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How Quickly Will Caltrans Embrace Complete Streets Guidelines?
Though it may seem esoteric, one of the biggest impediments to designing streets for people is the over-reliance on design standards that have long privileged movement of vehicles over any other consideration on the streets. That's why advocates cheered when U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood published a policy paper recently that, at least in word, placed bicycles and pedestrians on equal footing with motorists.
March 30, 2010
Study: Clean-Car Subsidies Alone Can’t Meet White House’s Climate Goals
Government subsidies for hybrid and electric cars, while "politically
seductive," will fail to achieve the Obama administration's national
pollution-reduction goals if they are not coupled with a significant
increase in fuel prices, according to a
new study by Harvard University researchers.
March 9, 2010
White House: Transit Inflation Outstripping Private Transportation
The White House's annual economic report, in addition to its endorsement of inter-city rail and transit spending, also sheds more light on transit inflation,
which is often reported anecdotally in the many cities struggling with
fare hikes but rarely put in statistical terms by economists.
February 12, 2010
White House Economic Report Touts TIGER, High-Speed Rail, Transit
The White House Council of Economic Advisers' first annual report under President Obama made headlines
today for its gloomy job-creation outlook, but tucked inside its 462
pages is a tangible reflection of a changed outlook on transportation
policy under the new administration.
February 12, 2010
How Google and Portland’s TriMet Set the Standard for Open Transit Data
With national data transparency efforts like President Obama's Open Data Initiative and municipal projects like New York City's Big Apps or San Francisco's Data SF, government agencies across the country have been opening their raw data sets, some more reluctantly than others. With the debut of City-Go-Round and media coverage generated about transit data transparency, many transit operators have taken steps to release their schedule and route information to third party developers, who in turn use the data to develop an array of applications to improve rider experience.
January 5, 2010
Stimulus Spotlight: Oregon’s Solar Highway
Washington's normally frenetic pace slows down in August, when humid
weather and the absence of Congress combine to give the capital some
recharging time.
August 20, 2009
Obama Talks Urban Policy as LaHood Seeks More Urban Transpo Money
The White House Office of Urban Affairs, which has drawn criticism for its inactivity at a rocky economic time for the nation's cities, capped a day-long summit today with a speech by President Obama.
July 13, 2009
How Much Operating Aid is Your Local Transit Agency Getting?
President Obama has signed into law a $106 billion war funding bill that includes a provision allowing local transit agencies to spend 10 percent of their stimulus money on operating costs.
June 26, 2009
House Transpo Leaders United — in Frustration With the White House
Senior members of the House transportation committee today fired a warning shot at those pushing an 18-month extension of existing federal law, putting the Obama administration and key senators on notice that their $450 billion proposal would move forward this year.
June 18, 2009