Cognitive Dissonance

Kevin Klinkenberg on the cognitive dissonance of transportation funding:

Like all highway projects, it was chosen, funded and built with no public vote. The voters of the entire state of Missouri, and in fact the entire United States were the primary funders of the project. Again, the project was entirely for the benefit of suburban commuters, since the intersection had no congestion outside of at most 10 hours per week.

This is the cognitive dissonance that says one group of people must vote for and fund their own lifestyle choices (urbanites who use transit); while another group gets their lifestyle choices funded by everyone.

I remember in my Driver’s Ed class that it was reiterated many times that “driving is a privilege, not a right.” However neither the way we fund transportation nor the way we plan cities reflect that idea.