Today’s Headlines

  • Texting while driving is a primary offense for Missouri teens, but very few tickets are getting written (STLToday)
  • More evidence that transportation stimulus spending is viewed through the prism of job creation — not sustainability or connectivity (CNN Money)
  • Dispute over hiring of local workers for the stimulus law’s largest Amtrak project sparks controversy in Connecticut (The Day)
  • The Twin Cities’ Central Corridor rail line is set to get three new stops (Finance & Comm.)
  • Denver planners are looking anew at HOT lanes and toll roads amid a state budget crunch, but still holding out hope for federal stimulus money (Post)
  • Electric car-charging company Better Place draws a massive $350m investment (GreenBeat)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

New Stimulus Data: Road Funds 77% Under Contract, Transit at 74%

By Elana Schor |
As of the end of February, nearly $5.4 billion of transit stimulus money, or 74 percent, was under contract for projects in the 50 states and D.C., according to a Streetsblog Capitol Hill analysis of data released today by the House transportation committee. (Photo: DMI Blog) The success rate of transit stimulus spending was slightly […]

Killing the Myth of the ‘More Shovel-Ready’ Road Stimulus, Part II

By Elana Schor |
It has become one of the most enduring anecdotes surrounding the Obama administration’s $787 billion economic stimulus law: Democrats’ contention that White House adviser Larry Summers sliced transit aid by more than half, to $8.4 billion, out of concerns that projects were not "shovel-ready" enough. (Photo: DMI Blog) Has Summers been vindicated by the data? […]

Stimulus Jobs From Transit vs. Roads: A Tale of Two States

By Elana Schor |
Smart Growth America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group today reported that transit stimulus spending created nearly twice as many jobs per dollar as highway stimulus  projects — a conclusion that Streetsblog Capitol Hill first previewed a few weeks ago. But as the groups snag some big-media attention today, […]

New Report: Minority-Owned Businesses Left Out of Transport Stimulus

By Elana Schor |
Women and minorities are getting shortchanged in the chase for transportation stimulus contracts, according to a report released today by the Transportation Equity Network (TEN) and Good Jobs First. (Photo: WBEZ) Using federal procurement data — which, the two advocacy groups acknowledged, represents just a slice of the White House’s economic recovery pie — the […]