There is a vast need throughout Canada and the developed world to not only maintain but modernize its aging infrastructure networks. Investment and maintenance of transport throughout most Western societies have suffered sustained decline over the past 40+ years, even before accounting for austerity measures imposed after 2008 that further curtail residual support for these systems.

Things weren’t always this way. As World War II ended, war veterans, families, and industries returned home to refocus economic activities towards growing domestic production again. During this era, the US federal government – in collaboration with automakers and oil producers, and championed by the President Dwight D. Eisenhower himself –aggressively pursued development of an expansive national interstate highway system, all while automobiles proliferated throughout the land. Mass-produced, affordable, and growing in popularity, automobiles were purchased by consumers of a growing “middle-class” that would fundamentally alter the infrastructure, landscape, and culture all around this “Greatest Generation.”

Meanwhile, as this growing web of interstate highways effectively cut straight into the hearts of major cities throughout the US, city populations were displaced over an ever-sprawling metropolitan area, and historic downtown city centers suffered dramatic population loss, leading to declining city revenues and chronic neglect. Faced with dwindling numbers of riders per square kilometer, transport operators suffered financial insolvency and were ultimately shut down, with minimal sustained support (or even direct opposition, in many cases) from federal and state governments that had, by then, solidified their alignment with automobile interests.

No longer able to compete in the car-centric realm that came to dominate this era, transport options over time continued to quietly dwindle throughout our cities, resulting in the dearth of urban and intercity transport options for riders and industries now faced today.