Today’s Headlines

  • Bills to limit distracted driving poised for momentum in 2010 (NYT)
  • A preview of what the year holds for transportation news (Daily Herald)
  • An editorial on the toll that transit cuts take in Baton Rouge (Advocate)
  • Minnesota’s Central Corridor transit extension at the top of state’s agenda this year (Star Trib)
  • Detroit is closer than ever to achieving its local dream of light rail (Citizen)
  • Pennsylvania awaiting a verdict on I-80 tolling and other big transport decisions (Trib-Review)

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Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor |
Federal highway safety regulators knew that cell phone use while driving — even on a hands-free device — was a massive safety risk, but they hid it from Congress (NYT) LaHood’s stimulus tour stops in Sarasota, Florida (Herald-Trib) Don’t fret, New Yorkers: The $8 billion Hudson transit tunnel is on track for federal money whether […]

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor |
Politico sits down with LaHood for a lengthy interview on distracted driving … … as the U.S. DOT chief kicks off a campaign to get more women involved in transport careers (Prog. RR’ing) Obama to order the start of work on a post-2017 round of auto fuel efficiency standards (Free Press) House GOP’s earmark moratorium […]

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor |
Harvard economist Ed Glaeser takes a look at the sprawl-inducing home buyer’s tax credit, a policy only "a real estate agent could love" (NYT Blog) Confirmation of what you heard here last month: The No. 2 Senate Democrat thinks a gas tax needs to be on the table to fund a transportation bill next year […]

Feds Still Forcing Transit Agencies to Bow to Private Charter Buses

By Elana Schor |
Streetsblog Capitol Hill reported yesterday that the U.S. DOT would end a Bush-era mandate to reward new transit projects for using private contractors — but a similar pro-privatization rule for bus service remains in effect, preventing local transit agencies from competing with private charter companies. Fairgoers in Minnesota depart a private charter bus that benefited […]

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor |
A new study reinforces the open secret of distracted driving — legislation requiring hands-free cell phones won’t do the job (WSJ) More proof that the vice president was correct in calling high-speed rail grants apolitical: Pennsylvania’s Democratic-rich leadership is upset to see their state got shut out (Trib-Review) In Tampa, meanwhile, joy over rail money […]