Transit
Basics
The Consequences of Political Foot-Dragging
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is meeting tomorrow to discuss a four-month extension to the current transportation bill, SAFETEA-LU. The map above is from a short but powerful document the Federal Transit Administration put out this week explaining "The Impacts of Failing to Extend Surface Transportation Funding" [PDF]. How much transit work would grind to a halt in your state without an extension?
September 7, 2011
Behind President Obama’s Call For More Infrastructure Projects
Tomorrow night, President Obama will unveil his jobs plan before a skeptical Congress. It’s unclear how much of the $300 billion proposal will go to infrastructure, but the president has said that will be a centerpiece of the proposal. An infrastructure bank and a new version of the expired Build America Bonds program could also be on the agenda.
September 7, 2011
Post-Irene Open Thread: A Teachable Transportation Moment
Sometimes the best way to understand the ordinary is to examine the extraordinary. Watching Hurricane Irene wreak havoc on the entire transportation system from North Carolina to the Canadian border brought certain patterns and questions into high relief. Here's some of what we thought about while the power was down.
August 29, 2011
Brookings: 700,000 Carless Americans Stranded Outside Reach of Transit
There are almost of them 38,000 in Atlanta. Another 65,000 between Dallas and Houston. Nearly 18,000 in Phoenix.
August 19, 2011
Recession Forcing Cutbacks at Nearly 80 Percent of U.S. Transit Agencies
How bad have the past two years been for transit agencies in the United States? In a word: bad. In two words: very bad.
August 17, 2011
Civil Rights Group Demands End to Car-Centric Transportation Policies
“This is the civil rights dilemma: Our laws purport to level the playing field, but our transportation choices have effectively barred millions of people from accessing it.”
August 15, 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
Feds Call “All Hands On Deck” For Detroit Transit
For the last two days, transit experts from around the country have been hunkered down in Detroit to devote their collective expertise to making the Motor City a better city for transit.
August 10, 2011
Report: Get Out of the Highway-Obsessed Eisenhower Era
Building America’s Future, led by former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has added their voice to the chorus calling for greater investment in U.S. infrastructure, lest the country fall behind its global competitors. In a new report, Falling Apart and Falling Behind, BAF recommends more focus on mass transit, a switch away from formula funding without performance requirements, and more emphasis on metropolitan areas.
August 8, 2011
CNT Busts “Drive Till You Qualify” Myth in the D.C. Region
Maybe we can finally lay the whole “drive till you qualify” myth to rest now.
August 5, 2011