BREAKING THE ADDICTION TO ROADS.

I scoff at the Jarrett regency touting the "Bipartisan Infrastructure Appropriations" as a victory, as the current ration of pork doesn't even make good this year's wear and tear on the roads, bridges, and mains previous rations of pork made possible.

More generally, though, whenever there is talk of spending money on internal improvements, the advocates of Best Practice and the fraternity of Wise Experts are sure to follow. That might be the worst possible thing, compounding, as it is likely to do, the decisions that brought us to where we are. "The values of post-war American development are embedded in our current approach -- efficiency over resiliency, large up front expense over ongoing maintenance expense, comprehensive over incremental, one-size-fits-all over tactical -- and they keep us from seeing the opportunities that sit right in front of us." Perhaps I will have to continue to object to misuses of "efficiency." Too often, it's misinterpreted as attempting to do more with less, as in the quote.

Make no mistake, the municipalities will be on the hook for the repairs, unless they have well-connected Congressmen in future.

Pay close attention to those roads and bridges. Dementia Joe will be showing up at the ribbon cuttings, if he remembers and he can stay awake, but he will be out of office in another ten years, when the projects start to wear out and either the municipalities are on the hook for repairs or there will be another bipartisan porkulus.

The time to stop throwing printed money after bad money is now. "Until we have a credible plan for maintaining our existing transportation infrastructure, we must stop building more roads and bridges."

The Canadian dollar does not benefit from the fiction that it is the world's reserve currency, and reality has come for their road expansions.

In mid-February, Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change, announced that the Canadian government would no longer invest in large road projects.

"There will be no more envelopes from the federal government to enlarge the road network," Guilbeault is quoted as saying. "We can very well achieve our goals of economic, social and human development without more enlargement of the road network."

Predictably, this has drawn pushback from politicians across Canada. The mayor of Calgary, Jyoti Gondek, said that “making that kind of a public statement and not having any rationale behind it is not ministerial.” Some critics have been even less charitable. Even Guilbeault seems to now think that the statement was a gaffe that needed clarification.

At Strong Towns, one of our priority campaigns is to End Highway Expansions. Canada, along with the United States, should be completely done expanding highways and roadway networks. In fact, we should have stopped decades ago.

It's probably not "ministerial" to concede that "infrastructure" is a grand fiction by which Calgary pretends to live at the expense of Sudbury, and it appears that the right honorable gentleman has understood the Kinsley gaffe in his initial statement.  The "rationale," though, is that road socialism, like any other socialism, eventually runs out of other people's money.

With that in mind, Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn proposes a new manifesto for Ponts et Chaussées changing the focus.

The current state of the nation’s roadways is poor. Without a sustained and committed focus on maintaining our existing inventory of roadways, current conditions are expected to deteriorate further. Poorly maintained roads are a threat to the economic health, employment opportunities, and overall productivity of the Canadian economy.

In response, all roadway expansion projects are hereby put on indefinite hold. This includes all new bridges, interchanges, frontage roads, and all additional lane miles. Any project that has not already been awarded with a signed contract is included in this order.

Transportation agencies are directed to reallocate funding earmarked for expansion to bolstering maintenance activities. This includes reassignment of staff from expansion to maintenance within 90 days of this order. It is critical that Canada’s existing transportation systems be properly maintained.

Further, local transportation agencies seeking federal transportation funds are hereby required to report annually to the Department of Finance on the status of maintenance of transportation infrastructure throughout their jurisdiction. This report will include (a) an inventory of all transportation infrastructure, (b) its current condition, (c) a full life cycle maintenance and replacement schedule, (d) projected annual outlays, (e) identified funding sources, and (f) anticipated gaps in funding.

That manifesto does not include provisions for tolling, congestion charges, special movement permits for trailers longer than 28 feet, or paid parking on any local street or road receiving Dominion moneys.

One thing at a time.