T4America Blog

News, press releases and other updates

Last-minute budget deal holds good news for the safety of all who use our roads

17 Dec 2014 | Posted by | 0 Comments | , ,

In a rare weekend session, the U.S. Senate finally passed the FY2015 Omnibus Appropriations Act, sending it to the President and avoiding a government shutdown. Buried deep within the legislation, was a simple paragraph enacting a proposal that Transportation for America and many others have long advocated for.

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Transportation for America’s year in review

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As 2014 draws to a close, we are taking a look back at our five most popular posts over the last year.

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As Michigan legislators race the clock on a transportation deal, other states plan initiatives

We tapped a nerve in November with the Capital Ideas conference in Denver. More than 30 states sent representatives – some of whom went right back to their states and got to work helping their communities make progress.

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Three metro planning leaders help make T4America’s MPO guidebook launch successful

Transportation planning is hot, hot, hot! Or so it would seem, after more than 700 people registered for last week’s online seminar to launch The Innovative MPO, a guidebook for metropolitan transportation planning.

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Budget compromise keeps highways and transit steady, cuts TIGER

10 Dec 2014 | Posted by | 3 Comments | , , ,

The $1.01 trillion spending agreement reached by House and Senate negotiators on Tuesday night freezes highway spending at $40 billion while avoiding the big cuts to transit projects in the House proposal.

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Who’s leading on transportation planning? Find out in ‘The Innovative MPO’

America today is a metropolitan nation: More than 85 percent of us live in metro areas large and small, and that makes planning for metropolitan areas more critical than ever.

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GOP Rep. Petri joins bill to raise the federal gas tax

The Highway Trust Fund, our nation’s key infrastructure funding source, has been teetering on the edge of insolvency for the past few years, with legislators from both parties unable to secure a long term funding source.

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House bill extends transit benefit through 2014, leaving permanent extension in doubt

Transit commuters would get two weeks’ worth of additional tax benefit under a House bill introduced yesterday.

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Northeast Ohio plans ahead for a new network of transportation options

How can a place like the Cleveland region attract and retain talented young people, and how can good transportation options help? That was a core question posed to our Beth Osborne when she was invited to keynote a multimedia event dubbed “Cleveland Connects: Getting Around”.

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Metro areas on the cutting edge of transportation planning: Introducing The Innovative MPO

On Dec. 10, Transportation for America will release a one-of-a-kind guidebook showcasing leading-edge approaches to regional transportation planning, called “The Innovative MPO.” We will launch it with a webinar the same day, open to all. To learn more and register, click here. In this post, we provide a preview of the kind of topics you’ll encounter in the guidebook.

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Join us as we unveil “The Innovative MPO”

Join us for the launch of The Innovative MPO. The last several years have seen a surge in innovative thinking and practice among MPOs nationwide, and their work has inspired a new guidebook to help MPO staff, board members, and civic leaders find innovative ways to make communities prosper.

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UPS chief and other business leaders urge Congress to pass a bill that helps both commuters and freight

19 Nov 2014 | Posted by | 1 Comment | , , , , ,

An editorial from the head of one of the world’s most important freight companies — based in the city where we hosted a policy breakfast on the same issue two weeks ago — puts a bright line under the importance of Congress updating our country’s outmoded freight policy in the next federal transportation authorization.

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As funding battles loom in legislatures, Transportation for America launches network to support state efforts to fulfill visions for economic success

With representatives from 30 states convening in Denver for a strategy conference, Transportation for America today announced the launch of a new network to support state efforts to pass legislation to raise transportation funding while improving accountability for spending it.

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With GOP victories, SAFETEA-LU team in line to chair Senate committees

With last night’s election, both the Senate and House will see leadership changes in key transportation committees. With the nation’s transportation funding source running near empty and the current law, MAP-21, expiring in the spring, these new committee leaders will have an opportunity to make an impact in the very near term.

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Important transportation ballot measures decided yesterday

Though there were some significant defeats for promising transportation-related ballot measures yesterday, they continue to be approved at very high rates and a few key wins carry some important impacts for years to come.

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Join T4America this Thursday to unpack the transportation ramifications of tomorrow’s elections

Voters will make decisions on November 4 that will resonate deep into the future. Join us Thursday as we provide the inside scoop on how the elections will affect MAP-21 reauthorization and ever-dwindling highway trust fund revenues, and how important state and local transportation measures fared.

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Competitive grant programs in PA and OR provide a blueprint for a different approach

There’s strong support for a plan in Congress to give locals more access to their transportation dollars, but two states are already leading the way on the idea of competitive grants for smart projects — and Pennsylvania took a big step today.

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Leaders say St. Petersburg transit measure key to economic success

Voters in Pinellas County, Florida, which includes St. Petersburg and borders Tampa, have the chance to approve a one percent sales tax next week that will raise $130 million per year. The money will kickstart a 24-mile light rail system, improve and expand their bus system by 65 percent, build bus rapid transit lines, and increase important regional connections.

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Massachusetts vote a bellwether for efforts to raise state transportation revenue

In 2013, the Massachusetts legislature came together on an ambitious plan to necessary revenues for transportation, passing a three-cent gas tax increase as well as indexing it to inflation. In what makes this one of the most interesting ballot measures to watch, just a year after the legislature approved it, voters on Nov. 4 will decide whether or not to repeal part of the package.

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Rhode Island’s first statewide ballot measure to support transit

Rhode Island’s first ever statewide transit ballot measure would issue $35 million in bonds to invest in the state’s transit infrastructure and improve bus service statewide, including new and reworked transit hubs that can bring together different modes.

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