Transportation Policy
Basics
Obama Ally Breaks With White House on Timing of New Transport Bill
Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), the No. 2 Democratic leader in the upper chamber of Congress and a close ally of the president, broke with the White House yesterday and called for a new long-term transportation bill to pass by early next year -- not after the Obama administration's preferred 18-month delay.
October 13, 2009
How Congress Can Help Create Suburbia 2.0
As Obama administration adviser Shelley Poticha noted this week, building more energy-efficient and hospitable cities -- not to mention suburbs and rural areas -- starts with clear terminology. "Sustainability" and "livability" are positive concepts that can be hard to define, but how can "transit-oriented development" be brought home to someone unfamiliar with the nuts and bolts of policy?
October 9, 2009
Streetsblog Q&A: Bush DOT Chief Endorses National Transport Goals
Mary Peters, who spent four years as George W. Bush's Federal Highway Administrator before taking over the U.S. DOT in 2006, has entered the simmering debate over whether Washington should set performance goals for the nation's transportation system. Her answer: "Absolutely."
October 8, 2009
Team Obama Adviser: Here’s How to Make Sustainability Mainstream
Shelley Poticha, head of the Obama administration's inter-agency sustainable communities push, is so new to the job that the legislation creating her office has yet to be officially approved by Congress -- but she has already hit upon two goals aimed at remaking the way Americans, and their government, view local development.
October 7, 2009
$8B for High-Speed Rail, $1.5B in Transport Stimulus Coming This Winter
It's shaping up to be anything but a quiet winter for the U.S. DOT, with $9.5 billion in grants for clean transportation set for release to the winners of two highly competitive contests for federal aid.
October 6, 2009
Is a Bigger Transportation Bill — This Year — Back on the Table?
That's the suggestion that an anonymous "Senate aide" made to Bloomberg News this morning, recounting a possible White House change of heart as mounting job losses stoke new debate over a second stimulus bill:
October 6, 2009
Congress’ Transport Impasse Hits States — and Not Just Their Road Funds
When lawmakers failed on Wednesday to reach a deal on avoiding the cancellation of $8.7 billion in transportation spending authority, the consequences of Congress' inaction weren't immediately palpable to most voters -- but the loss is sinking in on the local level.
October 5, 2009
The ‘Elitism’ Trap Migrates From Transport Reform to Climate Change
Transportation debates have a terminology all their own, whether arcane ("multi-modal"), hard to define ("subsidies"), or outright misleading -- as is the case with "elitism," the standard line that road-building acolytes often apply to those who suggest that the government focus more on expanding transit and other forms of clean transport.
September 30, 2009
Senate Climate Bill Released With Much Fanfare, Little Focus on Transport
Flanked by fellow Democrats, members of the military, and a crowd hoisting signs with buzzwords like "clean energy" and "green jobs," Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) today released the first draft of their legislation to curb U.S. emissions and combat climate change.
September 30, 2009
U.S. DOT’s Distracted Driving Summit: Follow it Live
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is hosting a summit on the issue of distracted driving -- specifically, driving while texting -- with an eye to marshaling support for a national ban on the practice.
September 30, 2009