[Adder]

Now that rusting rebar and crumbling cement is costing us a fortune.

Yeah...but you would have repaved with asphalt some 20 times over the life of the concrete. I imagine the cost would exceed that of the concrete.

[trebb]

“This country destroyed and rebuilt its cities in the 20th century to serve automobiles,” Norton says.

Did this guy have something to do with the History Channel shows on the automobile or did he just watch it and decide to "crib" some of the data for his personal use?

The automobile gave us some extra personal FReedom....

[norwaypinesavage]

"Where cities once enjoyed a network of cheap, fast streetcars, GM, Firestone and oil companies bought and wiped them out, replacing them with buses and cars."

GM, Firestone and oil companies bought out streetcars??? I didn't know that General Streetcar had even been for sale. This guy has been drinking his own dishwater...or worse.

[foreverfree]

bump

[LS]

My former colleague at the U of Dayton, John Heitmann, may have a different interpretation. He is a car guy, and is the best scholar on autos out there.

“The Automobile and American Life”
https://www.amazon.com/Automobile-American-Life-John-Heitmann/dp/147666935X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1531056964&sr=8-2&keywords=John+Heitmann

His latest is “Stealing Cars”
https://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Cars-Technology-Society-Torino/dp/1421412977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531056964&sr=8-1&keywords=John+Heitmann

But there is no question the left hates the auto because it is freedom of movement that, for the most part, they cannot control.

[minnesota_bound]

Streetcars are buses stuck on rails. Buses are better as they can go anywhere.

[M.K. Borders]

Lots of good replies on this thread, good info from everyone. Thanks guys.

Let me add my two cents from a slightly different direction.

When I was a young man there was the Greyhound bus company and just about every town with a population of 1K or over had a Greyhound bus stop. Heck, many a bus stop was out in the middle of nowhere (reference the movie North by Northwest. The crop duster scene, that bus stop Carey Grant was at was the real deal. Those things were everywhere.)

A young man just out of high school, looking for work and willing to gamble a little could for well under $75, go anywhere in the country he wanted. It was simply a matter of presenting himself at the local stop with the cash to by the ticket from the driver. No car was needed.

I regret the loss of that.

[hinckley buzzard]

Kind of a weird article. Concrete for the interstates was a wise decision, as anyone who looks will see that asphalt gets beat to hell quickly by heavy truck traffic. A blacktop intestate would be reduced to cow paths by now. As for national defense, movement of troops and evac of citizens after a nuclear strike seems like a distinction in search of a difference. They would likely occur together, if ever.

The writer is correct that the urban and inter-urban rail systems which served well into and after WWII were deliberately eliminated by, well, not exactly the auto companies but more by the rubber companies seeking to sell everyone tires four at a time. That development was an exercise in corruption, but so what-- it's water long since gone under the bridge.

[GOPJ]

Eisenhower developed the interstate system with the idea in mind we might need it to move troops and tanks at some future time...