Top 20 Metro Areas Get 28% of Road Stimulus, 61% of Transit Stimulus
Cities are getting a disproportionately small share of the road money given out by the White House's stimulus plan, but the nation's top 20 metro areas are doing better when it comes to transit -- taking in 61 percent of the transit stimulus cash allocated so far, according to an analysis by Streetsblog Capitol Hill.
July 9, 2009
Boxer Delays Senate Climate Bill Until September
This was supposed to be a big week for action on climate change in the Senate -- but it's ending with Republicans rubbing their hands in glee as the Environment and Public Works Committee delays its unveiling of legislation on carbon emissions.
July 9, 2009
Congestion Study Sparks Clever Headlines, But Little Transit Talk
The latest edition of the Texas Transportation Institute's influential urban mobility report was released yesterday, prompting a flurry of media coverage focused largely on a faux-ironic theme that would do Alanis Morrissette proud -- the bad economy is giving us less traffic!
July 9, 2009
Lawmakers Aim to Bring ‘Sustainable Communities’ From Talk to Action
When three agencies in President Obama's Cabinet -- DOT, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency -- banded together to promote "sustainable communities," the initiative sounded promising but somewhat lacking in concrete ideas.
July 8, 2009
Senate Starts Climate Push With Nods to Jobs, Energy and Transportation
The Senate is taking its first public steps toward combating climate change -- and while the U.S. DOT was absent from this morning's hearing, the chiefs of the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency reminded lawmakers that transportation must play a key role in any emissions reduction plan.
July 7, 2009
New Report on Roads Uses Old Assumptions
A new report on the costs of aging roads [PDF] has gotten a lot of attention over the past week, with both Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and the Washington Post touting its conclusion on the danger of "deficient roadways."
July 6, 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 now.
July 2, 2009
Cities See Population Gains — But What About Political Power?
The Census Bureau has just released new data showing a resurgence of the nation's cities, with New York leading the way and Chicago reversing five years of population decline.
July 1, 2009
Report: States Used $6.6B in Stimulus Cash on New Roads, Not Repair
Today is the deadline for state DOTs to allocate at least half of the transportation money they received under the economic stimulus law, and Smart Growth America marked the occasion with a study of what types of projects are getting that cash.
June 29, 2009
The Wall Street Tax Shelter That Crashed Your Local Transit Agency
The D.C. Metro accident that killed nine riders this week has renewed calls for rail safety upgrades and reminders that car travel remains far riskier than transit. But the crash is also shedding light on a problem that goes beyond Washington: tax shelter deals between banks and struggling transit agencies -- deals that were given a retroactive pass by Congress.
June 26, 2009