Federal Funding
Sequester Would Cut New Starts By $100M, Could Trigger FTA Furloughs
The consequences of the near-certain sequester for aviation have been well publicized by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's recent media blitz, but less well-known are the effects for surface transportation.
February 28, 2013
Sequestration Week: Will Congress Find a Solution By Friday? Does It Matter?
Welcome to Sequestration Week. Congress has until Friday to strike a deal that would avoid a set of dreaded automatic budget cuts.
February 25, 2013
Shuster Pre-empts Devolutionists With Defense of Federal Role
New House Transportation Committee Chair Bill Shuster (R-PA) clearly knows he's got some devolutionist conservatives in his caucus (and on his committee). While many Republicans would like to see the federal government get out of the business of infrastructure and just let the states raise and spend their own money, Shuster has always been clear that he is in favor of a strong federal role.
February 8, 2013
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett: We Have to Build This City For People
On the last day of 2007, Mick Cornett, the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City -- ranked as one of the fattest cities in the country -- stood in front of the elephants at the zoo and announced he was going on a diet, and taking the rest of the city with him. Oklahoma City lost a million pounds, 37 of which were his.
January 24, 2013
FTA Grapples With Likely Funding Cuts
After fighting to maintain reasonable funding levels in the transportation bill – and for the inclusion of dedicated transit funding in the first place – the Federal Transit Administration now finds itself up against almost certain funding cuts that imperil rail and bus expansion projects, as well as the agency's own staffing.
January 18, 2013
Seven Jiu-Jitsu Moves for Advocates to Use MAP-21 to Their Own Advantage
OK, truth: Raise your hand if you find federal transportation legislation intimidating and incomprehensible.
December 11, 2012
How States Are Adapting to MAP-21’s Changes to Bike/Ped Funding
The current transportation law dealt a few hard knocks to bicycling and walking programs. One big one was the restructuring of the Transportation Enhancements program into something called Transportation Alternatives, which has to fund more types of projects with less money.
November 28, 2012
GAO: States “Flexing” Fewer Federal Dollars to Transit
Supporters of livable streets may hear about the “flexibility” of transportation dollars and cringe – after all, that word often refers to the ability of states to use bike/ped money for road building. But flexibility can work both ways. Between 2007 and 2011, states devoted $5 billion in surface transportation funds -- known in some quarters as "highway money" -- to transit programs, according to the Government Accountability Office.
November 21, 2012
Will the Next Transpo Chair Continue Attacks on Bike/Ped Funding?
This is the second of two posts examining Rep. Bill Shuster’s candidacy for the chairmanship of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Yesterday, we took a look at Shuster's positions on rail and his leadership style. Here we delve into his record on active transportation and the always-thorny topic of funding.
November 15, 2012
What Has President Obama Done to Improve American Transportation Policy?
With the election just days away, it’s a good time to reflect on what the Obama administration has done with transportation policy – and what a Romney administration might have in store. Streetsblog does not endorse candidates. This is an overview of their respective records and a look back at what we know of these two men. We’ll start with President Obama in this post and move on to Mitt Romney in the next one.
November 2, 2012