As we approach the one-year mark since COVID-19 turned the world upside down, we’re focused on signs of recovery and renewal. Thank goodness, the signs are getting brighter, clearer and more widespread.
3 hopeful pieces in particular we’re enjoying right now–
1) President Biden has long been a fan of trains and transit, and we couldn’t agree more! It seems likely that support for passenger rail will continue to grow as the COVID-19 vaccine becomes more widely available. Given our longtime marketing love affair with Amtrak and numerous transit systems across the country, we’re hoping they are indeed a comeback player this year.
2) As we look for creative solutions to the massive fiscal challenges ahead, Public-Private Partnerships, also known as P3s, will be pivotal to addressing our infrastructure needs. Put simply, P3s offer innovation and funding mechanisms that governments just can’t make happen on their own. Pulsar has worked on some of the nation’s largest P3 projects – including Virginia Megaprojects and Maryland’s P3 Program – and we see so many ways P3s can help Do a World of Good for ports, aviation, education and healthcare, in addition to replacing and upgrading our nation’s aging highway infrastructure. This article in The New York Times from earlier this week shares more on how P3s will be critical in the years ahead
3) Finally, our search for hopeful inspiration led us to consider the impact of vehicles on climate change, which then led us to this project currently being planned in Saudi Arabia. It’s a cluster of cities with NO roads, and NO cars! Pretty unbelievable, but also unbelievably cool – and we can’t wait to see it come to life!
