Ben Goldman
Recent Posts
Extension(s) Imminent — a Reflection on Neverending Transpo Gridlock
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For the past six months, I have had the enviable task (seriously) of tracing the path of federal transportation legislation through Congress. And look how far we’ve come! When I first took the editor’s chair in January, transportation funds were drying up, the deadline for a new bill was fast approaching, and none of the news […]
Audio: Chris Wallace Caught Doing Interview via Cell Phone While Driving
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Last Thursday, Fox News commentator Chris Wallace was interrupted in the middle of a radio interview with KFTK, a St. Louis talk radio station, when one of D.C.’s finest gave him some fair and balanced treatment for driving while using a handheld cell phone — a practice banned by the District of Columbia in 2004. Huge […]
Under Economic Impact Analysis, Highway Expansion Loses Appeal
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Despite the common refrains about transportation spending creating jobs, most states don’t actually give serious thought to the economic impact of transportation projects. More often than not, they’re content to sink money into freeways despite a wealth of research that shows that transit, bikeways, and sidewalks deliver a much bigger economic bang for the taxpayer’s […]
Conservative Motion to Cut Transportation Spending Fails (and Fails Hard)
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The House has just defeated, in a 323 to 82 whopper, a motion to instruct members of the transportation bill conference committee to slash spending by nearly 30 percent in order to stay within the projected limits of the Highway Trust Fund. The motion, sponsored by Georgia Republican Paul Broun, had acheived “key vote” status […]
Clues Hint at Souring Negotiations in Transpo Bill Conference
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Politico Pro Transportation put out a news blast today that threw some light into the inky shadows of the conference committee process, and what we saw there doesn’t look too pretty. Apparently Sen. Barbara Boxer has reason to believe negotiations aren’t going so well, “after a House GOP conferee criticized her for ‘stonewalling’ the lower […]
Broad Coalition Urges Congress to Support Local Control of Bike-Ped Funds
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A coalition of 70 organizations, including the US Conference of Mayors, American Heart Association, and the National PTA, have signed on to a letter from America Bikes urging Congress to preserve the Cardin-Cochran amendment — a provision in the Senate transportation bill that allows local agencies to directly access funds street safety projects. The letter is addressed […]
Fate of Bike-Ped Compromise Still Unknown as House Reconvenes
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The Senate has left town for their traditional late-May nine-day weekend, while the House has just returned from their own week off. Amid these comings and goings, work continues on the transportation bill, which has been concealed inside the conference committee’s secret underground lair since the beginning of May. Last week, we reported that several […]
Ray LaHood Answers Your Questions in This Month’s “On The Go”
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Last month, Streetsblog put the word out that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood would be fielding questions from readers. You submitted your questions. And today, the answers are in. This is the second time LaHood’s office has reached out to Streetsblog readers for a Q&A in his monthly video segment, “On the Go.” Like last time, more […]
Menendez Launches Big Oil Subsidy Tracker
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As we head into the Memorial Day holiday, and move from one congressional recess to another [PDF], Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has given us something to do with our extra free time: Watch taxpayer subsidies to big oil climb higher and higher. The clock, dubbed a STOP watch (for “Stop Taxpayer Oil Payouts”), tracks the […]
The Unintended Consequences of Michigan Students’ Bike-to-School “Prank”
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Tuesday morning, a group of intrepid high schoolers in the western Michigan city of Walker got onto their bikes and into a heap of trouble. The Kenowa Hills High School students, eschewing a tradition of senior pranks that often destroy school property (spray-painting lockers and super-gluing doors, for example), opted to ride their bikes to […]
One More Time: Here Are 4.6 Billion Reasons to Support Bike Infrastructure
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Cyclists may only account for 1 percent of all trips taken in the U.S., but that’s still good enough to save the American people a total of $4.6 billion per year, according to research recently released by the League of American Bicyclists, the Sierra Club, and the National Council of La Raza. The announcement coincided […]
Rising or Falling, Volatile Gas Prices Underscore Importance of Transit
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When gas prices go up, it can be a big motivator for people to start taking transit more frequently. But according to a study released by the American Public Transportation Association and Building America’s Future [PDF], even when gas prices start to go down, the newly converted keep riding transit. The report, “Volatile Gas Prices […]