U.S. DOT
Can State DOTs Be Trained to Kick the Sprawl Habit?
I had the chance to listen in yesterday to top staffers from USDOT explain their collaboration with HUD and the EPA -- the "Partnership for Livable Communities" that was first unveiled in March and touted again by President Obama in July. Three officials, including one of Ray LaHood's top deputies, Beth Osborne, outlined their plans via conference call to several hundred people from all parts of the country.
September 25, 2009
LaHood Praises NYC But Shrugs at Transport Reform to Empower Cities
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood praised the New York City area's clean-transportation strategy today in a speech to the region's metropolitan planning organization (MPO), promising a stronger focus on urban priorities even as he all but ruled out two reforms long sought by the nation's cities.
September 24, 2009
Obama Administration Sends $100M in Stimulus Aid to 43 Transit Agencies
The U.S. DOT announced today that 43 local transit agencies from more than two dozen states would share the $100 million in competitive clean-transport grants included in this winter's $787 billion economic stimulus law.
September 21, 2009
Warner Scores a (Small) Win for White House’s Transportation Agenda
While it pushes for an 18-month delay in the next federal infrastructure bill, the Obama administration has proposed a data collection effort that would help states and localities begin tracking ridership and usage of transit, roads, buses, and the like -- a small put pivotal step towards enacting national performance standards for transportation.
September 17, 2009
A Few Words on Transportation User Fees
We tend to have a few good laughs when Randal O'Toole fires up his Cato computer and weighs in on transportation issues. It's hard to take seriously a man who thinks that having the government tax people to build something which it then gives away for free is the libertarian ideal.
September 17, 2009
Conservatives: If We Can’t Kill Off the U.S. DOT, Let’s ‘Fix’ It!
Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, an early conservative cheerleader for the Bush tax cuts, coined an instantly classic phrase in 2001: "My goal is to cut government in half in 25 years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."
September 16, 2009
The New White House Fuel Efficiency Rule: Count the Loopholes
The final fuel-efficiency rule released by the Obama administration this morning includes what some lobbyists have nicknamed "the German provision," giving automakers that sell less than 400,000 vehicles in the U.S. an exemption for 25 percent of their fleet.
September 15, 2009
White House Releases Fuel Efficiency Rules — Will the Loophole Make it in?
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson will head to the White House briefing room this afternoon to release the final version of fuel-economy rules that will bring the nation's auto fleet to an average of 35.5. miles per gallon by 2016.
September 15, 2009
LaHood on Transport: ‘We Don’t Want to Pit One Mode … Against Another’
While Vice President Biden was giving a candid take on cities' difficulties taking advantage of the economic stimulus, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was giving a recovery speech of his own in Chicago -- where he sent a message of transport reform to an audience that might not have expected it.
September 4, 2009
As “Cash for Clunkers” Sputters, a Privately Funded Spinoff Picks Up
The U.S. DOT began signaling yesterday that it would bring the "cash for clunkers" program to an end amid growing unease from auto dealers about the government's slow pace of reimbursement and General Motors' decision to begin fronting "clunkers" repayments to its own salesmen.
August 20, 2009