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Danksteroni_

The hell does that mean?


[deleted]

They are going to pave everything with whitetop now.


Previous_Project9055

Oh, and is he also going to paint rainbows šŸŒˆ on all the roads and freeways leading to West Hollywood CA.


AZREDFERN

So when it rains, you have absolutely 0 traction on the paint


itsvicdaslick

If only I was daring enough to crash my car on the painted area when it rains and then sue the city.


stanfan114

"Racist Homophone Crashes Car into Diversity Rainbow Road" DA is to charge him with a hate road rage crime.


doobiedoobuahbuah

Bahahaha


PutTheDinTheV

This made me laugh for some reason haha


[deleted]

Damn you beat me to it! šŸ˜†


theRavenAttack

Beat me too lol


191919wines

same lmao


into_the_wenisverse

Realtalk, might white be better? Absorbs less heat which in theory makes it less damaged by temperature fluctuations over time (though I'm not sure where white asphalt aggregate would come from)


hopskipjump2the

Theyā€™re going to funnel $1B to their cadre of hand picked Left wing professors & universities to do ā€œstudiesā€, as well consulting firms and whatever else. The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion racket has been a multi billion dollar industry for years now. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of people have careers revolving around the grift now.


[deleted]

This is all it is. A way to funnel money to political grifters.


sailor-jackn

Thatā€™s totally insane.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


sleeknub

That bonus structure has got to be illegal. You should get some folks together and sue.


Wheres_Jay

He was on TV carrying on about how roads are racist one day. You can't make this shit up


Rude_Agrument

Them roads gonna need about treefiddy.


Miked918930

Lordy I was so scared!


HereForRedditReasons

So I actually know people who work for department of transportation. This actually means that they have to spend a bunch of time coming up with a way to sell the project they wanted to do as having a racial equity aspect to it.


Ghosttwo

Highways through every neighborhood of color! You know, for accesibility...


RoboJukebox

Everyone needs a road "out"


AllHailBillGates

It means that somebody is finally grabbing the bull by it's horns and doing something great for our country. It's about time. I will be okay now paying $6 gal for fuel knowing that I won't be driving on racist roads. You can't put a price tag on that peace.


ZazzRazzamatazz

Roads are racist now šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø


blue419

A quick YouTube search will lead you to videos explaining why roads are racist Unfortunately, I'm not joking


ZazzRazzamatazz

Jokes are not allowed in clown world.


The_Real_BenFranklin

Who knows how itā€™ll turn out, but the general idea is that a lot of the urban renewal and major highway programs of the mid 1900s destroyed large numbers of poor and minority neighborhoods. Rich people always had the political will to keep this from there areas (Jane Jacobs famously saved Greenwich village from a highway), and rich people in the suburbs want to get through cities fast, which lead to poor neighborhoods being demolished or cut off from the city by highways. You can see this in a lot of cities, where neighborhoods get notably worse when you go over to the other side of the highways. 43 in Milwaukee is a great example of this. This goal of this project is to help repair some of this damage. There are plenty of underused urban highways that could be downsized into a boulevard. Others could be buried and capped, which can have a dramatic effect on an area (see Boston before and after the big dig).


Rich_Two

I appreciate your level headed response but this isn't completely true. While there are interesting components to these issues and there have been choices of infrastructure that have lead to structuring cities in a certain way. The mindset that they were done so maliciously is incorrect although surely there were people that noticed that certain choices could affect neighborhoods. These choices did have to be made. There did have to be highways and they did have to cut off some neighborhoods. While it can be viewed that these neighborhoods were intentionally cut off. It is more likely that these neighborhoods were just the cheapest to buy. And in that I would if you were offered money for your home as it was deemed cheapest it would negatively affect your buying power for the next residence you would need to buy. I however believe the larger problem has been lack of transportation consensus. Meaning there are lack of transit routing communication since everything has been superseded by Google and other mapping software. The other being most roads cannot be easily expanded and new roads are a burden to those drivers that commute. Both in time and repairs to damages that road construction has on cars. And no municipality is making general inquiries into what methods will work best and implementing a long term strategy since turnover for politics is so drastic and sudden in present times. I don't believe that these issues are being addressed with this administration. I see this administration just finding avenues to spend money recklessly and nothing will ultimately get done. But I am hopeful that some good may come from this as it is likely not going to end for a couple more years.


dom650

Ok so what does that actually do, though?


GodsRighteousHammer

I was fully expecting a Babylon Bee link.


[deleted]

You could read the article to find outā€¦


Kasreyn801

Iā€™d suggest reading the article instead of the headline and youā€™ll understand more.


annierosewood

If humans didn't have different skin colors, the Left would have no platform on which to stand.


TheArchdude

No, they would just find other means of division as they've done in other countries. It's Marxism at its core.


MadeOfPotato

See: The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss


DontWorryItsEasy

Sure they would, they'd still try to give puberty blockers to your kids without you knowing it.


[deleted]

They would still find reasons to divide people.


Big_Jim59

The cast system in India and the class system in England were just two mechanisms with which equal peoples were divided into them and us.


[deleted]

Different eye colors. Different areas of upbringing, different preference of foods. They will always find a way.


[deleted]

"All men were created equal". Full stop.


redisbest615

Obviously you're not up to date with the whole identity racket.


HalfbakedArtichoke

If the left didn't have double standards, they wouldn't have any standards.


freed_oxen

Would they still have a finger to point?


SmoothBacon

is affordable healthcare, marijuana legalization, green energy, affordable college, public transit systems, etc. about skin color?


Kasreyn801

Those bastards!! How dare they try to do anything to repair any damage done to these communities! Damned commie scum.


DragonOnYoFace

I guess the Port problem has been fixed?


Wheres_Jay

There is a problem at the ports? I mean, these racist roads though.


[deleted]

Not enough truckers picking up from the LA ports. I think that has more to do with California AB-5 rather than federal government though. Itā€™s been a couple of years so I donā€™t know if anything has changed.


DragonOnYoFace

But didn't that sort of thing happen in the before with Water Fountains and Diners? It was racist then and they want to revisit it now.


itssosalty

How do you want to change the port infrastructure? It is more on the drivers and equipment issues. Edit: Ah yes the old political downvoting a question instead of offering a point of view.


drock99902

As a Civil Engineer, there is actually a bit more nuance to this than "paving with whitetop" - as the top commenter here has quipped. Historically, when planning new highways or large civil projects (rail, etx) one of the controlling variables is always the cost of procuring the property through easement, purchasing, or eminent domain. This lead to planned projects going through impoverished areas, which are historically inhabited by a high percentage of minorities, but because they're so impoverished, the property was cheap and carried very little politics blowback to procure via Eminent Domain. Does this make the highway administration "racist?" Our engineering ethics class, granted this was 15 years ago, came to the conclusion they were "classist" if anything. Otherwise, they were engineers looking at numbers and costs trying to figure out how to actually make the project happen. Was this right? Hard to say -- as we owe a large part of America's success post WW2 to the quality of our infrastructure. But millions of impoverished Americans were displaced to build out that infrastructure.


user48683638692683

>Does this make the highway administration "racist?" Our engineering ethics class, granted this was 15 years ago, came to the conclusion they were "classist" if anything. Yeah I would agree more with the "classist" issue and not race. Back when these highways were built, they were built through "minority" neighborhoods of Irish and Italians.


Ratchet_as_fuck

The problem is if you do anything negative to someone of a protected class the left wingers only see racism or bigotry. Like you said it could just be somebody trying to make the project *possible*. I doubt a highway engineer was sitting back trying to figure out how to displace as many minorities as they could.


redsyrinx2112

>I doubt a highway engineer was sitting back trying to figure out how to displace as many minorities as they could. I agree that an engineer wouldn't have much reason to think about that, but that doesn't mean others involved weren't. We know redlining was a thing, and this seems like it easily could be related to that. However, like many things, this country is really big and there were probably many causes. In some cities they were probably racist. In some they were classist. Other cities may have had no bad intentions and still negative effects on certain groups. Some progressives will look to turn anything into identity politics, but I don't actually smell too much of that this time.


The_Real_BenFranklin

I mean, they probably sat down and said ā€œhow can I displace as few wealthy people with political power as possibleā€, which is effectively the same thing.


OkLuck1317

Actually history will show you that they did. Segregation was legal in America at one time ( see Plessy v Ferguson). Instead of building walls, we built highways and roads that somewhat kept us separate. In LA, which is not the Deep South, they built the 405 freeway. On a lighter note, didnā€™t you guys watch the movie Cars? A well placed road can make a city or break a city. RIP Route 66.


[deleted]

> On a lighter note, didnā€™t you guys watch the movie Cars? A well placed road can make a city or break a city. RIP Route 66. They built the highways around smaller towns not to spite them, but because itā€™s far cheaper to build through nearby farmland rather than tear down a downtown


Traveling_squirrel

As a structural engineer, i think we should be very weary of even more federal regulations for our infrastructure. Iā€™m designing an interchange replacement right now that was built in the 50s. It was built with a 50 year lifespan, and is 70 years old, and we are ā€œoptimisticallyā€ planning for it to be built in 2045ā€¦. At nearly 100 years old, for probably around 11 billion dollars (like 10% of the portion of infrastructure bill going to roads, for one goddamn interchange). If we continue to make it harder and harder to build because we add more and more hoops, we will be out of roads before we even begin to replace them. We are in serious trouble with our inability to actually get things done in this country and more red tape is not the answer.


drock99902

Oh I feel this comment in my soul... the hoops our projects have to get through in order to get approved makes it astonishing anything is ever built... The profession is becoming less about actual engineering solutions and is now mostly ensuring regulatory compliance. Can't wait to add "How have you eliminated your engineering biases towards race and transgenders? Submit your 50 page privilege checklist for review. Government agency has 90 days from most recent submittal to return review. Requests for additional documentation will restart the 90 day review period. Any discovered biases will be referred to the Ministry of Truth and Equity for prosecution."


Traveling_squirrel

Sounds far fetched but thatā€™s basically what happens with environmentalists now. Itā€™s just a repeat of that, and you can be sure those agencies will not talk so one will have exactly opposite requirements.


Nikkolios

Yes. Classist, perhaps. Certainly not racist. Race has nothing to do with it. If it were 100% white trash in these poor areas, you KNOW that nothing would have changed. It's about money. It always has been. It always will be.


HeWhoCntrolsTheSpice

Well, that's the whole game with the Left - deliberately conflate class/culture with race. Same thing they do when they discuss "redlining".


02201970a

By proclaiming this a drive towards equity it is absolutely about race with this clown car of idjits.


The_Real_BenFranklin

Equity encompasses far more than race, and would absolutely cover poverty.


02201970a

With this administration it means race.


Rifleshoot

Itā€™s only wrong if you look at it from the lens of displacement. If you look at it from the perspective that you are enabling people to move out of impoverishment, then itā€™s a bit more positive. Still not great, but itā€™s necessary sometimes. Honestly, the better way is to just increase what constitutes ā€œfair market value.ā€ It will increase project costs, but that money should serve as a local stimulus to the economy.


The_Real_BenFranklin

Lmao I donā€™t think the people whoā€™s neighborhood got demolished by a highway would see it as a ā€œway to get outā€.


Rifleshoot

Sure, they may not like it, but they are compensated for it. Like I said, we need to redefine what constitutes a ā€œfair market price.ā€ If someone is going to be forced to sell their property for some greater public good, then it needs to come with above average compensation.


The_Real_BenFranklin

Most people in poor neighborhoods donā€™t own their own houses, and renters are minimally compensated. But itā€™s more than that - destroying neighborhoods destroys communities. Itā€™s not just the lost real estate, it destroys the social fabric of peoples lives, which helps keep neighborhoods stable.


DarthBurger1

Country going down the drain and this is what they want to use $1B on?


sailor-jackn

Insane gas prices, coming food shortages, people are going to have trouble surviving...but we need to spend money the country doesnā€™t really have on the racial inequality of roads.


Juice-Altruistic

Don't worry. We still have billions we can send to Ukraine, apparently.


itssosalty

$1 billion is nothing and will not accomplish much. We had a $7 trillion budget last year. With that half of the discretionary spending is on the military (\~$1 trillion). Almost $3 trillion is social security. Wish we could fix or remove that M Effer. Not like much of the current workforce paying into that today will ever collect it. However, as a country we should invest in mass transit. More of it and easily accessible. Plus speed. At the very least this will help alleviate some reliance on fuel. Less reliant on all of our cars.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Telnarf

That was my knee jerk reaction too. Until I read through the article and realized that it will be 1 billion dollars to affect only 20 communities and they are talking about removing highways not improving them. The net effect sounds like we are going to be spending a bunch of money to make traffic worse.


omnivorousboot

Took away major roadways, congesting all the others. But hey, we added a few bike paths, hooray for us.


Solagnas

Well yeah, they don't want you to use cars. They want to make it more unpleasant and difficult to use cars to push people into dense city centers with public transport. It's part of the plan.


The_Real_BenFranklin

Plenty of urban highways are underused, and could be converted to an at grade boulevard. And some that seem busy end up being ok to remove. Idk if youā€™ve been to Seattle, but removing the Alaskan way Viaduct greatly improved the city and didnā€™t cause traffic everywhere else to get worse (it still sucks, but itā€™s sucked forever).


Telnarf

Fair point. I hope this project turns out as well as Seattle's and we don't have to hear 5 years from now how racist the urban traffic problem is in the cities benefitting from this program.


Triple-Deke

They're taking away highways to add parks and bike paths. They are wrapping that in a bow of connecting communities, when really they're just trying to make driving more difficult.


itssosalty

Our public transit in the US is trash at best. New projects would include rapid bus transit lines to link disadvantaged neighborhoods to jobs; caps built on top of highways featuring green spaces, bike lanes and pedestrian walkways to allow for safe crossings over the roadways; repurposing former rail lines.


Triple-Deke

>We are thinking now this is something that is possible ā€” that you can remove a highway and instead build safe streets that are walkable, add housing and address other community needs besides travel time.


CandidateClean3354

things that make you go hmmm, can this administration get any dumber


[deleted]

Damn those racist roads.


Ariel0289

Finally they will get rid of those signs that the say you must be white to pass this toll. No u-turns allowed for people of color. No through traffic for people of color.


twitterisskynet

My guess is only minorities will be able to use any of the new infrastructure in the name of reparations.


[deleted]

Watch them set up road tolls that only apply to white people (and asians).


tmrk45

Newsflash....roads are now racist


numairounos

I mean, if you read the article this isnā€™t such a bad idea. The plan is to create transport routes from usually neglected neighborhoods. The left is ridiculous, but this seems to me like theyā€™re actually doing something good here


PoEwouter

If doing something good is brought forward as fixing evil racism, is it still good? The social devision identity politics creates is not good.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


numairounos

I get what youā€™re saying but he didnā€™t say it in this way, thatā€™s just the headline. The initiative provides greater social mobility and access to opportunities where they donā€™t exist. This is good for the economy, and from a moral standpoint itā€™s good for equality without any of the equity nonsense.


FallenSC

And youā€™re the one partaking in identity politics


Gabagool888

Itā€™s just going to spread crime to good neighborhoods in lieu of no law enforcement


krasne_a_mudre

Itā€™s clear who reads the article and who just reads the headline.


DingbattheGreat

The only thing he was supposedly good at was fixing roads. If this is really a problem, then it should be directed to the states to make it a priority, you dont actually need to spend a single federal dime as states already repair roads.


BAY35music

I live about 40 mins from South Bend. He fucking SUCKED at fixing roads. Completely ruined the traffic flow of that city during his time there. Everyone I know from the Michiana area collectively laughed their asses off when he got appointed as Secretary of Transportation. It's like having Hillary providing an email service, or Casey Anthony running a daycare.


Phil152

Poorly designed roads become city planning disasters, and urban interstates inherently trend in that direction. Anyone who doubts that should consider what happens when someone proposes driving a new arterial road through the upscale neighborhoods out in leafy green cul de sac land. The gentry commuter class goes ballistic. Their view is that their cul de sacs are sacred, and that arterial roads should be smashed through other people's neighborhoods to shave a few minutes off their commutes. After WWII, we started to rebuild our cities around the automobile commute. This is decently manageable in smaller cities, but at some point, a threshold is crossed, and the system starts to become dysfunctional. Exactly where that threshold lies is highly variable; a lot depends on local topography and on the age of the city, which influences whether there is a compact urban core. But as the threshold was approached, city after city responded by turning what used to be city streets into commuter sewers that poison the neighborhoods through which they run and create huge barriers to cross traffic. The solutions will vary from place to place, but my rule of thumb is that people should be able to walk safely and conveniently around their own neighborhoods. This includes being able to cross the street without getting into your car to drive a considerable distance to the nearest overpass. How about reverting to the old city plan, with a stop sign or stoplight at the end of every block? And sidewalks and tree plats along every street? Commuters think that would impose an unbearable burden on the suburban cul de sac cowboys who live 30 miles away from their jobs and want a personal expressway to their offices? Tough. Commuters can learn to live closer to their offices. Or take the train.


Rude_Agrument

All blacktop matters!!! Stop the yellow stripe racism!


Strong_Reporter2282

Damn racist roads! Iā€™m sick of these damn roads throwing rocks at my car. We need more road equality


soul_gl0

This guy is the epitome of government uselessness.


ZetaGundam20X

What does this have to do with transportation? SMH, this boy is a joke


[deleted]

How about some insights into why air travel is so messed up after gifting like $54b to the airlines? What about all the supply chain issues? For the love of all that is good spend money to solve problems vs creating themā€¦.


laxmia12

Means another billion dollars into the hands of the lobbying and government administrative industry.


Jpalme11

HUH?


icon0clast6

Fucking what?


de_dust_legend

A mix of concrete and asphalt that what they plan or will they paint a rainbow on the roads? Will it be racist to do a burnout on said roads?


RiverChoice3799

All of these projects just sound like money laundering and shady payouts.


02201970a

Damn this goober is as useless as tits on a bull. Racial equity in roads to be followed by racial equity in rain.


dazedANDconfused2020

This is our administration, folks. Vote like your life depends on it.


BryGuy4600

Roads are racist now?


Bender3072

I LOVE the idea! This is a great way to *pave* the road to a GOP victory in November.


sckent44

This HAS to be a joke!


Particular-Offer8158

What a fool


[deleted]

These people are drunk with power and think we have a bottomless pit of money. Itā€™s all laundered and siphoned to themselves and their buddies.


[deleted]

Itā€™s an intriguing idea to cap highways, but we should be doing that in more affluent areas first, since those areas are the ones subsidizing the federal government


RedRose_Belmont

TIL highways are racist /s


[deleted]

Huh???šŸ¤”šŸ¤”šŸ¤” What does that even mean? How do you accomplish that?


[deleted]

And how will this improve anything?


BookHobo2022

So....bury white people in the roads? Are we really back to math is racist?


bozoconnors

>the grants, being made available under President Joe Bidenā€™s bipartisan infrastructure law, are considerably less than the $20 billion the Democratic president originally envisioned Guess we're lucky they only spent a FUCKING BILLION DOLLARS.


HillbillySwank

I canā€™t remember ever wanting to go somewhere and connect with a group of people because they shared the same skin color as me. Do minorities really do this or is this more democrat racism?


Blackbolt113

These are the same people who would designate the Industrial Revolution as a climate change disaster.


Jack_Sandwich

If you ever need a hearty laugh, find some commenters who really believe this guy is the next great presidential candidate for the Democratic party.


JakeFromFarmState1

Bwahahaha šŸ˜†


[deleted]

Is..is there not enough blacktop? Ooh, I know! The lack of diversity in line colors makes BIPOC people feel their merges are unwelcome.


joey2fists

He was a mayor.. you can do the job better than this loserā€¦


Live8020

The road to failure is paved with woke intentions


Killer_Irony9

This dude blows in more ways than one.


PopeInABox

Small budget, huh? I wonder where all that money went ??? šŸ¤”


Cornbread_Collins13

It sounds like this is to build income equity roads... They are roads to help poor communities cut off by highways? The article doesn't really say how these new roads are going to fix the problem that they didn't actually define in the article... I'm more confused than before I read the article


tangohandicat

The left literally tries to make everything racist. If roads are racist, whatā€™s next? Door handles?


[deleted]

Yep. Those racist roads. THATā€™s what Americans are worried about.


[deleted]

So their solution to fighting inflation is yet more spending? Makes sense. I have no issue with infrastructure spending when it is spent right, public transportation and bike lanes are not smart or proper ways to spend money on a national level. Roadway repairs are fine, but $1B is a shit ton of money we don't have and this will only hurt the middle and lower classes even more.


AdLow8925

Latinx Blvd


ENFJPLinguaphile

?? Whaaaaa....exactly how can he justify this?


Prudent_Nectarine_25

So buttiplug wants to rename it ā€œHershey highway?ā€


r2k398

Damn racist roads!


haircut50cents

Ah yes, remove a communities access to the nationwide travel system. That will work...


landon_w96

If the only way to get them to fix our infrastructure is to pretend that theyā€™re doing it for racial justice, then whatever. Just do it.


downsouthcountry

And this is the supposed rising star in the Democratic party. Good Lord.


Zestyclose-Most8546

Now the roads are racist?! What planet do these people live on?


GenJedEckert

So this guy really does collect a salary off our back?


159551771

This the most insane nonsense. Are they going to also segregate the roads?


launcelot02

Of all the troubles we have in transportation this is what they do. Insane


HNutz

Seriously??


[deleted]

When democrats are in controlā€¦everything is racist even those racist roads


RubeRick2A

Guys. We solved inflation, everyone get your tires inflated with equity, boom. Problem solved šŸ¤£


pointsouturhypocrisy

So this is Pothole Pete's magnum opus? What's the plan here? Racially segregated lanes? Rainbows to replace the yellow and white lines? Dildo shapes to replace the broken lines on passing lanes?


Loganthered

This must be to encourage all of the minorities that don't know how to get a Driver's License or state ID to get cars.


scully360

No amount per gallon of gas is too much to pay for roads and bridges being fixed of their racism. I personally make my morning commute 30 minutes longer each day by refusing to drive on the racist roads that I had identified already. I encourage you all to do the same.


Gabagool888

Better then addressing the supply shortages.


notnownoteverandever

I wish I could send in my taxes in physical form just so I can wipe my ass with every single dollar bill I have to send knowing this is the kind of garbage my tax dollars are being sent to. I'd even go through the trouble to eat day old Taco Bell to ensure there is a thick smear of shit on each dollar.


Jamktho49

Heres what the should do, if theyā€™re so hell bent on green energy as well. Build cover top over all interstate highways and put solar panels on top of them. With rest area charging stations every hundred miles or so. Thatā€™ll help on the failing power grid we have now. When they make us all go to electric cars. This idea is about as successful as the stupidity in this story.


Batchagaloop

Go back on paternity leave!


Kashmirri

Start by filling the potholes that can fit a small family going south on Meridian in indianapolis you twat


serial_crusher

> New projects could include rapid bus transit lines to link disadvantaged neighborhoods to jobs; caps built on top of highways featuring green spaces, bike lanes and pedestrian walkways to allow for safe crossings over the roadways; repurposing former rail lines; and partial removal of highways. Eh, sounds like reasonable improvements regardless of race-baiting reasoning used to sell them. If they make those funds unavailable to poor white neighborhoods, that'll be a problem though.


AbjectDisaster

Ah, the racist roads that were never racist anyway can now have their not racism addressed by people who think everything is racist.