[PRCo] Great Streetcar Swindle Debunked

Wed Apr 27 13:00:08 EDT 2016

Dennis' piece needs to be sent to the museum "edumacator" and passed on to the operators who might like to spread bullshit instead of truth to our visitors.  I'll let you take credit for sending to Lynne instead of me taking away your thunder.   

On Apr 27, 2016, at 9:00 AM, Edward H. Lybarger via Pittsburgh-railways wrote:

> The politicians saw the urban Interstates as free slum clearance.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pittsburgh-railways [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org] On Behalf Of DF Cramer via Pittsburgh-railways
> Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 6:42 AM
> To: Western PA Trolley discussion
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Great Streetcar Swindle Debunked
> 
> And unfortunately, Eisenhower was duped. He did not want the interstates to cut through our cities, but rather go around them. His concern was creating areas equivalent to "the other side of the tracks" and he was right in his predictions.
> https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/interstate_highway_system/1960_04_08_Meeting.pdf
> 
> http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/faq.cfm#question19
> 
> "The urban freeways were an important element of the Interstate System from its unveiling in the 1939 report to Congress: Toll Roads and Free Roads. During congressional hearings in 1955 and 1956, Mayors and municipal associations testified in favor of the Interstate System because of the benefits the cities expected to receive from urban highway segments. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads had published General Location of National System of Interstate Highways in September 1955 with 100 pages of maps showing the urban Interstates. This publication—known as the Yellow Book because of the color of its cover—was distributed to the Members of Congress as well as State highway agencies and city governments.However, President Eisenhower was not aware of the urban highway segments. His model for the Interstate System had been Germany’s autobahn: the rural highway network he had seen during and after World War II. In the summer of 1959, rumor has it that he discovered the existence of urban highway segments when he passed construction of the Capital Beltway while being driven to the presidential retreat at Camp David. An alternative theory is that he discovered the truth when he talked with urban planners about the District of Columbia’s freeway network. Whichever way he found out, President Eisenhower asked his friend and adviser, retired General John Bragdon, to conduct a broad review of the Interstate program.On April 6, 1960, the President met with Bragdon, Secretary of Commerce Frederick Mueller, Federal Highway Administrator Bertram Tallamy, and others, to review Bragdon’s preliminary findings, including his view that the Interstates should include only roads that carry intercity traffic around and into cities. Other urban Interstates should be eliminated. Mueller and Tallamy objected. The President responded that he now knew that the city officials and Members of Congress understood the urban highway segments were part of the program, even if they were contrary to his views. By then, he had heard of, but not seen, the Yellow Book (Mueller handed him a copy) and had been told that it was one of the prime reasons Congress passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Although the concept was against his wishes, he felt his hands were tied. The urban Interstates would remain part of the program.The meeting ended, and so did the issue."
> Dennis F. Cramer
> http://home.windstream.net/dfc1/
> 
> From: fwschneider at comcast.net
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Great Streetcar Swindle Debunked
> Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 10:59:08 -0400
> To: alto_trombone at hotmail.com; pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
> 
> All you really have to do is look at the motor vehicle registrations in this country and it should be clear:
> 
> Year 1900 … 8000 cars in the USA …  that's 1 car for every 6,100 people over age 16 in the USA.
> 
>     Year 1910 … 458,000 cars …. now were up to 1 car for ever 132 people over age 16
> 
>     Year 1920 … 8,132,000 cars … that's 1 car for every 8 1/2 people over age 16
> 
>     Year 1930 … 23,035 cars … huge gain … now were up to now its 1 car for ever 3 1/2 people over age 16
> 
>     Because of the Depression and War Time production restrictions, the share of people stayed about the same until the late 1940s.
> 
>     Year 1950 …. we have a car for every 2.6 Americans over age 16.
> 
>     Year 1960 …. it's now a car for every 1.6 Americans over age 16.
> 
> 
> And if you read the book about the 1919 US Army convoy that took two months to get from Washington to California   Ike was on it   you get a good feeling for the state of the highways then.   California had some of the best highways in the country back then   no snow, very little rain.   Sure they wiped out Pacific Electric.
> 
> But conspiracies are great.   They allow us to transfer blame from ourselves or our ancestors to something totally unrelated and allow us to feel good.   We would not want to blame our parents and grandparents for driving the trolleys out of business with our car, now would we.   Better to create a fictional bus empire.
> 
> 
> On Apr 26, 2016, at 6:39 AM, DF Cramer via Pittsburgh-railways wrote:
> 
>> http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/25/story-cities-los-angeles
>> -great-american-streetcar-scandal The author tells the story to help
>> debunk the myth of the great streetcar swindle. Too bad most still do not believe it.
>> 
>> Dennis F. Cramer
>> http://home.windstream.net/dfc1/
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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