U.S. DOT
Basics
USDOT Tries to Resuscitate the HSR Dreams Congress Wants to Bury
High-speed rail has had a rough go of it lately. The House refused to give it a dime for next year, while the Senate only managed to allocate a fraction of what the president wanted. President Obama stuck some money back in via his jobs package, but it already seems clear that the package won’t pass as proposed, and we know high-speed rail is the always first for the chopping block.
October 4, 2011
Will Obama’s Transportation Jobs Plan Avoid Funding Sprawl?
USDOT has made public the breakdown of President Obama’s $50 billion plan to create jobs through transportation infrastructure investment. The administration says: “It will put people to work upgrading 150,000 miles of road, laying/maintaining 4,000 miles of train tracks, restoring 150 miles of runways, and putting in place a next-generation air-traffic control system that will reduce travel time and delays.”
September 28, 2011
Federal Support for Smart Planning Is on the Line Tomorrow
Tomorrow, a Senate panel will vote on two budget bills for FY2012, one of which is for transportation and housing programs. The draft of the bill isn't available until after the subcommittee markup tomorrow, but Smart Growth America is calling attention to the fact that it's important to make sure the bill includes funding for the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, the partnership between USDOT, the EPA, and HUD.
September 19, 2011
House GOP’s 2012 Transportation Budget: Deep Cuts, Especially for Livability
In about an hour, Congressional appropriators will vote on how much money to allocate for transportation in the next fiscal year. It won't be pretty.
September 8, 2011
Absent a Transportation Bill, DOT Can Innovate All On Its Own
As Deron Lovaas said this morning on NRDC’s Switchboard blog, “If recent events are any indicator, it might take Congress a while to agree on a policy that will put our underfunded, inefficient, oil-dependent transportation program on the right track.”
August 10, 2011
Amtrak’s Loco Locomotive Purchase for the Northeast Corridor
We're pleased to welcome Stephen Smith as a new contributor to Streetsblog Capitol Hill. We'll be running Stephen's work on a regular basis, and you can catch more of his writing at his home blog, Market Urbanism.
July 22, 2011
Rich People Love Sidewalks, And Other Livability Lessons From USDOT
When asking people what transportation options are important in their communities, why do poll-takers never ask them to choose between different options? Here comes another survey in which people say they want everything and are never asked to make the tradeoffs that come in the real world.
July 18, 2011
Federal Government Offers a Helping Hand to Six Struggling Cities
In a move to help buoy crisis-stricken cities, the Obama Administration this week introduced a program designed to provide administrative support to help local government officials "cut through the red tape" and access urgent federal assistance.
July 14, 2011
Northeast Corridor, the Midwest, and California Say “Thanks, Florida!”
Thanks to Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s head-smacker of a decision to refuse billions in federal high-speed rail funds, other parts of the country are getting a windfall. Even with $400 million of Florida’s money vanishing in the name of deficit reduction, the remaining $2 billion will go a long way in improving rail service in key areas around the country.
May 9, 2011
Why (Much of) Obama’s Transpo Plan Can Survive the GOP Knife
Yesterday, anti-rail curmudgeon Ken Orski of Innovation Briefs quoted me in his latest diatribe against the administration’s transportation proposal, in which he explains why the Obama plan is unrealistic. Indeed, I think it’s safe to say the dollar amount of the administration’s bill is a non-starter in today’s political and economic climate, given that it’s about double what’s expected to come from the Highway Trust Fund over the next six years.
May 6, 2011