Today’s Headlines

  • House transport committee aides start acknowledging the uncomfortable truth: Despite Senate Dems’ vow to Voinovich, a new long-term federal bill could be delayed until 2011 (Bond Buyer)
  • Gauging the prospects, both political and practical, for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s transit-oriented development legislation (Next American City)
  • Amtrak makes its official budget request to Congress: $446 million for upgrades (Bloomberg)
  • The first stirrings of a crisis in local government financing rear their head in the mid-Atlantic (TNR’s The Avenue)
  • A roundup of the big obstacles to a successful Florida high-speed rail link between Tampa and Orlando (NYT)
  • Bans on digital roadside billboards become more popular, thanks to distracted driving concerns (USAT)
  • Do Chicago’s shorter yellow traffic-light times help or hurt safety? (Tribune)
  • San Diego tollway’s operators file for bankruptcy (Merc News)

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How Massachusetts is Reforming Fare Enforcement

By Christian MilNeil |
In addition authorizing debt spending for hundreds of infrastructure projects across the Commonwealth, the multi-billion dollar bond package that the Massachusetts Senate passed earlier this month would also make significant reforms to how the MBTA enforces fare payments on its trains, buses, and ferries. The Commonwealth’s current fare evasion law sets large penalties for people […]

Sen. Wyden Proposes TRIP Bonds to Fund Transportation

By Tanya Snyder |
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is sort of the bond guy around the Senate. He’s a big fan of bonds as a way to raise money for infrastructure projects without much federal cost. Now he’s introduced a bill to create Transportation and Regional Infrastructure Project bonds. They’re different from Build America Bonds in several significant ways. […]

Road and Transit Groups Join Boxer to Push for Senate Jobs Bill

By Elana Schor |
Representatives from Washington’s road and transit lobbies joined Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today to call for swift passage of job-creation legislation that is slated for a vote in the upper chamber of Congress on Monday. Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (Photo: AP) Faced with the prospects of a GOP filibuster, […]

Dodd and DeLauro Vow to Get Infrastructure Bank Done This Year

By Elana Schor |
Supporters from every corner of the transportation universe joined Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) today at a press event aimed at jumpstarting a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), which the two Connecticut lawmakers vowed to steer to passage this year. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), above, founded BAF with […]