Government Technology - October 2007 - (Page 12)

the last mile Group Publisher: EDITORIAL DON PEARSON dpearson@govtech.com BY C HA D VA NDER VEEN TECHNOLOGY AND POLITICS EDITOR Free Me From Freeway Gridlock ver the summer, my wife and I had to make a trip from Sacramento to San Francisco. She was forcibly dragging me to her high-school reunion — though it turned out to be slightly less miserable than I was anticipating. I’ve made the 90-mile drive more times than I can count, yet stupidly chose to take the most direct route — Interstate 80. It was a Saturday afternoon, I said to myself, “How many people could possibly be on the road?” Sadly as we approached the aptly nicknamed “Berkeley Crawl” — a section of “freeway” that leads to Oakland and the Bay Bridge — I realized my Editor: Associate Editor: Assistant Editor: Chief Copy Editor: Managing Editor: Justice Editor: Technology and Politics Editor: Staff Writers: Contributing Writers: Editorial Assistant: DESIGN STEVE TOWNS stowns@govtech.com SHANE PETERSON JESSICA JONES jjones@govtech.com MIRIAM JONES mjones@govtech.com KAREN STEWARTSON kstewartson@govtech.com JIM MCKAY jmckay@govtech.com CHAD VANDER VEEN cvanderveen@govtech.com ANDY OPSAHL, TAMARA WARTA MERRILL DOUGLAS, JESSICA WEIDLING CORTNEY TOWNS ctowns@govtech.com Creative Director: Graphic Designers: Illustrator: Production Director: Production Manager: Internet Director: PUBLISHING KELLY MARTINELLI kmartinelli@govtech.com CRYSTAL HOPSON chopson@govtech.com MICHELLE HAMM mhamm@govtech.com JOE COLOMBO jcolombo@govtech.com TOM MCKEITH tmckeith@govtech.com STEPHAN WIDMAIER swidm@govtech.com JOEI HEART jheart@govtech.com JUDE HANSEN jhansen@govtech.com O speed as somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.7 mph. My mood deteriorated quickly. The fact that we were headed somewhere I didn’t want to go in the first place made being part of this slowly, snaking steel conduit even more unbearable. Finally, after high tension and raised blood pressure shaved at least a year off my life expectancy, we reached the tollbooth where a silent employee dutifully extracted $4 from me. Meanwhile, I watched as a few cars with FasTrak whizzed through their gilded, beautifully empty lanes. I cursed myself for failing to possess one. VP Strategic Accounts: VP Bus. Development: Sr. Director of Sales: JON FYFFE jfyffe@govtech.com TIM KARNEY tkarney@govtech.com EAST PAM FYFFE pfyffe@govtech.com WEST, CENTRAL EAST SHELLEY BALLARD sballard@govtech.com WEST, CENTRAL Regional Sales Directors: LESLIE HUNTER lhunter@govtech.com Account Managers: KRISTA O’SULLIVAN kosullivan@govtech.com WEST, CENTRAL MELISSA CANO mcano@govtech.com EAST ERIN HUX ehux@govtech.com WEST, CENTRAL ANDREA KLEINBARDT akleinbardt@govtech.com SHANNON DURHAM sdurham@govtech.com NANCY GLASS nglass@govtech.com SABRINA SHEWMAKE sshewmake@govtech.com WHITNEY SWEET wsweet@govtech.com Director of Marketing: National Sales Administrator: Regional Sales Administrators: Dir. of Custom Events: “I beg you, use your powers to change transportation’s currently bleak future.” costly mistake. I hadn’t anticipated the thousands of people battling to get to downtown San Francisco in hopes of seeing Barry Bonds inject himself into baseball’s record books. The Berkeley Crawl is a hellish bit of interstate. It always works the same way. When approaching from the east, traffic is light and all seems well. One is lulled into a sense that this time, finally, there won’t be the sort of soul-crushing gridlock there was on the previous trip. The freeway gently slopes upward and swoops to the left, affording grand views of the bay. Upon cresting the hill, however, I was confronted with a nightmarish vision of things to come. Laid out before me was what seemed like millions of cars crammed together in some parking lot designed by Satan himself. I felt as though I was looking directly into the eyes of madness. For 90 minutes we inched along in our metal coffin, the Bay Bridge a mere mile away. I could clearly see the great span, our salvation, beckoning in the afternoon sun. But I could not reach it. I calculated our average OCT_07 Custom Events Manager: LANA HERRERA lherrera@govtech.com Custom Events Coordinator: KARIN PRADO kprado@govtech.com With tens of millions of new Californians expected over the next few decades, I shudder to think of what traffic will be like in the future. It should be clear to anyone that simply adding more lanes to freeways is a shortsighted solution. Are high-speed trains the answer? Perhaps. Does anyone with the power to build them have the political will to do so? Probably not. Since we are already sliding toward a nanny-state, maybe we can force everyone to have FasTrak, you know, for their own good. I am but a lowly writer — a man with neither the know-how nor resources to change the future. I don’t even get paid real money — I get paid in cured meats. While sad, I am looking forward to next week’s honey baked ham — if only I could afford an appliance on which to cook it. But you, dear readers, you are the ones with the power. You are the innovators, the technologists and the change agents. I beg you, use your powers to change transportation’s currently bleak future. Change it before the Berkeley Crawl ceases to be the exception and becomes the rule. Dir. of Custom Publications: STACEY TOLES stoles@govtech.com Custom Publications Associate Editor: Business Development Director: Publisher’s Executive Coordinator: EMILY MONTANDON emontandon@govtech.com GLENN SWENSON gswenson@govtech.com SARAH LIX slix@govtech.com Director of Web Products and Services: VIKKI PALAZZARI vpalazzari@govtech.com Web Services Manager: PETER SIMEK psimek@govtech.com Proj. Manager, Web Products and Services: Web Advertising Manager: Subscription Coordinator: CORPORATE MICHELLE MROTEK mmrotek@govtech.com JULIE DEDEAUX jdedeaux@govtech.com GOSIA USTASZEWSKA subscriptions@govtech.com CEO: Executive VP: Executive VP: CAO: CFO: VP of Events: DENNIS MCKENNA dmckenna@govtech.com DON PEARSON dpearson@govtech.com CATHILEA ROBINETT crobinet@centerdigitalgov.com LISA BERNARD lbernard@govtech.com PAUL HARNEY pharney@govtech.com ALAN COX acox@govtech.com Government Technology is published by e.Republic Inc. Copyright 2007 by e.Republic Inc. All rights reserved. Government Technology is a registered trademark of e.Republic Inc. Opinions expressed by writers are not necessarily those of the publisher or editors. Article submissions should be sent to the attention of the Managing Editor. Reprints of all articles in this issue and past issues are available (500 minimum). Please direct inquiries to Reprint Management Services (RMS): Attn. 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Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - October 2007

Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile GT Spectrum Letters How It Works Cerf on the Net Way Back Machine Separation Anxiety Let's Roll Rising to the Challenge Wednesday Afternoon Fever Parking Possibilities Products Signal: Noise

Government Technology - October 2007

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