Another Pie, Pork This Time

Not that there's no pork on a pizza, but . . .

I was cynically critical of the last round of Federal TIGER grants, which pointedly excluded the one Ohio project that was clearly a strategic infrastructure application in a (supposedly) favored rural area.  Instead, the Ohio money went to replacing an urban commuter rail station and a questionable urban streetcar development, both in areas that generally support the incumbent administration.

The latest round, however, has put $16 million into Central Ohio for the (rural) connector that would connect our inland port with major highways - the application ignored in the earlier round.  Immediately, I thought I had caught a whiff of election year pork politics in a swing state.

Giving props where due, though, this round of grants appears to be directed at genuine infrastructure projects all over the country, with only a few suspect areas.  It is about time.  But, we'll take the money and leave off the whining and complaining.

Despite this forward step, though, the grants were simply for a loose  - and unconnected - collection of apparently useful  efforts in disparate locales from sea to shining sea.  We still have a critical need to formulate a unified and integrated approach to infrastrucure upgrades that address long-term priorities and future needs.

Piecemeal salves as temporary and limited solutions to local wants do not serve the interests of supply chains or of the nation.