Today’s Headlines

  • How Florida’s congressional delegation helped make its high-speed rail award happen (HuffPost)
  • Senate jobs bill — with a highway trust fund extension but no TIGER money — expected to be delayed for 10 more days (WSJ)
  • Chinese high-speed rail proving popular enough to scare airlines into fare cuts (Bloomberg)
  • Steven Pearlstein on what blizzards can teach us about local governance (WashPost)
  • Indiana transit planners propose a massive new public-private partnership including rail, buses, and new toll roads (Indy Star)
  • Vancouver Olympics officials bring in 99 new transit buses after California-based models couldn’t handle step mountain-grade travel (Van. Sun)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Republican Response to USDOT’s High-Speed Rail Grantees

By Tanya Snyder |
In my last story about the allocation of high-speed rail funds, I said House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) must be pleased to finally see the Northeast Corridor get its due. In a statement hot off the GOP’s presses, Mica didn’t sound exactly pleased. Once again, the Administration has scattered funding to numerous slower-speed […]

LaHood: High Speed Rail Will Be Our Generation’s Legacy

By Tanya Snyder |
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood published an op-ed in the Sunday edition of the Orlando Sentinel, arguing for a vigorous campaign of high speed rail building. He said, “If we work together, a national high-speed-rail network can and will be our generation’s legacy.” Why run the op-ed in the Sentinel and not a national paper like […]
Lyon HSR station

How France Makes High-Speed Rail Stations Meld With Cities

By Jeff Wood |
As France develops its high-speed rail network, the areas around stations are treated not just as transportation initiatives but as city-building projects. This discussion centers on how public agencies plan high-speed rail station areas in France, integration of the stations into districts as a whole, and the importance of a comprehensive vision for integrating transportation and land use in the station district.