Congress Indulges in Crazy Talk About De-Funding Transit and Taxing Bikes
The House is a dangerous place these days. You want to have a fruitful conversation about how to solve the transportation funding crisis and you end up ruminating about whether to tax bikes.
April 26, 2013
TIGER’s Love Affair With Freight — And Bikes
This article is the second of a two-part series about how U.S. DOT's Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program -- TIGER, a discretionary grant program that got its start under the Recovery Act in 2009 -- has made transportation planning more strategic, based on a benefit-cost analysis and national goals. Read the first part here, about Republicans' empty charges of political bias.
April 26, 2013
Pretty Please: U.S. DOT Asks Carmakers to Limit Onboard Distractions
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's signature issue has been distracted driving. He's spent the last four years amplifying the heartbreaking voices of those who have suffered the consequences of this highly dangerous habit. The stories of the needless loss of so many people, especially children and teens, are tragic.
April 25, 2013
How TIGER Transformed Transportation Planning — And Lived to Tell About It
When the buzz about a new, stimulus-funded, discretionary transportation grant program started to circulate in 2009, some environmentalists opposed it. They worried it would be a slush fund for the Federal Highway Administration, used to build unnecessary roads that would aggravate sprawl and pollution. But insiders knew that wasn’t how the new Obama administration would be handling things.
April 25, 2013
FRA Responds: Amtrak Will Be Able to Use “Proven” Trainsets
On Monday, we featured a Systemic Failure post about FRA regulations in our morning round-up from the Streetsblog Network. Systemic Failure indicated -- and Streetsblog repeated -- that the FRA was unwilling to change its rules to allow Amtrak to use “off-the-shelf” trainsets and other equipment.
April 24, 2013
No Surprise Here: Drivers Don’t Want to Pay Higher Gas Taxes
Just last month, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. infrastructure another dismal grade and every media outlet and lawmaker in the country, it seemed, bellyached about how we need to invest more. And then Gallup asked Americans if they’d be willing to raise the gas tax by 20 cents a gallon. The answer was a big, fat, “No.”
April 23, 2013
Today’s Headlines
Two-Thirds of Americans Don’t Want a 20-Cent Gas Tax Hike (The Hill, Governing, CNN, Politico) Three Ways This Round of TIGER Is Different (Transpo Issues Daily) WaPo Suggests Five Hypotheses to Explain Why More Young People Are Going Car-Free AAA: The Cost of Car Ownership Rises to $9,122 a Year (USA Today) Europe Sells Two … Continued
April 23, 2013
Transit Advocates Target High-Profile Congressional Race in South Carolina
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has an answer for everything. He can explain why he lied about hiking the Appalachian Trail when in fact he was in Buenos Aires with his mistress. He can explain why he trespassed into his ex-wife’s house, violating the terms of their divorce. But here’s one thing he doesn’t have an answer for: a questionnaire about transit.
April 22, 2013
Come and Get It: LaHood Announces Fifth Round of TIGER Grants
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told members of Congress last week that U.S. DOT would be announcing TIGER V on Friday. He kept us in suspense through the weekend, but here it is: $474 million for innovative transportation projects that don’t necessarily fit neatly under other funding programs.
April 22, 2013
Today’s Headlines
Will Tolls Fill the Void Left By an Inadequate Gas Tax? (Florida Today) Oil & Gas Industry Whines About Obama’s Plan to Eliminate Tax Loopholes (Reporter News) Seven States with the Lowest Gas Taxes (Motley Fool) Scenes From a De-Sprawling America (Press-Herald) Can Cleveland Stop Cannibalizing Its Own Urban Core? (Plain Dealer) Gov. Perry Wants to Raise … Continued
April 22, 2013