Today’s Headlines

More coverage of the new index measuring transportation’s impact on local housing costs (WaPo, Wash Biz Jrnl, Post-Gazette)

Look who came to the table for a meeting on "tripartisan" climate legislation: Voinovich (Roll Call)

Dallas open to running transit to next year’s Super Bowl, but first it will need the U.S. DOT to relax its Bush-era rule favoring transit privatization (Morn News)

Oberstar, echoing Bob Herbert, asks "what’s wrong with" American inaction on infrastructure (Logistics Mgmt)

Florida could start high-speed rail construction as soon as next year (AP)

New EPA report finds smart growth catching on in many metro areas (Greenwire)

Boxer already in talks with the Obama administration to expedite "one or two" of the projects on L.A.’s 30/10 transit agenda (Bloomberg)

Federal investigators expand their probe of a $600m Nevada highway bridge project amid safety complaints (AP)

LaHood touts the $1.3B in transportation stimulus contracts inked by disadvantaged and minority-owned businesses, slightly higher than the 2% estimate released last month (DOT Press)

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Today’s Headlines

By Katie Pearce | Aug 19, 2016

Pittsburgh Welcomes Uber’s First Driverless Fleet (Bloomberg) California Agency Invests in 14 Transit Projects (Progressive Railroading) Jeff Wood: Regional Transit Agencies Hold Back Transit (City Metric) Railroads Warned Not to Delay on Positive Train Control (Chicago Trib) How a Radical Rethink Boosted Bus Ridership in Houston (CityLab) Former Boston Transit Chief Departs Flailing Honolulu Rail Project (Boston Herald) In New Haven, […]

Today’s Transit Dreams May Come True — 78 Years From Now

By Tanya Snyder | Jan 22, 2013

By the looks of it, my humble hometown of Washington, DC is winning the transit space race. The region currently has 45 transit projects either planned or underway — and one that’s stalled. You may have heard of the Silver Line to Dulles Airport, but a new map from Reconnecting America proves that that’s just […]

U.S. DOT to Stop Rewarding Transit Projects That Use Private Contracts

By Elana Schor | Sep 2, 2009

The Obama administration will reverse a Bush-era policy that gave proposed transit projects a leg up in the chase for federal money if their operations and maintenance were to be contracted out privately, according to a regulation finalized today. Riders in New Orleans, where streetcars are soon to be operated by a private contractor. (Photo: […]

Sneak Preview: 2013 in Transit

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 2, 2013

Bus rapid transit projects in Austin, Tampa, and the Twin Cities. Streetcars in St. Louis, New Orleans, and Detroit. Those are just a few of the transit projects beginning construction or entering service in 2013, which looks to be a pretty good year for transit expansion in the U.S., says Yonah Freemark at the Transport […]

Looking Ahead to the Year in Transit Expansion

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 5, 2015

After significant transit construction in the United States in 2014, the next year will see another impressive round of groundbreakings and new openings. That’s according to Yonah Freemark at the Transport Politic, who has catalogued major transit expansion projects throughout the U.S. and Canada for the last six years. In 2015, we’ll see major light rail projects begin […]

Amtrak, Virginia Railway Express, and the Future of Privately Run Transit

By Elana Schor | Nov 4, 2009

Virginia Railway Express (VRE), the commuter network that links northwest Virginia to Washington D.C., today refused a challenge by Amtrak to its decision to switch operating providers to the U.S. arm of Keolis, a private French transit company. Chicago’s earliest rail transit line, pictured here, was run by a private company. (Photo: Franzosenbusch Project) Although […]