Ray LaHood
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
Fly on the Wall Alert: Obama, LaHood, and Tom Friedman Tee Off
In yesterday's New York Times, columnist Tom Friedman published an impassioned plea for American policy-makers to reconsider their knee-jerk opposition to raising the federal gas tax or debating a carbon tax to set a more appropriate price for energy use. Friedman writes:
September 21, 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
A Last Word on ‘Cash for Clunkers’
One thing the government's CARS program -- a.k.a. "cash for clunkers" -- has clearly stimulated is commentary. For a policy involving a shade under $3 billion in federal spending, it has enjoyed no shortage of media coverage.
September 2, 2009
Behind the ‘Bridge in a Backpack’ That Could Go National
It sounds like the start of a wonky transportation joke: Have you ever crossed a "bridge in a backpack"?
August 18, 2009
Obama Administration Touts Nation’s First All-Electronic Toll Road in N.C.
The U.S. DOT dispatched Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez to North Carolina yesterday to kick off construction of the $1 billion Triangle Expressway, the state's first toll road and the nation's first to use per-mile electronic tolling.
August 13, 2009
LaHood to Convene Texting-While-Driving Summit
Ray LaHood will announce today that his Department of Transportation plans to convene a summit next month for safety officials, lawmakers, academics, and law enforcement representatives to examine the risks of texting while driving.
August 4, 2009
From the Dept. of Mixed Messages: LaHood Touts ‘Cash for Clunkers’
Two weeks ago, Ray LaHood candidly addressed the need to reduce the nation's vehicle miles traveled in order to halt the devastating effects of climate change. But the Transportation Secretary had a decidedly different message today.
July 27, 2009
A Brief Reply to Heritage’s Ronald Utt, PhD
Readers, Ronald Utt has written a memo for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, on Barack Obama's transportation policy.
July 20, 2009
White House Staying Quiet For Now on Transit’s Role in Climate Bill
Delivering his climate-change message to Congress yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned that fuel-efficiency advances secured by the Obama administration would not be enough to reduce emissions from transportation -- not without encouraging Americans to drive less.
July 15, 2009