Today’s Headlines

  • The Senate environment committee was once known as a hotbed of bipartisan congeniality … though it can still look that way, judging from this year’s transportation debate (ClimateWire)
  • The construction industry promotes the role it can play in economic recovery effort (Portfolio)
  • Trucking industry accuses the New York Times of ill treatment after a critical editorial on Anne Ferro, the trucking lobbyist nominated to regulate truck safety, and a story on texting behind the wheel (Fleet Owner)
  • The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, less than helpful on transportation reform despite its support for a gas tax hike, is shedding members over its opposition to congressional action on climate change (NYT)
  • GOP pundit John Feehery calls Transportation Secretary LaHood "the only real PR bright spot" for the White House (The Hill)
  • Chicago transit agency gets a new chief (Sun-Times)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Trucks and Cities Are Like Oil and Water. Is There a Solution?

By Tanya Snyder |
About 350 pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are killed each year by large trucks in this country. Big freight trucks are incompatible with cities in many ways, bringing danger, pollution, noise, and traffic congestion. They park in bike lanes and have shockingly big blind spots, putting everyone around them at risk. And yet, most cities haven’t […]

Who Still Likes the House Transpo Bill? Big Oil, Big Truck, and Big Box Retail

By Ben Goldman |
The House has finished marking up its transportation bill in what shaped up to be a very Groundhog Day-esque ordeal of unending, repetitive partisan theater (if you missed it, follow coverage on twitter). The centerpiece was yesterday’s/last night’s/this morning’s Transportation & Infrastructure committee markup, where members debated more than 80 amendments for over 18 hours […]

Trucks Gone Green?

By Ben Fried |
This image comes courtesy of TrucksDeliver.org, not the Onion. If BP can stand for "Beyond Petroleum," what’s to stop the trucking industry from claiming to "deliver a cleaner tomorrow"? Not much, apparently. In a story about the current practices of K Street lobbyists, the Washington Post reports that even the American Trucking Associations — a […]

What's So Scary About Bicycle Infrastructure?

By Sarah Goodyear |
Better bicycle infrastructure is no threat to trucks. (Photo: Wayan Vota via Flickr) Statements made by U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood in recent weeks — including one regarding "the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized" — have gotten a lot of favorable coverage from members of the Streetsblog Network. But they’ve […]

T&I Chair Bill Shuster Complicates Matters With Push for VMT Fee

By Tanya Snyder |
All options may be on the table for funding transportation, but Bill Shuster has chosen his. Rep. Shuster, head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, hasn’t been willing to commit to any one proposal for funding transportation until now. And his choice may make things complicated. At a Bloomberg Government event yesterday, Shuster came […]