A map of what high-speed rail might look like in America -- but, it is a slow train coming.

From Detroit Public Television (DPTV) -- Detroit's transportation future plays a starring role in Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City. DPTV and the Kresge Foundation recently hosted a screening and panel discussion at the Detroit Public Library.

Or, once you’re sorry you better be safe. That is the line U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is taking after introducing Tuesday the Administration's plan to take over safety regulation of the nation's subway and light-rail systems. This follows, among other recent incidents, the June 22 Metro crash in Washington, D.C., that killed nine people and injured dozens more.

Through two documentary projects (BEYOND THE MOTOR CITY and ROAD TO THE FUTURE), Blueprint America interviews today's thinkers and tells the stories of everyday Americans as an older country looks for its next move. As simplistic an idea as it may seem, a new transportation system could be the answer.

In a report from The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, some states are experimenting with controversial new taxes to pay for highway construction. Special correspondent Lee Hochberg reports from Oregon, where officials are looking into charging drivers a tax based on the number of miles they drive in lieu of a highly-debated gas tax.

At midnight Wednesday, the federal transportation law funding national highway and transit programs expired. Amid a lack of consensus in Congress on what to do—as the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has been at odds with both the Senate and the Obama Administration—the current law was extended for one-month. However, it is a short-term fix.

Every six years the law authorizing national transportation policy and funding needs renewal. The current law expires Sept. 30 -- in nine days.

With Congress back after a summer recess, President Barack Obama, in an address before both the House and Senate on Wednesday, again made clear that the government’s business at this moment is health care reform. As a result, major climate legislation has been delayed twice in the Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. At the same time, similar legislation in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee -- a $450 billion bill to overhaul transportation funding and policy nationally -- has not been put off, at least by Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D., Minn.).

What do you call a highway program that just keeps going long after its original goals were achieved? A zombie highway. Blueprint America -- with The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer -- goes to Birmingham, Alabama, to look into the Northern Beltline, a road that will cost more than $3 billion, most of which will be paid for by taxpayers nationwide.