Comments on: Feds announce change to consider livability in funding transit projects http://t4america.org/blog/2010/01/13/feds-announce-change-to-consider-livability-in-funding-transit-projects/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:36:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Matthew Yglesias » LaHood to Change Bush-Era Rule, Put Full-Spectrum of Transit Benefits on the Table for “New Starts” Funding http://t4america.org/blog/2010/01/13/feds-announce-change-to-consider-livability-in-funding-transit-projects/#comment-4417 Matthew Yglesias » LaHood to Change Bush-Era Rule, Put Full-Spectrum of Transit Benefits on the Table for “New Starts” Funding Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:29:35 +0000 http://t4america.org/?p=5146#comment-4417 [...] more mass transit projects. It probably doesn’t actually mean that since as Steven Lee Davis points out the rule change doesn’t actually increase the quantity of money available: Of course, the one [...] [...] more mass transit projects. It probably doesn’t actually mean that since as Steven Lee Davis points out the rule change doesn’t actually increase the quantity of money available: Of course, the one [...]

]]> By: Mark Robinowitz http://t4america.org/blog/2010/01/13/feds-announce-change-to-consider-livability-in-funding-transit-projects/#comment-4409 Mark Robinowitz Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:33:47 +0000 http://t4america.org/?p=5146#comment-4409 It would be an "exciting announcement" if they would announce they were going to stop funding new interstate highways because of Peak Oil and Climate Chaos. Peak Oil means Peak Traffic, but so far there are not any cities or states in the US that have decided to stop building new or wider roads because of the end of cheap oil or the start of climate change. It is strange that pro-road expansion organizations have better information on their websites about planned new highways than the national environmental groups working on transportation issues. http://www.aaroads.com/high-priority/index.html is more informative about what is planned than the "T4A" and related efforts. The highway bills in 1991, 1998 and 2005 were massive expansions of highway construction - along with modest efforts for public transit - but the DC based environmental groups generally did not want to talk about the new interstate highways specified as "priority corridors." The photo of a new light rail line in Portland, Oregon bypasses the Governor of Oregon's plan for $18 billion in new and expanded state highways (about 2/3rds of that is in the Portland metro area). A few hundred million for transit and over ten billion for road expansion in Portland is not a means to achieve "livability' according to the definition of the foundation funded environmentalists. http://www.sustaineugene.org/18billion.html has a list of the largest projects planned in Oregon according to the Governor's Transportation Vision Committee (November, 2008). It would be an “exciting announcement” if they would announce they were going to stop funding new interstate highways because of Peak Oil and Climate Chaos. Peak Oil means Peak Traffic, but so far there are not any cities or states in the US that have decided to stop building new or wider roads because of the end of cheap oil or the start of climate change.

It is strange that pro-road expansion organizations have better information on their websites about planned new highways than the national environmental groups working on transportation issues.

http://www.aaroads.com/high-priority/index.html

is more informative about what is planned than the “T4A” and related efforts. The highway bills in 1991, 1998 and 2005 were massive expansions of highway construction – along with modest efforts for public transit – but the DC based environmental groups generally did not want to talk about the new interstate highways specified as “priority corridors.”

The photo of a new light rail line in Portland, Oregon bypasses the Governor of Oregon’s plan for $18 billion in new and expanded state highways (about 2/3rds of that is in the Portland metro area). A few hundred million for transit and over ten billion for road expansion in Portland is not a means to achieve “livability’ according to the definition of the foundation funded environmentalists.

http://www.sustaineugene.org/18billion.html

has a list of the largest projects planned in Oregon according to the Governor’s Transportation Vision Committee (November, 2008).

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