Highway Expansion
Basics
White House Backs $50B For ‘Merit-Based Infrastructure Investment’
President Obama today threw his weight behind significant new transportation spending as part of a broad jobs bill taking shape in Congress, with $50 billion slated for transit, roads, bridges, and ports and the administration endorsing "merit-based infrastructure investment that leverages federal dollars."
December 8, 2009
NY and CA: How Did They Spend Transportation Stimulus Money?
In an economic recovery report released today by New York Gov. David Paterson (D), the state broke down its plans for the estimated $31 billion it received as part of the Obama administration's first stimulus law.
December 7, 2009
Rendell & Lawmakers Aligning on 2-Year, Treasury-Funded Transport Bill
Senior Democrats in Congress are warming to a new two-year federal transportation bill as a vehicle for upwards of $100 billion in infrastructure spending aimed at job creation -- and a key player in building that momentum makes his home far from the Capitol.
December 3, 2009
Congress Gets Project Lists for Jobs Bill: $15B for Transit, $48B for Roads
As Democrats in both chambers of Congress work on drafting new economic recovery legislation, they now have a preliminary list of how much spending can be set in motion on short notice: $15 billion for transit projects and $48 billion for highway projects.
December 2, 2009
New Report: Road Funding From Non-Road Users Doubled in 25 Years
The myth that U.S. roads "pay for themselves" thanks to user fees is a subject that's likely familiar to many Streetsblog Capitol Hill readers -- but just how much of the nation's highway funding is provided by charging drivers?
November 24, 2009
When State DOTs Run Amok: $266M For Widening, Crumbs For Waterfront
Streetsblog New York reported last week on the state DOT's expensive plan to widen part of the Major Deegan Expressway in the southwest Bronx, even as the agency fails to maintain upstate bridges.
November 20, 2009
‘This Needs Attention’: Senators Seek Shot in the Arm on Transportation
Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and fellow lawmakers today pressed the Obama administration to take a more active role in ending the current political stalemate over federal transportation funding, but the sense of urgency they sought emerged only intermittently during an 80-minute session on infrastructure.
November 18, 2009
‘No Road That We Built in Texas Paid For Itself’
Over the past two days at the Congress for the New Urbanism Project for Transportation Reform conference, attendees have called for reform at local, regional, and
national levels. In a panel debate about the future of transportation funding and the
role of regional planning through MPOs, several speakers argued that
the foundation of transportation and development funding had to be
systematically overhauled.
November 6, 2009
What Does Virginia’s New Governor Owe the State on Transportation?
In a lean season for in-depth transportation debate, the Virginia gubernatorial contest -- won this week by Republican Bob McDonnell -- became a proving ground for nationally relevant questions about how to manage the infrastructure of congestion-plagued but still-growing metro areas.
November 5, 2009
Advice for Policymakers: Time to Check Your Blind Spots
Last week, I left my Washington home, walked to the nearby Metro station, rode a train downtown, walked to the National Press Club, and settled in to hear Steven Rattner, former head of the Obama administration's auto task force, declare that "no one has yet invented a substitute for the automobile."
October 27, 2009