Back in 1984, Miami opened a 20-mile elevated rail line. The line was so expensive, and ridership so poor, that the city never did much to expand the line (though it is getting in line for $1.4 billion in federal handouts for proposed expansion).

Flickr photo by .Zickie.

Now the railcars the run on the line are worn out. The transit system was supposed to overhaul the cars nearly a decade ago, but deferred it for lack of funds. Now it has to choose between spending $300 million on repairs or $350 million on a new fleet.

Flickr photo by ASurroca.

The Antiplanner suggests a third alternative: junk the system. Ridership has grown by a mere 26 percent since 1990. During the same time period, regional bus ridership has grown by 69 percent. Miami transit riders would do a lot better if some of that $300 or so million were put into bus improvements, Miami taxpayers would be glad to see the rest left in their pockets, and Miami sightseers would enjoy seeing more of the sky.

Here is another downtown boom that is not doing as well as expected. Housing prices are falling everywhere, but more in the downtown area than in the rest of the region.

Bob Poole points out that the National Surface Transportation Policy Commission is only one of two commissions that Congress created to study transportation issues. The other deals with infrastructure finance, and it put out an interim report that takes a serious look at a wide range of alternative funding mechanisms. The commission invites comments on their work to date.

Extending DC’s MetroRail to Dulles Airport may or may not be dead, but it is definitely a boondoggle.

Meanwhile, opponents of real solutions to congestion have to reach pretty far to argue against them. We can’t let “foreign dollars come in and buy infrastructure in this country that American people put down.” Why not, if it will reduce congestion? “The nation long ago settled that roads are public goods.” Yes, and look at how well that worked (hint: congested, falling apart, underfunded).