All posts from the month of February 2011
Today’s Headlines – 2/28/11
February 28, 2011By Transportation for America
House Republicans proposed a two-week budget extension with minor cuts, a move likely to avert a shutdown. (WP)
But a deal on spending cuts this week could make agreement between the two parties tougher later. (WSJ)
The reining in of Congressional earmarks is a reality for the time-being. (NYT)
A chorus of right-leaning critics weighed in against President Obama’s high-speed rail plans. (Newsweek, Reason, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fox and Hounds Daily)
Florida’s senior U.S. Senator took on the governor over rejecting rail funds. (Miami Herald)
And, automakers are embracing public transportation in Tennessee. (Nashville Business Journal)
Today’s Headlines – 2/25/11
February 25, 2011By Transportation for America
The bipartisan heads of the U.S. Conference of Mayors are lobbying against cuts in the House budget – and hope Chicago mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel will have the President’s ear. (The Hill)
A freshman Republican said he wants the Senate to restore a transportation project he voted to cut. (Talking Points Memo)
Speaker Boehner may have made a government shutdown more likely by allowing an open amendment process. (The New Republic)
The Hamilton Project at Brookings has a new report on making infrastructure spending more efficient, while the American Enterprise Institute emphasizes private capital. (NYT, AEI)
And, West Virginia members from both parties – including top transportation committee Democrat Nick Rahall – were targeted for their votes on the budget. (Charleston Gazette)
Today’s Headlines – 2/24/11
February 24, 2011By Transportation for America
60 percent of Americans would prefer a spending compromise to a government shutdown, according to a new Gallup poll. (The Hill)
House Republicans are trying to tie the Senate’s hands with two week’s worth of cuts. (Politico)
GOP members who built careers on earmarks have been forced to switch gears. (WP)
Oil prices reached $100 per barrel amid disarray in Libya, the first time hitting that number since 2008. (The Hill)
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pushed for innovative ways to finance mass transit, including his region’s 30/10 plan, at a joint House-Senate transportation field hearing yesterday. (LA Times)
And, Chicago mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel is expected to be pro-bike and pro-transit. (Transportation Nation)
“Transportation 101″ provides a primer on the federal transportation program
February 23, 2011By Transportation for America
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| • Executive Summary (900k pdf) • Full Document (2.2 mb pdf) |
One of the primary motivations of the Transportation for America campaign is our belief in building a transportation system that meets 21st century challenges.
But understanding how current federal transportation policy works — much less how to go about changing the current system — requires a sometimes painful amount of context. We know it’s not always the easiest issue to follow and a lot of people tend to use complicated jargon and acronyms that confuse even the veterans sometimes. Advocates and legislative staffers who are new to transportation policy often have a lot of catching up to do, and it’s difficult even for folks who have been around awhile to know all the details.
So we put together “Transportation 101: An Introduction to Federal Transportation Policy” to provide some clarity and help document where we’ve been, where the money comes from, how the program works (or doesn’t work) the process of reauthorization and the new (and old) challenges facing us as Congress debates a new transportation bill.
The report was debuted and distributed during a packed briefing on Capitol Hill in the Cannon House Building this morning. We were lucky enough to have some notable panelists speaking at the event, including Roy Kienitz, Under Secretary for Policy at U.S. DOT; former Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer; and Mayor Patrick Henry Hays of North Little Rock, Arkansas to kick it off with a short session giving an overview of the federal, state and local roles in transportation policy.
So if you want to learn more about things like the history of the federal transportation program, how the Interstate System was started, how earmarks came to be so prevalent or how the federal role in funding transportation has changed throughout the years, we hope you find Transportation 101 useful.
(And about that jargon and those acronyms…there’s a glossary in the back.)
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| DSC_0056 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America to Flickr. |
Transit advocates in Oregon and Montana take to the op-ed pages
February 23, 2011By Sean Barry
A pair of op-ed pieces published in the past week illustrate a clamoring for action on a transportation bill that invests in the future and expands travel options for all Americans – and a resistance to the deep cuts some are championing in Washington.
The head of a development firm specializing in green building and a key Northwest labor leader took to the op-ed pages of the Oregonian. In “Getting the best bang for our transportation buck,” Gerding Edlen Development Inc. CEO Mark Edlen and Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain made the case for robust transit investment, and pointed to Portland as an example. “Not only does transit create jobs directly for workers such as bus drivers, but it also creates manufacturing jobs,” they wrote, adding:
Oregon Iron Works manufactures streetcars in Clackamas. Businesses like that are poised to grow, add jobs and better support the region’s economy if the country chooses to make more substantial investments in 21st-century transportation.
Edlen and Chamberlain also pointed out that planning and building more wisely through reformed and forward-looking transportation policy creates jobs today and a lays the foundation for a stronger economy in the decades to come.
Smart land-use planning and investments in affordable options like streetcar, light rail and bike networks make it easier to drive less here, and we do, about 20 percent less than Americans in other large cities. These household savings mean an extra $800 million circulating in our economy because spending less on imported cars and fuel means more money in local pockets to spend on local business.
In another part of the west, Missoula City Coucilmember Dave Strohmaier penned an op-ed on restoring Amtrak service in southern Montana. The piece was published in several of state’s newspapers, including the Billings Gazette.
Strohmaier said passenger rail will be an essential component of a 21st century transportation system and urged Montana to lead.
For too long, Montanans have underestimated our ability to change national transportation policy. Sure, there have been those unflagging passenger rail advocates who have continued doing the good work of keeping this issue alive for the past three decades, but until now we’ve lacked both the political will at all levels of government and a coordinated effort to make passenger rail through southern Montana a reality.
Strohmaier has no quibble with high-speed rail, but he does insist that decision-makers in both Helena and Washington remember the diverse and dispersed benefits that all forms of passenger rail provide. Montana currently receives service from Amtrak’s Empire Builder, but many residents live at great distance from the line and would benefit from additional service. “High speed rail certainly has its place in our national rail infrastructure network,” he wrote, but these projects “should not overshadow the importance of knitting together the rest of the nation — particularly rural America and the American West.”
With funding for public transportation in jeopardy, voices like these from outside of Washington are a needed boost for transit and an important reminder of the options the American say they want.
Today’s Headlines – 2/23/11
February 23, 2011By Transportation for America
Three quarters of participants at a House transportation committee-led hearing in Fresno voiced support for high-speed rail in California. (ABC 30)
Transportation advocates wonder how hard the Democratic Senate will push back on House Republican cuts. (Streetsblog Capitol Hill)
The top White House spokesperson said a government shutdown can be avoided, but a contingency plan remains in place. (The Hill)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced a 30-day extension of the current budget and asked for talks with Speaker John Boehner. (The Hill)
Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester, a top Republican target in 2012, said premature cuts and failure to invest in infrastructure would harm the economic recovery. (Missoulian)
And, the newly-released budget from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie increases transit funding and avoids a fare hike. (Transportation Nation)
Today’s Headlines – 2/22/11
February 22, 2011By Transportation for America
Several scenarios could result in a government shutdown next month. (Politico)
Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative John Mica, two key transportation players, will headline a hearing in Los Angeles tomorrow. (San Diego Union Tribune)
High-speed rail supporters are mobilizing around a similar hearing in Fresno today. (LA Times)
Supporters of the planned Florida rail project outlined a plan to proceed without the governor’s support, as more state’s expressed interest in the money. (Miami Herald, Baltimore Sun, AP)
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin defended the TIGER grants program from Republican cuts. (Peoria Star Journal)
And, rail advocates in Montana and Oregon took to the op-ed pages. (Billings Gazette, Oregonian)
Today’s Headlines – 2/18/11
February 18, 2011By Transportation for America
As the House edges closer to passing a budget, Speaker John Boehner threatened a government shutdown if the Senate does not adopt a similarly cuts-heavy plan. (The Hill)
High-speed rail is a lost cause, the Washington Post editorialized. (WP)
Three California Republicans seek to redirect the state’s high-speed rail funds to highways. (Bakersfield Californian)
A veto-proof majority of Florida State Senators voted to rebuke Governor Scott’s rejection of federal rail funds. (Miami Herald)
Republicans are using the anniversary of the Recovery Act to attack vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election next year. (The Hill)
And, Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy asked the Assembly for a $1 billion bond commitment to transportation. (Westport News)
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin to highlight threatened TIGER grants program in Moline this Monday
February 17, 2011By Sean Barry
As the House continues debating a 2011 budget that threatens many of our nation’s core transportation needs, some leaders are stepping up to defend these programs as critical to the lives and livelihoods of regular Americans.
This Monday, Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, will headline an event in the city of Moline, highlighting how the targeted transportation investments in TIGER have created jobs and revitalized communities.
Illinois has benefited enormously from the TIGER grants program, which would be eliminated completely under the House budget currently being considered. TIGER — an acronym for Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery — was initially created in the Recovery Act and later renewed. The premise was simple: reward the communities pursuing the most innovative projects that integrate transportation, economic development, environmental improvement and quality of life — projects that can have a hard time getting funding under our current outdated federal programs.
We profiled several recipients of the second round of TIGER grants late last year, including a new multimodal transportation hub along the Moline waterfront. The $10 million grant was to be combined with local funds to renovate a historic building in downtown Moline into a multimodal transportation hub bringing together Amtrak, commuter rail, buses and other local transportation services. The hub will also be part of a passenger rail connection from the Quad Cities to Chicago, with connections west to Iowa City and Omaha to be potentially added later. As Kathleen Woodruff, T4 America’s Illinois organizer, described it in October:
The new hub will connect all transit services at one new central location in Moline, bringing together Amtrak, local buses, taxis and bicycle and pedestrian facilities, enhancing this area of Moline’s waterfront and making travel easier for all Quad Cities residents. It is expected to support up to 825 new, permanent jobs and eventually, when the new passenger rail link from Moline to Chicago breaks ground, it will produce 1,600 direct and indirect jobs.
The project is similar to another multimodal hub underway in Normal, Illinois that received $22 million in TIGER funds.
The event with Senator Durbin will be held on Monday, February 21 at 11 a.m. at Moline’s Central Station. The Senator will also be in Peoria, Illinois earlier in the day to highlight transportation projects there. If you’re near Moline, we encourage you to go and show your support for this project and these kinds of transportation investments that TIGER has been making across the country.
Photo: Life Magazine
Today’s Headlines – 2/17/11
February 17, 2011By Transportation for America
America is at a transportation crossroads and can no longer rely on a 20th century interstate system, wrote Secretary Ray LaHood. (The Hill)
LaHood is trying to salvage high-speed rail plans rejected by Florida’s governor; Floridian and House transportation committee chair John Mica called the governor’s move “disappointing.” (Transportation Nation, Orlando Sentinel)
Leaders in both New York and California have expressed interest in the rail funds. (The Hill, San Jose Mercury News)
The leaders of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO jointly endorsed infrastructure spending before the Senate EPW Committee. (WP)
Both spoke in favor of a higher gas tax, as did some Senators. (Streetsblog Capitol Hill)
And, 3.5 million or more rural Americans have lost access to public transit in the last five years. (Reuters)
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- The more they see, the less they like: 10 reasons why opposition to the House transportation bill is growing
February 21, 2012 - Crucial amendment could improve Senate bill, restore local control and help make streets safer
February 14, 2012 - Oppose House bill that slashes public transit funding, falls short on repair and axes bike & pedestrian safety
February 7, 2012 - T4 coalition announces opposition to House energy and transportation bill
February 6, 2012 - House committee ignores broad opposition, decimates transit funding anyway
February 3, 2012
- The more they see, the less they like: 10 reasons why opposition to the House transportation bill is growing
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