State DOTs
Basics
Houston Mayor Calls for “Paradigm Shift” Away From Highway Widening
Newly elected Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner gave a remarkable speech yesterday in Austin [PDF], calling on the state to change its transportation priorities and stop pouring billions into widening highways.
January 29, 2016
Highway Boondoggles: New Mexico’s Paseo del Volcan Extension
In a new report, Highway Boondoggles 2, U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group profile the most wasteful highway projects that state DOTs are building. The proposed Paseo del Volcan Extension, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a textbook example of a project intended to induce and subsidize suburban sprawl.
January 29, 2016
Highway Boondoggles: Washington’s Puget Sound Gateway Project
In a new report, Highway Boondoggles 2, U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group profile the most wasteful highway projects that state DOTs are building. Today we look at a classic -- Washington's $3 billion "Puget Sound Gateway Project."
January 27, 2016
5 Things States Can Do to Bring Transportation Policy Out of the Stone Age
On its page commemorating the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower signing the Federal Aid Highway Act, the Federal Highway Administration offers a "Then and Now" chart showing how much America has changed since 1956. It's a little corny, but in 1956 Chuck Berry was a chart-topper, hula hoops were the new craze, and Cold War tensions were very high. The point is the country has changed a lot since then.
January 22, 2016
Advice for State DOTs Looking for More Money: Spend Smarter
The Oregon Department of Transportation is in a tough spot after it tried to justify highway expansion projects by saying they would cut greenhouse gas emissions. ODOT's bogus claims helped sink a $350 million transportation funding package in the state legislature, and even some of the state's Republican lawmakers are calling for agency director Matt Garrett's head. What's a beleaguered state DOT to do?
November 30, 2015
3 Reasons Politicians Like Building New Roads More Than Fixing Old Ones
American transportation policy places a premium on delivering big, shiny new things.
September 1, 2015
Biking and Walking Get About as Much Research Funding as Chicken Trucks
When traffic engineers don't want to install protected bike lanes, they'll often say that more research is needed to prove their safety (because any results from outside America don't count, of course). But then when opportunities arise to study the safety of protected bike lanes, the engineering establishment doesn't take advantage. And so the cycle repeats itself.
May 12, 2015
You Can Help Make State DOTs Accountable for How They Spend
Pressure is mounting on the president and Congress to keep roads and bridges from falling apart by increasing transportation funding. But a big part of the problem is states, which receive the lion's share of federal transportation funds but opt to spend most on new roads, instead of maintaining existing infrastructure.
April 27, 2015
Meet the Man on a Mission to Make Florida Walkable and Bikeable
Billy Hattaway just might have the most challenging job in any American transportation agency. As the Florida Department of Transportation's lead official on bicycle and pedestrian safety, he's charged with making Florida -- consistently rated among the deadliest states for walking and biking -- safe for people to get around under their own power.
March 30, 2015
The American Highway Safety Establishment Warms Up Some Leftovers
A group of heavy hitters in the road building and traffic safety establishment recently came out with a plan called "Toward Zero Deaths" [PDF], presented as an ambitious strategy to cut traffic fatalities in America. But don't get too excited by the branding -- the ideas inside don't present much of a challenge to practices that have made the U.S. a shameful laggard on traffic safety compared to other affluent nations.
March 20, 2015