Ben Goldman

Treasury Secretary Is Sick of Short-Term Transportation Stopgaps (Hill) Yesterday Was National Walking Day. How Safe Are Your Streets? (T4America) GOP Rep. Peter King Latest to Join Senate Transpo Bill Supporters (TSTC) The Atlantic Dug Up This GM Propaganda Movie, “Give Yourself the Green Light” Bike Advocates a Force to Be Reckoned With (BikeLeague) Transportation Debate … Continued

Transportation projects often have profound consequences for public health, whether negative (in the case of fossil fuel-burning highway expansions) or positive (in the case of calorie-burning bike-friendly, walkable streets). So why don't cities and states always consider health impacts when evaluating a transportation project or policy?

Business and Industry Have Low Expectations for Transpo Bill (JoC) Streets Closed for Security Reasons Take on New Life as Public Spaces (GGW) A 25 Percent Cut in Emissions Isn’t Nearly Enough, Study Says (Trans. Issues Daily) Atlantic Cities Tells You Everything You Wanted to Know About Bus Rapid Transit Message of Walkability Resonates in … Continued

Roundup of All the Ways Congress’s Transpo Story Is a Disaster (WaPo) Feds Have Billions in Unspent Ports Dollars, But Not for Long (Politico) How to Pay for Next Big Transpo Bill? A Libertarian Likes VMT Fees (Nat. Journal) Like Lists? Top 5 Infrastructure Projects Underway, and the Top 5 at Risk (Governing) FTA to … Continued

In June 2009, a fatal crash on the D.C. Metro prompted federal lawmakers to consider adding a new layer of transit safety oversight. Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, introduced the National Metro Safety Act of 2009 to establish national safety standards for transit systems. It was never enacted, but it certainly raised the issue's profile, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has not let it fall by the wayside.

Yesterday, before taking off for a two-week recess, Congress passed a three-month extension of SAFETEA-LU, the ninth since it first expired on September 30, 2009. It now only needs the president's signature sometime before midnight on Saturday to become law.

Senate Agrees to House’s 90-Day Extension, Sends It to Obama (Politico) Divided Congress’s Deal on Extension Still Leaves States With Doubts (Stateline) Nancy Pelosi Asks for Divine Intervention on Transpo Bill (Hill) With Extension Begrudgingly Agreed to, What Comes Next? (National Journal) The House Also Passed the Ryan Budget, Which Slashes Transpo (Aviation News) Why … Continued

The House of Representatives passed a 90-day extension of transportation programs by a vote of 266-158 shortly before noon today. The Senate passed it soon after by an unrecorded voice vote, but only after several Democrats tried (unsuccessfully) to replace the extension's text with that of their own two-year reauthorization bill. The extension is now on its way to the President's desk to be signed into law, averting a shutdown. Live updates from the full Senate debate are below.

Senate Democrats Launch Transportation Shutdown Countdown Clock Transpo Bill Gridlock Already Snarling State Construction Plans (Politico) Time Running Out, Mica Appeals to Dems on Transpo Stopgap (Hill) Why a 60-Day Extension Is Problematic (Trans. Issues Daily) LaHood: Boehner Needs to Show Some Leadership (Hill) Massachusetts Nonprofit Seeks Shortcut to Build Recreational Trails (Globe) Walkable Cities … Continued

Another day, another another twist in the House's efforts to pass a transportation bill.