U.S. DOT
Basics
House Votes on Transportation Spending: Track it Live
While how to pay for future transport programs takes center stage in the House today, another crucial debate is going on over approval of next year's U.S. DOT budget.
July 23, 2009
Government Still Taking Hands-Off Approach to Cell Phoning While Driving
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was prepared six years ago to seek broad limits on cell phone use by drivers -- with or without a hands-free device -- but shelved its plans for fear of alienating Congress and chat-loving voters, the New York Times reported today.
July 21, 2009
Obama Administration’s Transportation Goals: Read Them Here
When the Obama administration proposed an 18-month delay in drafting the next federal transportation bill, U.S. DOT chief Ray LaHood called for Congress to include "critical reforms" alongside the extension of the existing law. But details on those reforms have been kept under wraps -- until today.
July 1, 2009
House Transpo Leaders and Obama DOT Run Off in Opposite Directions
The conflicted state of federal transportation policy-making was on vivid display today, as House lawmakers pressed ahead on a $500 billion bill that still lacks a funding source while the Obama administration scrambled to find $20 billion for a bailout of the highway trust fund.
June 24, 2009
LaHood Asks For 18-Month Extension of Four-Year-Old Transpo Law
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is asking Congress to extend the existing federal transportation law for 18 months, averting the coming insolvency of the nation's highway trust fund while putting off broad-based transport reform for as long as the Bush administration did in the days surrounding the 2004 election.
June 17, 2009
DOT Defines High-Speed Rail: ‘Reasonably Expected to Reach … 110 MPH’
The federal DOT has just released its guidance for states seeking a share of its $8 billion in high-speed rail funding -- and tucked in the rules are standards that could prove crucial to the project's success.
June 17, 2009
Flashback: Is Obama Flipping on Highway Corruption Laws?
As Washington waits for the next federal transportation bill to emerge, Streetsblog Capitol Hill is taking a featured look at debates from the last congressional go-round that could impact the upcoming re-write. For today's installment, let's take a trip to New Jersey, circa late 2004.
June 15, 2009
GOP-ers and Dems Agree: Feds Need to Get Their Transpo Act Together
Reports on federal transportation policy -- like campaign fundraisers and lobbying groups -- seem to proliferate in Washington, most of them drawing a few days' worth of news coverage before fading from memory. (Remember the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission and the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission?)
June 9, 2009
Bush Transpo Secretary’s Biggest Disappointment: Bush
DC Velocity magazine has just released a lengthy interview with Norman Mineta, the Bush-era transportation secretary and former Democratic member of Congress.
June 2, 2009
Polly Trottenberg Tapped For Senior U.S. DOT Spot
It's a happy Friday for transportation wonks: the White House has nominated Polly Trottenberg, executive director of Building America's Future, as assistant secretary for policy at the federal DOT.
May 29, 2009