Transportation Policy
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
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
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
State DOT Official, Rail Exec Talk High-Speed Rail Infighting, Bureaucracy
The push for dedicated U.S. high-speed rail funding began anew yesterday with the launch of a campaign aimed at securing $4 billion from Congress for next year's projects -- but hours before that event, federal and state transport officials joined private-sector players for a discussion that highlighted the political challenges facing successful development of fast inter-city rail networks.
May 12, 2010
Senate Climate Bill to Feature Transport Carbon Cap — But No Trading
Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) are set to roll out their long-awaited, somewhat delayed climate change bill tomorrow without onetime co-sponsor Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
May 11, 2010
High-Speed Rail Lobbying Campaign Revives the “$4B” Rallying Cry
The lobbying coalition that helped prod Congress into approving $2.5 billion for high-speed rail last year -- twice as much as the Senate had originally set aside -- today kicked off a new campaign urging lawmakers to approve $4 billion for bullet trains next year and $2.6 billion for Amtrak.
May 11, 2010
First Lady’s Childhood Obesity Task Force Calls For Transportation Reform
The White House's inter-agency task force on childhood obesity, developed under the stewardship of First Lady Michelle Obama, today released a 124-page report recommending dozens of policy shifts in health care, community development, and transportation that it estimates can bring down obesity rates among kids by 5 percent over the next 20 years.
May 11, 2010