Today’s Headlines

  • House Democrats on track to approve more transportation spending as part of a December jobs bill, but health care is likely to postpone Senate action until 2010 (NYT)
  • LaHood calls for a national crackdown on texting while driving — but doesn’t pick a side, legislatively speaking (WashPost)
  • Missouri is on the verge of a transport funding crisis, but political fears of talking new taxes are putting prospects for a solution even further out of reach (Missourinet)
  • North Texas hosting LaHood today for its annual transport conference (Star-Telegram)
  • A Nevada editorial board backs the street retrofitting recommendations in the new pedestrian safety report released by Transportation for America … (LV Sun)
  • … while the editors of Cleveland’s newspaper call on the feds to step in with transit operating aid for the city (Plain Dealer)
  • While U.S. high speed rail waits for takeoff, London unveils plans for a new bullet train to Madrid (Gadling)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

LaHood: Gas Tax Increase in Congressional Hands

By Elana Schor |
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LaHood Talks Budget: “Very Bright” Future for Infrastructure Fund

By Elana Schor |
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today that he sees "very bright" prospects for congressional approval of the Obama administration’s $4 billion National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance Fund, the new iteration of the long-discussed National Infrastructure Bank proposal. Transportation Secretary LaHood, at left, with the president. (Photo: NYT) "There is a great deal of interest in […]

LaHood Vows to Avert Federal Transpo Bankruptcy and Pay For It

By Elana Schor |
The Obama administration is working on a plan to fill the shortfall in the nation’s highway trust fund by August without adding to the federal deficit, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Congress today. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (Photo: HillBuzz) The circumstances behind the trust fund’s financial troubles are well-known: a nationwide decline in driving coupled […]

A Federal Transportation Bill Is Coming… But When?

By Elana Schor |
Speaking to members of the National Retail Federation earlier today, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sidestepped what’s becoming one of the peskiest unanswered questions on the Hill: Will Congress delay the federal transportation bill until next year? In his address to the retailers’ group, LaHood stuck mostly to his department’s progress in allocating its $48 billion […]

Ray LaHood, Known Unknown

By Sarah Goodyear |
Ray LaHood, holding plaque, in 2004 with members of the League of Illinois Bicyclists Ray LaHood? Ray LaHood? That was the rippling reaction on the Streetsblog Network yesterday and early today as the news about Obama’s pick for Transportation Secretary sank in. "Say it ain’t so, Barack," was the headline on the brand-new blog WalkBike […]