Federal Funding
Basics
Boxer: Transpo Funding Will Rise in Senate Bill, Bike/Ped Will Be Preserved
Senator Barbara Boxer, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, just addressed reporters about the progress of the transportation bill.
May 25, 2011
Mica and Nadler Duke It Out on the Pages of Politico Over Transpo Funding
In an op-ed in Politico this morning, House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) calls for getting rid of waste and inefficiencies in the transportation system, shifting more power to the states, and “doing more with less.”
May 23, 2011
Good News From the Senate: Transit Operating Assistance and Much More
Today’s Senate Banking Committee hearing held some good news for transit riders. Unintuitive though it may be, Banking has jurisdiction over public transportation in the Senate. While in the House, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee handles every aspect of the reauthorization, in the Senate the bill gets carved up. Environment and Public Works is taking the lead, with the specifics on transit left to Banking. Luckily, there are some transit champions on Banking: Jack Reed (D-RI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) to name a few.
May 19, 2011
Sen. Kerry on Transportation Funding: “We’re in a Crazy Place Right Now”
As the House and Senate get closer to unveiling their respective transportation proposals, it’s crunch time for figuring out how to pay for infrastructure investment moving forward. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), who has let slip that he’s in favor of a two-year reauthorization because of current funding constraints, chaired a hearing in the Finance Committee today to examine options for financing. No one panacea emerged, and conservatives on the committee and among the witnesses quickly countered most of the suggestions raised.
May 17, 2011
Senate Finalizing Transpo Bill — It’s Up to Boxer to Preserve Bike/Ped Funding
According to Congressional insiders, members of the Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works are meeting today and tomorrow to hash out the details of their proposal for a multi-year transportation reauthorization bill. Hanging in the balance of these negotiations may be the federal government's only programs dedicated to funding infrastructure for biking and walking.
May 12, 2011
Tales From the Post-Earmark Era: Pork Won’t Hog the Transpo Money
We knew it could happen, people! There had to be a better way to distribute federal dollars than Congressional earmarks. The FHWA just announced that 11 programs, funded at a combined $422 million, will be making discretionary grants for innovative projects. "These grants will support projects that work to improve safety, maintain a state of good repair, and make communities more livable," the FHWA statement said. The money for most of those 11 programs used to be consumed almost entirely by earmarks.
May 10, 2011
Mica Wants to Abandon Federal Commitment to Bike-Ped Funding
A few final notes before we all head home for the weekend...
May 6, 2011
Mayors Rebel Against State-Controlled Highway Expansion, Fight For Transit
If your roads are congested, your bus lines are getting cut, and money is flowing to brand-new roads to nowhere, don’t blame your mayor. Chances are, he or she is as mad about it as you are. Mayors are speaking out against ineffective transportation funding mechanisms that direct scarce resources to sprawling highways and away from urban transit and safer streets for walking and biking.
May 3, 2011
Obama Recalls Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, Media Blunders the Story
(Marybeth Miceli is the President of Miceli Infrastructure Consulting, LLC. She is a bridge testing and assessment specialist and materials scientist with a background in Nondestructive Testing/Evaluation. She has just completed a 3-year term on the Board of Directors for the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), who named her "Young NDT Professional of the Year" in 2003. She is also married to L.A. Streetsblog editor Damien Newton.)
April 21, 2011
What the Feds Giveth, the States Taketh Away — From Bike/Ped Programs
It’s rescission time again, folks. That Washington lingo for “gimme gimme.” We had a name for people who “rescinded” gifts back in elementary school but it’s ethnically insensitive so I won’t say it. Suffice it to say, if little kids call you a name for doing something, it’s probably not a super popular thing to be doing.
April 20, 2011