Today’s Headlines

  • LaHood explains his texting ban for interstate truck drivers: "We don’t merely EXPECT you to share the road responsibly with other travelers – we REQUIRE you to" (DOT Press)
  • The Bay Area’s Transbay transit center snags $171 million federal loan (Feinstein Press)
  • New York-area experts debate the wisdom of national transportation objectives (Streetsblog NYC)
  • Two workers die in accident on Washington D.C.’s Metro system amid a season of debate over federal involvement in rail safety (WashPost)
  • Federal stimulus money helping to bring state-of-the-art hybrid buses to New Haven, Connecticut (NH Indy)
  • Ford plans to create an Explorer with 25% better fuel-efficiency, using Department of Energy grant money and Illinois tax credits to make it happen (Bloomberg)
  • Is Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) really breaking with his decades of support for the coal industry? (TNR)

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LaHood: Gas Tax Increase in Congressional Hands

By Elana Schor |
As Congress maneuvers to end the political impasse over the next long-term national transportation bill, lawmakers are going to have to debate an increase in the federal gas tax, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (Photo: Getty Images) In his remarks at a Fort Worth transportation meeting, first reported by the […]

LaHood Answers GOP Critic, Soothes Dem Skeptic of Sustainability Budget

By Elana Schor |
As Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tangled with a senior GOP senator today over the White House’s $500 million-plus request for its inter-agency office of sustainable communities — a new project aimed at channeling federal energy towards local transit-oriented and smart growth plans — an influential Democrat joined her fellow senator in raising questions about diverting […]

LaHood Praises NYC But Shrugs at Transport Reform to Empower Cities

By Elana Schor |
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood praised the New York City area’s clean-transportation strategy today in a speech to the region’s metropolitan planning organization (MPO), promising a stronger focus on urban priorities even as he all but ruled out two reforms long sought by the nation’s cities. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (Photo: Zimbio) LaHood’s speech to the […]

Boxer Pushes LaHood on Financing for Transportation

By Tanya Snyder |
Senator Barbara Boxer got down to brass tacks on transportation funding in a committee hearing yesterday, even as DOT Secretary Ray LaHood remained vague on how to pay for the president’s ambitious proposal. Boxer said she’s not in favor of raising the gas tax, but she’d like it to be indexed to inflation. “We don’t […]