Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor
Aug 19, 2009

Local coverage of T4A’s report on transit cuts (Detroit News, SF Chron, Sac Biz Journ, WaPo)

Birmingham, home of PBS’ "zombie highway," rocked by bribery guilty plea (Bloomberg)

Highway projects (and transit ones, too) are stalling thanks to funding uncertainty in Congress (CQ)

Ford’s new electric car can "talk" to the grid to regulate power usage (AP)

D.C. transit’s summer woes continue (Balt. Sun)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

The U.S. Wants to “Borrow” From Transit to Pay for Highways

By Aaron Naparstek | Jul 29, 2008

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said yesterday that due to declining gas tax revenues, the Highway Trust Fund would need to borrow money from its mass transit account to pay for road projects. Today’s big news story was buried at the bottom of page A17 in the New York Times: Gasoline tax revenue is falling […]

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New Bill Would Fund Highways, Transit Equally

By Christian MilNeil | Dec 11, 2020

Since 1982, federal transportation funding has been governed by the "80-20 split," which restricts the federal Department of Transportation from spending more than 20 percent of its Highway Trust Fund money on transit projects, leaving the majority of federal funding for highway projects.

But What About the Highways-Transit Split?

By Elana Schor | Jun 18, 2009

As transit fans and policy wonks digest the details of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar’s (D-MN) new proposal, one question is coming to mind: Does it change the typical 80-20 split in the percentage of funding that goes to highways versus transit? The short answer is, not really. While road programs got […]

What Wasn’t in This Week’s Highway Trust Fund Patch

By Elana Schor | Jul 31, 2009

Transportation’s make-or-break week in Washington has ended with a funding face-off postponed until fall, thanks to Senate passage of a short-term, $7 billion rescue for the nation’s highway trust fund. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) (Photo: PatersonOnline) The trust fund patch, designed to keep U.S. DOT dollars flowing to local road projects until September 30, keeps […]

Yes, Transit Belongs in the Highway Trust Fund

By Tanya Snyder | Mar 4, 2011

As gas tax revenues wane, making it harder to finance a long-term transportation bill, ideas are beginning to circulate about how to save the (very poorly named) Highway Trust Fund. Some say the gas tax needs to rise. Others say fewer programs need to be financed out of the fund, which pays for all federal […]

CA Voters Reject Measures With Lots of Highway Money and a Dash of Transit

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 10, 2016

On Tuesday night, voters approved major transit improvement plans in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Raleigh, and Seattle. There were other types of transportation measures on local ballots — they focused on highway expansion and lumped in transit funding as a secondary consideration. TransitCenter reports that in California, highway-centric packages didn’t have the same appeal as transit-focused ballot measures: Consider California. While […]