What does Oberstar’s proposal do for the New Starts transit program?
Americans are taking the train (and the bus) like never before, and public transportation ridership reached its highest level in more than 50 years in 2008. Cities of all sizes are looking to meet the burgeoning demand for quality public transportation service. With Chairman James Oberstar’s 90-page proposal for the next transportation bill coming out this morning from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, we are left with an important question — how would these current or future transit systems fare under his proposed program?
Some details on Chairman Oberstar’s transportation proposal
We’ll have a running series of posts today breaking down some of the notable spending levels and reforms proposed in Chairman Oberstar’s outline of the transportation bill. He told Congressional Quarterly this morning that he is still planning on releasing full bill text and marking up the bill in his Highways and Transit Subcommittee next week. According to his summary, the upcoming bill will restructure and transform the different programs away from multiple “prescriptive programs” into a “performance-based framework” “designed to achieve specific national objectives.”
Sec. LaHood proposes 18-month extension of current transportation bill
This morning on Capitol Hill, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood proposed an 18-month extension of the current SAFETEA-LU transportation authorization bill. Beyond simply extending the current bill, LaHood indicated that he wants to include some reforms in the 18-month extension — including a focus on metro areas, extensive cost-benefit analysis, and a commitment to “livable communities” — but was short on other specifics.
Planning for the future: Washington’s new Woodrow Wilson Bridge
Here in Washington, DC last weekend, the 12-foot-wide bicycle and pedestrian lane of the Woodrow Wilson interstate bridge over the Potomac River held its grand opening, filling with bikers and walkers joining the thousands of cars that cross the bridge each day. The bridge, connecting Virginia and Maryland on the southern part of the Capital Beltway, is a vital transportation link in the region, where Interstate 95 (and the large majority of truck traffic) bypasses Washington, continuing north or south along the eastern seaboard. But making the Wilson Bridge an intermodal success was not easy.
Updated news on the transportation bill outline release
After much back-and-forth on times and dates today, we think this information is pretty solid: Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar is holding an invitation-only press conference Wednesday, June 17th at 11 a.m. to talk with invited media outlets about the white paper and outline for the upcoming transportation bill. 24 hours later, on […]
What do Americans really think about spending on transportation?
Parade Magazine has a misleading poll up about transportation, asking their readers, “should America divert some funding from highways and bridges to invest in public transit?” There are a few faults with such a simple question, namely making it sound like there’s something written in stone determining that federal transportation money is “roads” money — instead of money that should be spent on whatever can best keep us moving and give us the most bang for our buck. Rather than asking Americans if we should “take” money from roads, what happens when you ask Americans the positive, “where should we spend our transportation money?”
Today’s briefing on Complete Streets — and the view from Decatur, Georgia
With the Environmental and Energy Study Institute and a few of our key partners this morning, Transportation for America held a briefing on Capitol Hill about Complete Streets — and how putting complete streets into the next transportation bill will go a long way towards improving health, safety and livability for Americans. Decatur, Georgia Mayor Bill Floyd, one of the panelists, told the story of how building complete streets in Decatur have made the city safer and more livable for its residents and visitors.
Highway Trust Fund could need as much as $17 billion to stay in the black
News broke yesterday that the Obama administration is telling Senators that the Highway Trust Fund — that pays for the projects approved in the transportation bill — will go broke by August if an emergency infusion of at least $7 billion isn’t approved. The system is broke, but it’s also broken. We need a federal transportation system that works, not the same broken thing at twice the price.
Help Dan. Save Traffic
Dan loves traffic. But Congress could take it all away when they consider this year’s reauthorization of the federal transportation bill. Will they give us the kinds of transportation options that could suck the lifeblood right out of traffic? Or will they simply pump more money into a broken system. Dan is waiting to find […]
New policy paper: Transportation in small towns and rural regions
Our current transportation program leaves rural communities stranded. Providing access to jobs and the economy is critical for these rural areas and smaller towns. With little local control over how transportation money is spent, local transportation initiatives are often made in small towns and rural communities with little attention to local preferences and concerns. (Download our latest policy brief on Transportation, Small Towns and Rural Communities.)
Where should our transportation dollars go?
USA Today’s “Snapshot”on yesterday’s front page used data from a a poll conducted in January by Transportation for America and the National Association of Realtors. Source: USA TODAY
Choosing where to invest transportation dollars in Houston
We wanted to highlight this piece from Reuters’ Infrastructure Summit — especially an appearance by T4 America Partner The Citizens’ Transportation Coalition. Chairwoman Robin Holzer and the CTC have been working hard to bring attention to one of the most wasteful projects receiving money from the stimulus, using it as one more example to show how “the federal transportation funding system is broken, it’s just broken.”
Aloha Complete Streets!
Great news coming out of Hawai’i, where a burgeoning coalition of passionate advocates were able to get a statewide complete streets policy passed this week — the 92nd policy at any level passed in the U.S. The One Voice for Livable Islands Coalition brought together biking, walking, health and other advocates to help raise awareness about the dangerous situation on Hawai’i’s roads — and how a complete streets bill could help make the streets safer and more accessible for everyone.
Transportation Secretary affirms smart principles for US transportation system
“Livable and Sustainable Communities” might not be at the top of the list of what one would expect to hear from the person in charge of how the Federal government spends our tax dollars on all forms of transportation — ports, railroads, highways, interstates, sidewalks, bike lanes and more — but that’s exactly what Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood named as a primary goal for DOT.
T4 America to testify on Capitol Hill this afternoon
Transportation for America will be on Capitol Hill today testifying before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on “The Future of National Surface Transportation Policy.” You can stream it live on the Committee’s website. Campaign director James Corless, along with Anne Canby of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership and a founding member of T4 America, will be testifying this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
“A small group of committed individuals can and often do make a difference.”
Policy may get made here in Washington, but transportation, mobility and safety are truly local issues. The kinds of transportation investments that we’re pushing for aren’t luxuries — they’re essential necessities that help Americans get where they need to go, safely and affordably. It’s high time that we made sure we invested in a transportation system that is safe and accessible for everyone. So why is access to transportation choices and safe, complete streets so important?
Rep. Oberstar stuck in traffic, misses release of report on public transportation
The Environmental Defense Fund held a news conference Thursday morning to release a new report profiling 10 innovative public transportation systems. Rep. Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, who heads up the House committee responsible for writing the transportation bill this year, was invited to give remarks. So where was Rep. Oberstar when the press conference kicked off Thursday morning on Capitol Hill? Stuck in gridlocked DC traffic, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
More on today’s high speed rail announcement
President Obama’s remarks from the press conference this morning have been posted on the White House blog. In his remarks, joined by Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary LaHood, Obama appealed to our national pride and pointed to the benefits that high-speed rail would bring to all Americans: There’s no reason why we can’t do […]
Good Magazine visualizes the United States of Transit Cutbacks
Good Magazine published their “transportation issue” last week, covering some of the current debates over where, why, and how to spend money. You might have caught the superb graphic of what makes a livable street that they produced for the issue in collaboration with our friends at Streetsblog. Today they posted this terrific visualization of our map of transit cuts.
Congress takes a step towards “completing America’s streets”
Complete streets are safe and accessible for everyone that needs to use them — cars, transit users, bicyclists, pedestrians, young, old, disabled, and everyone else. Over the last two days, Complete Streets bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate. Tell Congress to support these bills.
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