Federal Policy
50 Years Since Nixon’s ‘National Speed Limit’: A Tale of Missed Opportunities
A half-century after the federal government instituted a national maximum speed, setting speed limits that keep all road users safe has become a political battleground.
Talking Headways Podcast: Congressman Earl Blumenauer
The longtime congressman joined us to talk connections between health care, food and transportation, progress on the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and future directions for transportation funding.
DOT’s New Emissions Rule is a Big Deal, Even if It Doesn’t Punish States for Polluting
No states will face penalties for building needless toxic road projects — but they also won't be able to hide those impacts from the public.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer Reflects on His Career, And Why ‘Bike-Partisanship’ is America’s Secret Weapon
As he concludes his nearly 30-year career in Congress, Earl Blumenauer says America has never been better positioned to make a "quantum leap" towards bikeability.
Highway Boondoggles 2023: This Year’s Poster Children for Bad Projects
Once again, transportation funds that could be used to repair streets, roads and bridges are instead diverted into costly, damaging highway expansion projects. Here's this year's list of the worst of the worst.
How a New Program is Helping Small Cities Transform Their Transportation Systems
"We don’t want the infrastructure law to compound our geographic inequalities. We wanted it to be an equalizing moment," said James Anderson of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Six Changes To Look Out For in the Next Edition of the MUTCD
The Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices is getting its first update in over a century. Will it make people who move outside of cars safer, or endanger them even more?
GOP Appropriations Bill Would Slash Transit Funding and Key Safety Policies
Here's what's on the chopping block — and why advocates are staying optimistic.
The MUTCD Update is Late — And While We Wait, People Are Dying
Despite a binding requirement the Federal Highway Administration missed the deadline to release a new edition of America's street design guidelines by more than a month. Advocates fear the delay will result in yet another green light for increasing traffic fatalities.
The Debt Ceiling Deal Could Be Bad News For Freeway Fighters
A poison pill buried within the new debt ceiling deal would "gut" key elements of the nation's bedrock environmental law in exchange for preventing a national default, advocates warn, and could make it easier for highway-building agencies to expedite road projects that harm vulnerable communities for generations.
