tracks
• Hanna von Goeler: My Money, My Currency
• Ryan thinks about Long Haul Passenger Service
• Can a bunch of mathematicians make government more representative?
• Shovel-Ready Mass Transit