Stimulus-Backed Programs Struggle to Stay Alive After Funds Run Out
In an old supermarket space in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, a diverse community of bicycle aficionados are getting greasy. Young and old, Latino and white, they are truing wheels and replacing cables and adjusting brakes in L.A.’s newest, and completely unplanned, bike co-op.
June 29, 2011
Rumor Mill: House Leadership Hostile to Transpo Reauthorization
A few weeks ago, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor published his list of bills the House will attempt to get through before the August recess. The transportation reauthorization was not among them.
June 28, 2011
USDOT Announces Funding For Transit Projects, Minus ARC Tunnel
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood yesterday announced $1.58 billion in New Starts grants that will fund 27 transit projects around the country. The only major difference between this list and the list of proposed projects that came out in February 2010 is the glaring absence of the ARC tunnel project that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie unceremoniously axed last year.
June 28, 2011
Expect Two (Radically Different) Reauthorization Proposals Soon
The Environment and Public Works Committee is getting ready to introduce their transportation reauthorization bill, according to reports by the Journal of Commerce. The committee has, shrewdly, worked closely with Finance Committee Chair (and EPW leader) Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) on a way to pay for the bill, in order to avoid a situation like the one the administration found itself in: introducing an ambitious bill with no chance of passage.
June 24, 2011
NJ Rep. Frelinghuysen Goes After HSR Money Destined For His Own State
As towns flanking the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers continue to be inundated with historically high water, it’s good to see Congress taking action to provide some relief. Unfortunately, that relief comes on the back of high-speed rail programs.
June 24, 2011
25 Senators Demand Robust Transit Funding
In a letter to Finance Committee leaders [PDF], 25 senators today urged adequate funding for mass transit in the next transportation authorization bill.
June 23, 2011
Mica Extends Olive Branch to Amtrak, Dems Pound Rail Privatization Plan
Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL), the top Democrat on the Railroads Subcommittee, began her remarks at yesterday’s Transportation Committee hearing like this:
June 23, 2011
Mica Accedes to Dems’ Request to Delay Action on Rail Privatization
John Mica has blinked.
June 21, 2011
House Plan to Privatize Northeast Corridor Retains Public Ownership
Under the House Republicans’ proposal to bring more private competition to the nation’s most valuable transportation asset, the Northeast Corridor would remain in public hands. Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) made clear that under his and Rail Subcommittee Chair Bill Shuster’s plan, “the public maintains ownership of the corridor; we’re not giving it to any private firm.”
June 15, 2011
How Seniors Get Stuck at Home With No Transit Options
According to AARP, 88 percent of seniors want to stay in their own homes as long as they can. But where are those homes? In auto-dependent suburbs. That’s where most Baby Boomers grew up, in the postwar era, and that’s where most of them have stayed – even as the largest (and longest-living) generation ever enters its golden years.
June 14, 2011