Today’s Headlines

  • After a lackluster year, Carrion leaves White House "urban czar" post for lesser duties at HUD (NYDN)
  • LaHood uses Massachusetts appearance to take the state to task for not acting on distracted driving (Globe)
  • Ryan Avent: Seattle light rail lawsuit could finally make clear that roads are just one part of the nation’s holistic transportation networks (Economist)
  • FRA chief sees little need to emphasize the "high-speed" in high-speed rail (Prog. Fix)
  • Gulf oil spill not the nation’s only infrastructure wake-up call: Boston’s broken water main underscores cities’ unmet modernization needs (GreenTech Enterprise)
  • Truckers want U.S. DOT, not the more stringent EPA, to regulate their fuel usage (Green Car Reports)
  • Local editorial board urges PA Gov. Rendell to resubmit a fourth bid for federally sanction I-80 tolls (Indep-Review)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Biden’s Homage to Amtrak

By Elana Schor |
The nation’s Amtrak rider-in-chief, Vice President Joseph Biden, has penned an op-ed for the rail network’s monthly magazine entitled "Why America Needs Trains." The Vice President and his wife share a tender moment — on the Acela. (Photo: NYT) Biden doesn’t get too political in the piece, eschewing calls for more Amtrak funding in favor […]

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 […]

Expectations for High-Speed Rail Coming Down to Earth

By Elana Schor |
Three months after the Obama administration announced the first winners of what it hopes will be the first of many federal grants to build U.S. high-speed rail networks, advocates and planners are settling in for a long battle to surmount the obstacles and unknowns that stand in the way of long-term bullet train development. If […]