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Build more freeways and runways.

I'm in transportation engineering. We no longer build freeways or runways. Freeway construction (or almost any type of hew highway construction) is dead due to the fact that the federal gas tax is fixed and will not be raised again. Ever. Moreover, the improved efficiency of automobile engines means we will use less gas in the future, thus less revenue. Meanwhile, oil has gone from under $11 a barrel in 1998 to $87 a barrel today; thus, the cost of building and maintaining highways has more than doubled in that time frame. Most state transportation departments are struggling to maintain what they have and do small safety or congestion improvements. Big new highway projects are being postponed or canceled altogether.

I seriously doubt we will ever see a 10 percent increase in freeway mileage in this country, especially as oil gets over $100 a barrel.

Runways? Just try to add a runway to any commercial airport. The public opposition has reached a new level. And what is going to happen to the airline routes less than 500 miles in length when fuel keeps going up? Most fuel is used in take-off; thus, the first routes the airlines will cut will be the short routes. The fifty seat planes are already being retired ahead of schedule. People flying short routes will face higher fares and fewer flights.

Yes, California's proposed high-speed rail system is vastly overdone. The value added in the higher speed is not economically justified. Most of it is unlikely to be built. They actually have a very popular conventional rail corridor now, second only to the Northeast Corridor. They would do well to build on that success, not try this high-tech budget-buster. Of course, it is California, and they just reelected Jerry Brown.

In reality, we will, in most cases, choose what we engineers call the "null alternative," do nothing. We lack as a nation the will to do any major capital project, and very soon we will lack the capital as well.