Independence Institute

Spain’s High-Speed White Elephants 0
- TRANSPORTATION - Miscellaneous
- July 7, 2011
How did I miss this story? A European publication describes Spain’s high-speed rail system as “a bona fide policy error typical of a nouveau riche nation.” Spain’s Talgo high-speed trains look a little like Donald Duck. Wikipedia commons photo by Peter Christener. Spain has spent or is spending 6 billion euros on a high-speed network […]
READ MORE
A Different Kind of TIF 0
- TRANSPORTATION - Miscellaneous
- July 6, 2011
The Antiplanner’s visit to Lafayette, Louisiana was highly educational. Among other sights, I saw River Ranch, a very successful New Urban development that (according to local tax activists) was built without any tax subsidies. Although I personally would not want to live there, the development commands high prices even in the recession. River Ranch Rowhouses […]
READ MORE

Florida Governor OKs SunRail 0
- TRANSPORTATION - Miscellaneous
- July 5, 2011
In what could be an ominous decision for the future of federal transportation funding, Florida Governor Rick Scott got out of the way of SunRail, a costly commuter-rail project in Orlando. While his Tea Party supporters strongly opposed the project, Scott said that he didn’t have the authority to kill the project. As reported in […]
READ MORE
Questions about Intercity Buses 0
- TRANSPORTATION - Miscellaneous
- July 4, 2011
The Antiplanner rarely responds to comments in a post, but Andrew asked many good questions and requested a lot of background information last week. Most of his questions are answered by citations in the report, but since he did not seem to understand those citations, here are my responses. 1. “Intercity buses carry at least […]
READ MORE