KC Light Rail

The transit blogosphere has been buzzing over the last 24 hours since word leaked that President-elect Barack Obama had decided on his Secretary of Transportation nominee. We now know that man is Ray LaHood, a moderate Republican Congressman from Illinois.

Basically, moderate is the word to emphasize here. LaHood, while as fiscally conservative as his downstate constituents, has been on record supporting state-subsidized Amtrak service (Illinois has the fastest-growing network of state-sponsored trains) and is part of a Congressional Bike Caucus. He's even uttered the phrase Complete Streets without rolling his eyes.

The Overhead Wire has a nice recap of various viewpoints on this selection ranging from good (knows the appropriations system) to bad (basic left-wing conspiracy theorists).

Of course, anything is better than Mary Peters, the current Secretary who was tasked with carrying out the Bush Administration's starvation diet for all modes except highways (and even those were being pushed towards tolling, congestion pricing, and HOT lanes). Peters is universally reviled amongst transportation advocates, as is our current President.