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[Music] Hello, this is Ray LaHood,
Secretary of Transportation.
Thanks for tuning in.
We've got a good number
of interesting topics to cover today.
And special thanks to all of the readers at Transportation Nation
for sending in so many great questions this month.
So with that, here we go.
First question: "How can DOT help improve conditions
on aging transit systems like SEPTA?"
Well lookit, there's a lot
of aging transit systems around the country.
Just about every major city has aging transit.
And we have great partnerships between what we do at DOT
and the Federal Transit Administration and our friends
that run these transit districts all over the country.
The one thing that we have done
that has really enabled transit systems around the country is
to provide pretty good sums of money.
For example, we just released recently, I think it was
about $775 million to help 45 states plus the District
of Columbia make long overdue transit repairs.
So that - that's a pretty good chunk of money.
And then, we also have announced the availability
of another $750 million.
So when you couple those two amounts of money,
what we've tried to do in our partnerships
with transit districts, is to help them identify the areas
that need really this state of good repair money
and then make the money available
to them in a grant process.
So, next question: "There's a lot of focus
on improving the Northeast Corridor service,
but can you address and discuss why it's so important
for other areas like the Midwest and California
to get in high-speed rail?"
Well, the main reason is, is because the President
and the Vice President have a big vision about this
that they established two years ago.
President Obama, when he was working
on the economic recovery plan for America,
made sure that there was money - for the first time,
a huge investment in high-speed rail for America.
Not just for one part of America, but for the country.
The President and Vice President recognize
that with clogged highways all over America, that with the kind
of air pollution that some communities are still facing
as a result of too many cars on the road,
that people need alternatives to transportation.
And not just on the Northeast Corridor.
We know the Northeast Corridor,
through Amtrak, is doing very well.
As a matter of fact, ridership way, way up last year,
Amtrak made money last year.
We wanna take that same kind of service, the President does
and the Vice President, around the country,
and offer people options to get off the roads,
to get out of their cars.
And particularly with high gasoline prices hovering
around $4 a gallon, people want options.
And so the President has made a $10 billion investment
in high-speed rail around America.
So we're hoping to carry out the President's vision to get people
out of cars, on to good forms of transportation,
and not just do it in one part of the country.
Really do it around the country, connecting 80 percent
of the country over the next 25 years.
Last question: "Any job advice for a recent college grad
who wants to get into urban transportation planning?"
Well, first of all, congratulations
on getting that college degree.
It's very important to any job opportunity in America.
When I first started my career, I started my career
as a teacher - six years as a teacher.
But I left teaching and went into regional planning.
My first job in planning was at the Bi-State Planning Commission
in the Northwest part of Illinois and Eastern Iowa,
the Bi-State Metropolitan Planning Commission.
My advice is, is to look for opportunities
in local government - that's where the action's at,
that's where the planning's at,
that's where the opportunities are.
There are many communities around America
that are collaborating, that are working together
to leverage their planning opportunities,
their vision opportunities, against what we might have here
at DOT in terms of dollars and programs.
The best way to learn, really, the opportunities
about transportation, about careers in transportation,
really lies I think in local communities, in local cities,
in the counties - in the collaboration that goes
on where they really leverage a lot of expertise and a lot
of creative ideas and then bring them to DOT and then we try
and leverage some of our dollars.
You learn how local government works,
you learn how people collaborate together,
how the planning process works,
and I think it's just a great place to start.
Many of the people that work here at the Department
of Transportation started out working in cities
and in counties and in states where they saw how people
in government really work together.
So, my advice is look in your own community.
Look in your own state.
There's some great opportunities there.
Well, those are the questions we're gonna cover today.
And I appreciate very much the people
that have sent questions to us.
And we always continue to look forward
to receiving your questions
and another opportunity to answer them.
So, until the next time, keep writing us on my Fast Lane blog,
Facebook, and Twitter.
Thanks, everyone.
[Music]