Streetsblog Capitol Hill
APHA Tallies ‘Hidden Health Costs’ of Transportation Status Quo
The nation's transportation planning process fails to account for more
than $200 billion per year in "hidden health costs" imposed by traffic and air
pollution, according to a new report from the American Public Health
Association (APHA) that maps the nexus between infrastructure and
health care.
May 20, 2010
Transit Industry and State DOTs Agree: Senate Climate Bill Needs ‘Rewrite’
The transit industry's leading D.C. lobbying outlet today joined the umbrella group for state DOTs and two major construction groups to protest the Senate climate bill's failure to set aside all of the revenue from its proposed new fuel fees for infrastructure projects -- specifically, to the cash-strapped highway trust fund that is generally split, 80-20, between roads and transit.
May 19, 2010
Transit Industry to Join State DOTs in Blasting Senate Climate Bill
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is set to join the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and two construction interests tomorrow in protesting the Senate climate bill's proposed diversion of new fuel fees away from infrastructure -- an argument that puts the transit industry's leading D.C. lobbying group squarely in the transportation mainstream.
May 18, 2010
Transportation Moving Votes in Harman’s L.A. Congressional Race
Contested congressional primaries in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Arkansas are drawing the lion's share of media attention today, but many Los Angelenos are eyeing June 8 as their Super Tuesday. That day will bring voters to the polls in a race between Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) and Marcy Winograd, who is challenging the eight-term lawmaker from the left.
May 18, 2010
Ford Foundation to Send $200M to Metropolitan Development
The Ford Foundation, created seven decades ago by a U.S. car industry scion, notably diverged from its past today by announcing a new, $200 million grant program aimed at promoting the local integration of transportation and land use planning and a movement beyond auto-based development.
May 18, 2010
U.S. DOT Holding Five Public Meetings on Its National Rail Plan
As it works to finalize a National Rail Plan that could prove pivotal in securing dedicated long-term funding for high-speed rail, the U.S. DOT is soliciting public feedback at five meetings in the coming weeks.
May 17, 2010
Behind the Transport Industry’s Lament About the Senate Climate Bill
While transport reform advocates hailed last week's long-awaited Senate climate bill for directing an estimated $6 billion-plus towards local land use planning and green infrastructure, state DOTs and construction interests criticized the legislation -- suggesting that the measure's sponsors could face stiff resistance from the transportation industry's mainstream despite making concessions to win over all sides.
May 17, 2010
Dems, Obama Pushing Back Against Car Dealers’ Consumer Loophole
Auto dealers lobbied hard to win an exemption from the new consumer protection agency created by Congress' pending financial reform bill, but their free pass could fall by the wayside today as senior Democrats and President Obama press for a crackdown on deceptive lending practices in all industries.
May 13, 2010
Specter of Gas Tax Lingers as Rendell, Villaraigosa Push Infrastructure Bank
Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D), two of the nation's best-known advocates for greater investment in the built environment, today joined several House Democrats in calling for federal action on a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) -- even as questions about how the bank's scope, and Congress' resistance to raising sustained new transport funding, continued to dog the debate.
May 13, 2010
Senate Climate Bill Would Send $6B-Plus to Cleaner Transportation
Transportation would receive more than
$6 billion of the revenue generated by selling carbon emissions
permits to fuel providers under a new Senate climate bill introduced
today by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT).
May 12, 2010