Tanya Snyder

Last week -- Infrastructure Week, as it happens -- Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) sent an urgent plea [PDF] to the leaders of the Environment and Public Works Committee the day before they unanimously approved the committee's transportation reauthorization bill and sent it to the full Senate. Corker also sent his letter to the top members of the Finance Committee, who are actually in charge of finding funding for the bill, since the Highway Trust Fund alone comes $100 billion short.

Last year, Angie posted an unfortunate map of two houses in Orlando that share a backyard but are seven miles apart if you take the disconnected local street system. That's quite a distance to ask your neighbor for a cup of sugar.

Multi-Family Housing Is Leading the Recovery as Single-Family Stagnates (NYT) Foxx Pushes Transportation Bill at Road Widening Site (TBT) Does the Earmark Ban Lead to More Strategic Bills, Or More Difficult Negotiations? (WSJ) Gas Tax’s Buying Power at an All-Time Low in 10 States (CityLab) Milwaukee Transit Advocates Win Bus Service During Zoo Interchange Construction (Journal-Sentinel) … Continued

Last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed its transportation bill. The bill is a blueprint for spending $265 billion on surface transportation over six years. It doesn't include transit or rail provisions yet, and no funding source has been found for it. Streetsblog wanted to hear from a local official about how this bill would affect their community, so we spoke to Mayor Chris Koos of Normal, Illinois. Koos, who owns a bike shop in town, has served 11 years as mayor and is a member of Transportation for America’s advisory board.

Congratulations to Todd Consentino and Chris Chaney, winners of the Ortlieb Showers & Snow photo contest by the Alliance for Biking & Walking and Streetsblog.

It's Bike to Work Day, and despite pouring rain, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx came out to the Washington Area Bicyclists Association event in Freedom Plaza, getting soaked in shorts and a baseball cap.

The Senate’s proposal for the next transportation reauthorization took another step forward today with the unanimous approval of the Environment and Public Works Committee. The bill the members sent to the full Senate was slightly different from the one that was unveiled Monday night.

This afternoon, President Obama stood by New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge and made a speech pressing Congress to do something about infrastructure investment. It’s part of his Infrastructure Week push for Congress to pass a fully funded transportation reauthorization bill. Many other groups are spending this week sounding the same horn.

Cities are great places to raise children, and DC in particular. So we at Streetsblog are teaming up with Greater Greater Washington to host a playdate and family picnic to bring our readers together for some kid-friendly fun. Instead of another after-work happy hour at a 21+ bar, we want to get to know each other's families and enjoy the great urban outdoors. Streetsbaby Luna and Greater Greater Wunderkind Sophie will be in attendance and can't wait to spill things on you and your children.

The future of national transportation policy is pretty much like the present of national transportation policy, if the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has its way: underfunded and highway-centric.