DOT
Basics
Bicycle Advocates Thank LaHood, Talk Strategy
This was a big week for bike advocates: They had a pow-wow with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, launched a new coalition, and refined their strategy for the 112th Congress.
January 14, 2011
Would an Infrastructure Bank Have the Power to Reform Transportation?
Our report yesterday on transportation financing may have left you with a few more questions. We started with a look at TIFIA, which provides credit assistance for infrastructure projects. Many observers see the program as limited by its position inside the DOT and its opaque decision-making process.
December 7, 2010
Why Reformers Should Care How We Pay for Transportation
TIFIAs and TIGERs and NIBs -- oh my! The alphabet soup of infrastructure funding mechanisms can be alienating even to committed transportation advocates. But with the power of the gas tax diminishing and elected officials refusing to raise it, other financing options are taking on increasing importance. If you're interested in reforming our transportation system for the 21st Century, it pays to know the differences between them.
December 6, 2010
What Does It Take to Win a Planning Grant From the Feds?
Reconnecting America has crunched the numbers on which projects won planning grants from the feds last month. Planning awards were announced through three programs: Sustainable Communities Regional Planning (SCRPG), Community Challenge, and TIGER II.
November 10, 2010
Could Common Design Standards Bring Back U.S. Transit Manufacturing?
The Portland area is the only place in the country that manufactures streetcars these days. United Streetcar, in the suburb of Clackamas, opened last year to build Portland's streetcars -- and to serve as a lesson, perhaps, that rail transit manufacturing doesn’t all need to happen overseas.
October 22, 2010
If You Come, They Will Build It: Notes on Livability From Rail~volution
Those looking for hope in this era of transit service cuts took heart from the words of William Millar, President of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), at Rail~volution yesterday. In his keynote speech, Millar reasons to hope for a better future -- despite the fact that 84 percent of APTA members were cutting service, raising fares, laying off personnel, or delaying projects this year due to budget cuts.
October 21, 2010
TIGER II Leaks Begin: New Haven’s Highway-to-Boulevard Project a Winner
We reported earlier today that Ray LaHood is keeping mum about the TIGER II grant winners until the middle of next week, but the info is beginning to drip -- and it's members of Congress doing the leaking.
October 15, 2010
TIGER II Grants to Be Announced Next Week
Applicants for the U.S. DOT's TIGER II grants are on pins and needles awaiting a decision... and even awaiting a decision about when there might be a decision.
October 15, 2010
Drawing Ideas From Reformers, Obama Gets Behind 6-Year Transpo Plan
President Obama told reporters today that he’s committed to a six-year plan to rebuild 150,000 miles of roads, lay and maintain 4,000 miles of railways, restore 150 miles of runways, and create a national infrastructure bank.
October 11, 2010
Without a Plan, Sprawl Will Continue to Hollow Out Cleveland Region
If you want to get a sense of how devastating sprawl has been to the urban areas of northeast Ohio, head over to Woodlawn Avenue in East Cleveland. Between the rows of boarded up buildings, a house collapses onto itself. Graffiti pays homage to dead loved ones — “R.I.P. Fife.” Nearby, stuffed animals have been stapled to a telephone pole in a memorial, presumably, to a dead child.
September 13, 2010