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Whoever thought that we’d see gasoline at $3 a gallon again? Whoever thought that the United States would be one of the world’s greatest producers and a net exporter of petroleum products again?

Every so often a sea change in values occurs, and oftentimes from a completely unexpected quarter. That is what’s happening right now.

This change is brought about by a new technology that only a short time ago wasn’t even on the radar screen for most of us. Is it technology or is it business? Perhaps it’s both – an example of high commodity pricing opening up new markets.

For the design and the construction industry this means that many of the paradigms that we have been working toward for the last 10 or 15 years may no longer be viable. The balance of payments issue and our status as a net importer of petroleum products affected everything – from the price of fuel for equipment to the price of materials to the price of delivery.

As the price of fuel goes down, what does this mean? It may mean that issues that were of paramount importance and economic drivers such as price fall behind things such as climate change and carbon footprints. Those two concerns will remain with us, regardless of the price of fuel. And as more of us elect to live in the same footprint, congestion becomes an even bigger issue.

One area this could have a direct impact on is high-speed rail. When the cost of fuel was high and cars were using a lot of it, it made sense to look at other alternatives – even for relatively sparsely settled states like Oregon. But this paradigm shift should cause a re-evaluation of many of the fundamentals that we have been working toward.

Technology that one time made sense may no longer make sense. For example, does high-speed rail in a state like Oregon make any sense when the majority of the population needs point-to-point transportation? On the other hand, if you go further north into western Washington, point-to-point transportation is no longer possible because of the high density and the congestion involved in individual transportation modes. Those of us who occasionally to travel to Seattle know that driving back is a losing proposition after 3:30 p.m. Therefore, high-speed rail and similar technologies are needed in those situations.

Sometimes it’s painful to let go of old ideas and projects that made a lot of sense for a long time. But that’s what makes leaders – understanding the past in order to provide clarity and a vision for the future.

Christian Steinbrecher is president of Columbia River Port Engineers Inc. and the immediate past president of the Oregon Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is the editor of ASCE Oregon’s Report Card on Oregon’s Infrastructure.