So it did seem like a good idea at the time. Back in March, I thought I could live on my experience, contacts and good looks (well, maybe not the last one) and build up a business that, by now, would be thriving.
What a difference 8 months makes.
I’ve been working those contacts and pushing that experience to anyone who would listen. I thought that the transportation business was recession proof. Not exactly. States are holding back projects as demands for education and social services eat up potential match money. Transit operators are straining under the surprisingly dual reality of formerly incomprehensible increases in ridership and decreased support by their communities to actually pay for it.
The news that President-elect Obama is making good on his promise of infrastructure investment makes me hopeful that the transportation sector will be re-energized. Nothing like a big healthy highway construction project (or–be still my heart–a bridge replacement) to put people to work and send motorists scrambling for the nearest exit in search of a way out of their cars, not to mention information on the project itself. From my first job in transportation, running the public information project for the Connecticut DOT’s replacement of the Mianus River Bridge on I-95 in Greenwich, I’ve been fascinated by the process of both getting the work done in hostile conditions and crafting communications stategies (also in hostile conditions) to keep the community informed and reasonably happy.
Things are looking up!
