Transportation Policy
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Oberstar to Release Transportation Outline Wednesday
Jim Oberstar (D-MN), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, will release a “white paper” on his plans for the upcoming federal reauthorization bill in a press conference on Wednesday. It’s important to note that the paper will serve as an outline — legislative language is expected to emerge later. (Streetsblog Capitol Hill’s bet … Continued
June 15, 2009
Call for Regional Coordination of Land Use and Transportation
It appears a consensus is forming among local governments that building more livable and sustainable communities is an immediate priority. At a conference in San Francisco yesterday, elected officials from across the Bay Area, along with business, housing, development and transportation groups, called for a coordinated land use and transportation planning strategy to account for the nearly two million more people projected to live in the Bay Area by 2035.
June 11, 2009
LaHood Vows to Avert Federal Transpo Bankruptcy and Pay For It
The Obama administration is working on a plan to fill the shortfall
in the nation's highway trust fund by August without adding to the
federal deficit, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Congress
today.
June 4, 2009
Supervisor Chiu Urges MTC to Invest in Transit Over Freeway Expansion
In honor of the 50th anniversary of San Francisco's famous "Freeway Revolt," car-free Board of Supes President David Chiu has introduced a resolution calling on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to reallocate funds for highway expansion and "prioritize investment in public transit maintenance."
June 3, 2009
Only 17 Percent Drive to Downtown SF to Shop, Study Finds
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (TA) has released a survey of nearly 1400 shoppers in downtown San Francisco that found less than one-fifth drive to shop, and that they spend less money in aggregate than shoppers using other transportation modes (PDF). The study indicates drivers spend more each trip than transit riders, but visit less often and account for far fewer total visits and therefore spend less total.
May 27, 2009
Finding Unused Pavement for Parks and Plazas in Lower Potrero
When Mayor Gavin Newsom dedicated the trial pedestrian plaza at 17th Street and Castro last week, he took a significant stride toward improving his record on livable streets issues. He demonstrated engagement with local community groups and advocates by taking symbolic and institutional steps that incrementally nibble away at the paradigm of streets that gives primacy to the movement of cars.
May 22, 2009
The Long, Ugly Road to a Federal Transportation Plan
You've likely been hearing a lot, on this blog and others, about the coming expiration
of the federal transportation bill. Come September 30, Congress has to
have a plan in hand to fund the nation's trains, buses, bikes, bridges
and roads -- or pass an extension of the 2005 federal bill, locking in the same spending patterns that have nurtured Americans' addiction to the automobile.
May 19, 2009
Where’s Gavin? Likely Campaigning in an Armored SUV
Apparently I'm not the only one who got the sneaky suspicion Green Gav
doesn't really take transit or ride a bike unless it makes for good
publicity. Yet-to-be identified satirists decided to call Mayor Gavin Newsom's bluff on the nonsense assertion he (or his handlers) made to the Chronicle that he occasionally rides Muni incognito when he's not being chauffeured around in a hybrid SUV or driving his ridiculously expensive electric sports car.
May 15, 2009
Governor Schwarzenegger Finds Another Way to Rob Transit
This morning when I saw the L.A. Times
headline about new budget cuts announced by Governor Schwarzenegger, I
wasn't worried. After all, I knew this time there wasn't anything else
he could do to hurt transportation and transit. How much more damage
could be done after he abolished state subsidies to transit in his most
recent round of budget cuts?
May 15, 2009