The Senate is set to vote on a new part of President Obama's $447 billion jobs bill which includes funding for programs to help build roads, bridges and other public works programs. The bill is likely to fail, but that has not stopped the president from continuing to campaign for its passage. Andrea Bernstein, director of the Transportation Nation project and senior correspondent for WNYC, looks at why President Obama continues to push for infrastructure despite it looking like a losing cause.

In Washington, a 12-member "super committee" of legislators is haggling over spending cuts and generating tax revenues. Confidence in Congress to get the job done on our stumbling economy is at an all-time low. But America's strength has always been about the democratic discussion of big ideas. In a free society, one person can change the world with creative problem solving. So we want to hear more from you: what are your big ideas for solving the economy?

President Obama and GOP Presidential Candidate Jon Huntsman agree on one thing: we need less nation-building abroad, and more nation building here at home.  Both expressed the sentiment, separately, on Thursday.

But will talking lead to doing?  And what would stateside nation building actually look like?

One of President Obama's signature policy initiatives has been to connect 80 percent of Americans to high speed rail within 25 years. However, the 2011 budget allocates no further funding to high speed rail projects. Furthermore, in states like Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin, Republican governors have returned money for high speed rail projects, which was given to them as part of the stimulus. Is high speed rail dead? 

Transportation infrastructure is key to any country's economic success; Afghanistan is no exception. While the U.S. has made significant headway in helping Afghan officials develop roads, bridges and public transportation, Col. Ted Hodgson says much more can and should be done. Col. Hodgson works for the logistics directorate at U.S. Central Command. He joins us to discuss what progress has been made in building Afghanistan's infrastructure and the local impact of infrastructure projects.

President Obama meets today with governors and mayors from around the nation to talk about “investing in America’s infrastructure.”

We asked Takeaway listeners to weigh in on President Obama's plan to spend $50 billion on infrastructure to stimulate the economy. If you had the money to spend, where would you send the check? 

Lindsey Swift wrote on our Facebook page:

“Water resources and management, waste disposal, upgrade ports, high speed internet everywhere, diversify transportation options, establish comprehensive energy smart grid.”

All morning we've been talking about President Obama's plan to spend $50 billion on infrastructure to stimulate the economy. Takeaway listeners have some of their own ideas about the money would best be spent.

Brandolon from Dallas says:

"Biking, walking, and mass transit infrastructure, for example, would reduce reliance on the automobile, and thus the dept that comes along with it—auto loans, payday loans to pay car notes and gas, etc. All that money goes to banks and bank execs who are more likely to invest it in other nations than our own. That rationale should be key in the decision-making process."

President Barack Obama is talking about the economy all week. Yesterday, he delivered a jobs speech before a whooping crowd in Milwaukee, Wis., where he called on Congress to swiftly approve a new stimulus plan: one that would devote at least an additional $50 billion to upgrade the nation's infrastructure.

The history of economic development in the United States has always been connected to the messy business of opening up trade routes. Whether it was the Erie Canal, which for many threatened to cut through their quaint home towns, or the thousands of miles of railroad track and highways strewn across the country, the same has been true: new transportation routes brought development, shipping and a lot of change.

One year ago, the Obama Administration began pushing billions and billions of dollars out the door.  The federal stimulus combines tax cuts, huge chunks of federal spending and the extension of benefits in hopes of stimulating the American economy.  So how are American cities changing, and what will we remember about this massive program decades from now?

Yesterday, Berkshire Hathaway, the investment vehicle of billionaire Warren Buffett, announced it is buying up the remaining shares of railroad company Burlington Northern. It's a big bet on American rail, and a big bet on the American economy. It's also a telling sign of Buffett's belief that Americans aren't quite ready to go green, since almost half of Burlington Northern's cargo last year was coal. We speak to Phillip Longman, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation and author of “The Next Progressive Era: A Blueprint for Broad Prosperity.” Also with us is T.J. Stiles, author of “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.”

Actor and New Orleans native Wendell Pierce is probably best known for his role as the cigar-smoking, hard-drinking detective William "Bunk" Moreland on HBO's critically acclaimed drama "The Wire." Since the end of that series, though, Pierce has been keeping busy: in between stage performances in New York City and his work on "Treme," a new HBO drama by David Simon, Pierce has been building affordable, eco-friendly, sustainable homes for a New Orleans neighborhood whose residents were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Four years ago, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, sending an enormous storm surge into the Mississippi river delta. By the time the winds died down, hundreds of thousands of residents of New Orleans were displaced and whole neighborhoods were destroyed. This week, we’ll be looking at New Orleans four years later. It’s now the fastest growing large city in America, and today we talk to three residents who are making new beginnings in the city.  

Clarence White was forced out of his Gentilly home during Hurrican Katrina. He was evacuated to Michigan, lived in a FEMA trailer for a time, and this month is finally planning to move back into his old house.
 
Allen Darnell is the COO of iSeatz, a software development company based in New Orleans. The company had to move to New York after the storm, but has now returned to New Orleans. 

Duke Bradley took over a failing public elementary school in the Ninth Ward and started Mays Prep Academy, a charter elementary school. This is the school’s first year, and he’s the principal.

A new study by the Texas Transportation Institute showed that traffic jams cost Americans 4.2 billion hours of lost time. (You could listen to the entire War and Peace audio book 160 times.) So why not just take the bus or train? In 2007, public transportation saved commuters 646 million hours in travel time and 398 millions gallons of gas. Joining The Takeaway to discuss Americans' reluctance to get out of their cars is Tim Lomax, a research engineer with the Texas Transportation Institute.

In Denver, Colorado, a group of urban planners and architects gather this week to debate urban design. How can suburbia and downtown get closer? Joining The Takeaway from Denver is Ellen Dunham, the Director of the Architecture program at Georgia Institute of Technology and the co-author of "Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs".

This week The Takeaway looks at how cities are reinventing themselves for a world that doesn't depend on cars. Transportation writer (and Takeaway Contributor) Matt Dellinger is in Denver, CO, a town that has epitomized American urban sprawl. But Denver wants to reinvent itself and as the host city for the Congress on New Urbanism, the city is well on its way to streamlining its infrastructure. Also joining the conversation is Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, to discuss how his city is reshaping itself.

Above is the 3-minute video that won the Congress for the New Urbanism's 2009 video contest. It's called "Built to Last" and it is from filmmakers First + Main Media from Julian, CA and Paget Films from Buffalo, NY (John Paget, Dr. Chris Elisara, and Drew Ward).

Follow along on The Takeaway's Urban Safari series.

With shrinking budgets and expanding populations, cities across the globe are desperate for cheap mass transit. From Johannesburg to Jakarta to Cleveland, city governments are choosing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)— a bus system that acts like a train but with no tracks or rails. The Takeaway talks to freelance reporter Steven Dudley, who explored the successful BRT system in Bogota, Colombia, and to Dan Moulthrop, reporter for WCPN, Cleveland Public Radio, where the city has been making the transition to a Bus Rapid Transit system.

To see the buses in action, watch the film below:

One of the most famously congested and crowded spots in the world is Times Square in New York City. Starting today, segments of its main thoroughfare, Broadway, will be closed to cars. In their place will be more room for pedestrians, and even cafe tables and chairs. The city says the plan will actually relieve traffic congestion. Transportation writer Matt Dellinger joins The Takeaway with a look at why New York is taking this step, and what it might mean for cities around the U.S.

Forget the fight over fuel efficiency standards. An even more controversial measure is on the horizon — the transportation reauthorization bill. It only comes up for debate every six years and could transform the way we commute and travel. Here to explain the behemoth transportation bill is Congressman Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Eugene, Oregon.

For more on the transportation debate taking place across the country, listen to Miles O'Brien's interview, Traffic Jam: How to Reduce Congestion, on The Takeaway. Also, hear the lively debate on the fuel standards, California, Here We Come: New Fuel Standards.