Tanya Snyder

It's October 1, the start of the federal government's fiscal year 2013, and the first official day of the MAP-21 transportation law. The law was signed July 6 but got a three-month grace period to let U.S. DOT set guidance and give states a little time to get ready for the new requirements -- things like setting up grant programs to distribute bike/ped funding to local communities (though they can also just squander that money).

Plain Dealer Talks Infrastructure With Obama and Romney Grist Sums Up The Candidates’ Positions on Energy White House Thinks Sequestered Budget Cuts Will Be Avoided (Trans Issues Daily) MAP-21’s Focus on Rail Does a Disservice to Bus-Oriented Systems (KCRG) How the Feds Promoted Sprawl to End the Depression (And Eventually Create Another One) (KCET) Bloomberg: Gas Tax … Continued

Have you ever thought to yourself, “What I really need is a map showing what U.S. counties use the most gasoline, so that I can target my sustainability efforts there?” Funny, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club were thinking the same thing. What they came up with gets us partway there.

Last week, U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood helped NYC transpo commish Janette Sadik-Khan launch a new phase of the "LOOK!" campaign, with pavement markings instructing texting pedestrians to wake the hell up. He made a comment that made its way into his blog post about the event, as well as other media reports on the event, and it caught the attention of Streetsblog NYC's crack reporting team.

This whole “peak car” may be more than just a sustainability nut’s fantasy. We’ve seen time after time that young people are souring on car culture and finding other ways to get around and connect with friends. We know that the suburban sprawl that fueled the rise of the automobile is in decline. And now The Economist – no treehugging lefty publication – is listing off reason after reason why the trend of declining driving -- "peak car," they call it -- is here to stay.

Walk Score is a service that quantifies how walkable your neighborhood is and helps connect people with housing in areas where they can live car-free or car-lite. It's a widely-used and practical tool, but it can be a little frustrating: Like anything so data-driven, it can leave out some of the intangible things you love most about where you live. Today, Walk Score is trying to solve that problem by launching a new iPhone app and website, seeking to harvest all those unquantifiable neighborhood attributes.

Transit Poised to Survive “Sequestered” Budget Cuts (T4America) Amtrak Test Expected to Match U.S. Speed Record in Preparation for HSR Plans (Baltimore Sun) U.S. DOT Extends Comment Period Due to Overwhelming Response (Keep It Coming!) (TID) The Economist: Are We Already at “Peak Car”? Happy Birthday, Critical Mass! (KQED) I’m An A**hole Bike Rider But You Hate … Continued

Despite the number of two-wheeled cop patrols around some cities, police aren't always the most bike-minded bunch. When there’s a conflict between motorists and cyclists, they're often inclined to take the motorist’s side. As Streetsblog has reported, police in New York City care more about drunk pedestrians than unsafe drivers, despite the fact that most fatalities are caused by motorists violating traffic laws. And then there's the bizarre example of Los Altos, California, where police say cyclists are the ones causing crashes by speeding or even failing to yield automobile right-of-way. Huh?

Congress Goes Back and Forth About Transpo Funding, Leaves Town (Transpo Issues Daily) Remember When Infrastructure Investment Was Bipartisan? What Happened? (Transpo Nation) How John Mica Pulled Off the Impossible and Failed Miserably (DC Velocity) (*See corrections) MAP-21’s Silver Lining: Local Control Over Bike/Ped Funds (Politico) Walkable Urbanism in the Sterile Suburbs Is No Kind … Continued

UPDATED 9/24 with chart.