Today’s Headlines

  • As Copenhagen climate talks wind on, a timely reminder that clean transportation can take the U.S. halfway to its emissions reduction goals (HuffPost)
  • LaHood gives Connecticut’s local high-speed rail effort a friendly nudge (News Times)
  • Michigan, home of the U.S. car industry, ranked second-to-last in the nation when it came to fuel-efficiency improvements achieved under the "cash for clunkers" program (Det News)
  • Oberstar says his six-year, $500 billion transportation bill is major unfinished business for 2010, but gives no specific timetable (Roll Call)
  • To help make midwestern inter-city rail reliable and fast, it has to stop competing with freight rail (Sun-Times)
  • Veolia, the French private transit company becoming increasingly popular in the U.S., enters a contract dispute with the transit agency in Austin, TX (American-Statesman)
  • Atlanta area county voters back a sales tax increase to pay for light rail, according to a new study (Access North GA)
  • Birmingham, AL, puts $9 million in transit upgrades on hold (AL.com)
  • Boxer’s message to Copenhagen delegates: "America has already acted" on climate change (Roll Call)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

A crowded 38 bus in San Francisco

Transportation Agencies Will Finally Measure the Movement of People, Not Just Cars

By Angie Schmitt |
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent in the quest for free-flowing vehicular traffic. The result is wider highways, more sprawl, and more people stuck in congestion. But this week U.S. DOT took an important step to change course, releasing new standards to guide how transportation agencies measure their performance. Advocates for transit and walkability say the policy is a significant improvement.

U.S. Transportation Now Belches Out More Carbon Than U.S. Electricity

By Angie Schmitt |
For the first time in almost four decades, the nation’s tailpipes now spew out more carbon emissions than the nation’s smokestacks. It’s an indication of how slowly the American transportation sector is rising to the challenge of preventing catastrophic climate change. Over the past 12 months, carbon emissions from cars and trucks have exceeded carbon emissions from electric power — the first time that’s happened […]

Anthony Foxx Takes Office As U.S. Transportation Secretary

By Tanya Snyder |
Anthony Foxx, who resigned yesterday as mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, was sworn in today at 11 a.m. as the new U.S. secretary of transportation. The Department of Transportation sent the following information in a press release after the ceremony: Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx was sworn in as the nation’s 17th Secretary of Transportation by […]