So, what happens to Project Connect?
Will the Trump Train kill our train?
Project Connect –– at least the light rail portion of the plan –– was already facing serious challenges from litigation and the Texas Legislature. But the election of Trump adds another potential headache.
Under Biden, our light rail plan had been accepted into the FTA's project development phase. It was the first of several steps to secure billions of dollars in federal funding that the project depends on. Getting the money will depend on the cooperation of the Trump administration.
Our nihilist president-elect, who, despite being a lifelong New Yorker has very likely never set foot on mass transit, obviously doesn't care one way or another. But his administration will be staffed with transportation officials who are far less interested in making transportation cleaner and safer than the current crop.
The question is whether the Department of Transportation in a Trump administration will merely be bad in the traditional, auto-centric way or bad in a new, Trumpy way.
