Pump price to top $3 a gallon this spring and summer,
The attached article is about the upcoming price shock of filling up your tank with gas and hints at the problem that higher gas prices means less driving and less money for car centric projects and the negative economic impact that will cause. Which leads too many to conclude that we have to keep America driving at all costs.
But notice the states that are the least vulnerable to this price increase are states with alternative transportation options other then just the family car. So it is transportation options and not car centric development that helps stabilize a local economy.
I'll note next that there is no guarantee that gas will not reach $5 a gallon in the next 20 years but all our long range 20 year plans assume it is going to business as usual and car centric transportation is still the top priority. Seriously we need to get people heads out of the sand, a change is a coming.
I seriously have to ask how many gas price shocks will it take for America to get that the best option is not to put all your eggs into one basket but to start supporting options. And this goes double for Maryland cutting mass transit in favor of car centric development and tax breaks for new cars is not a recipe for success, it is a recipe for "lower income levels" per the article. There is something terribly wrong with Maryland's "because people are driving less and took mass transit more we need to cut mass transit to build more car centric roads" type of thinking.