Join us TODAY for a national call-in day for walking and biking
March 11, 2010By Stephen Lee Davis
| Tell your Rep to support this bill: Make a call |
Monday, we told you about a new bill in Congress from Rep. Earl Blumenauer that would help cities large and small begin to build complete active transportation networks, making it easier and more attractive to get around on foot or on bike, and most importantly, helping stem the tide of the 76,000 preventable pedestrian deaths over the last 15 years. We asked you to send a message to your Representative, and you didn’t disappoint, with thousands of messages going to offices representing districts from coast to coast.
Today, along with numerous other partners like Rails to Trails, League of American Bikers, America Bikes, and America Walks, we’re asking all of our supporters to make a phone call to your Representative to support this new bill — the Active Community Transportation Act.
With the National Bike Summit in town this week, more than 700 advocates for safe walking and biking are visiting the offices of their congressional delegations today, asking them to sponsor this bill and letting them know about all the benefits of making it easier to safely get around on foot or on bike. We want to back them up and have all of our voices heard loud and clear in the halls of Congress today.
Increasing the number of people who can safely walk or bike will reduce congestion, help cut emissions, keep Americans healthier and keep those people out there already walking and biking safe. Let your representative know that you think this bill is a great idea for your community, and for America.
Tell Congress: Get America back on its feet with investment in healthy transportation!
March 8, 2010By Stephen Lee Davis
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| s_walk Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
In the last 15 years, 76,000 Americans have been killed while walking or simply crossing the street.
But help could be on the way. Rep. Earl Blumenauer introduced a bill last week to create a $2 billion competitive grant program to fund safe networks for biking and walking — giving states and cities the resources they need to start building projects they have waiting in the wings. This week, more than 700 bike advocates are descending on Capitol Hill to drum up strong support for the program while in D.C. for the National Bike Summit.
We need to back them up: Send a letter to your representative urging them to co-sponsor the Active Community Transportation Act (H.R. 4722).
This bill is a no-brainer. It will make America’s roadways safer, create jobs, reduce traffic congestion, cut emissions, and promote healthy living. It even pays for itself — as we make biking and walking safer and more accessible, we save billions of dollars on reduced healthcare, gasoline, and environmental costs.
And if we build it, they will come! Half of all trips taken in the United States could be accomplished with just a 20-minute bike ride, and a quarter are within a 20-minute walk. We need to make it safer and easier to make those trips on bike or foot. Polls have shown that Americans think their cities and communities should be more walkable.
Let’s get America back on its feet! Send a message to your representatives asking them to co-sponsor the Active Community Transportation Act.
Thanks to everyone who has already taken action today, retweeted the email alert, or posted it to Facebook to help us spread the word.
Videos from last week’s Portland Streetcar unveiling
July 9, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
Youtube user bobrpdx has some great videos of last week’s unveiling of the made in the USA streetcar in Portland, including interviews with Rep. Pete DeFazio and Rep. Earl Blumenauer. Check out the rest of his videos for more Portland transit goodness.
In this particular video, Rep. DeFazio talks about the streetcar made locally by Oregon Iron Works with great admiration and pride: “Here’s the product. It’s an improvement on the European design, something I believe that in a very short period of time we’ll be exporting back to Europe,” he said.
T4 thanks Oregon’s leaders for helping green jobs find a home
July 1, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
Over the last 60 years when streetcar tracks were torn up and the streetcar companies were consolidated into bus companies or forced out of business, we lost more than just convenient public transportation in our cities. We also lost an industry that created jobs and supported industry across the country. Take a ride in almost any city running a modern streetcar or light rail system, and you’ll almost certainly be riding in a foreign-made product.
Because most railcars are almost entirely produced overseas, other countries have been enjoying the economic benefits of America’s booming transit ridership with new light rail and streetcar lines opening from coast to coast.
That began to change today in Portland, as the first American-made streetcar in almost 60 years was unveiled to the public. The streetcars are made by United Streetcar LLC and their parent company, Oregon Iron Works. The new streetcar, which cost $2.9 million and was responsible for creating 90 jobs, according to the Portland Mercury, was unveiled in a special ceremony today with transportation secretary Ray LaHood. Updated: Here’s the post summing up the visit on LaHood’s blog.
To let everyone in Oregon know how significant Transportation for America thinks this event is, we took out an ad in The Oregonian today to congratulate Portland and their congressmen for making an investment in clean, green jobs in Portland that will pay huge dividends for years to come for Portland and the state of Oregon.
The good news is that it wasn’t just one streetcar. Oregon Iron Works has an order for six more for Portland, and a $26 million order from Tuscon, Arizona. (below, Oregon Iron Works workers pose with an American-made streetcar. Photo from their site)
The Infrastructurist muses on the potential for this Oregon company to lead the way and revive an old industry for the U.S:
If our Spidey sense is right – as, well, it usually is – this company and Oregon have seized an incredibly valuable first-mover advantage in what could prove to be an important domestic industry in years to come. After American cities tore up streetcar tracks and junked their rolling stock en masse in the middle of last century, dozens of [them] are now planning or considering a new system. With oil at $70 a barrel in the depths of brutal global recession, our guess is that number will only grow in the years ahead.
So how about we bring these clean, green jobs home to the USA? Having American companies meeting the demand for new public transportation railcars equals good jobs and a useful product that can help us reduce our dependence on oil, cut emissions, and get us where we need to go quickly and efficiently. What’s not to like?
Blumenauer steps up as fuel costs soar
July 17, 2008By Andrew Bielak
The Oregonian’s editorial board offers a ringing endorsement of Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s (D-OR) measure to provide relief for transit agencies and incentives to build housing around transportation stations. (The Oregonion — Editorial)
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- Transit grants out the federal door, but what about the cuts?
March 8, 2010 - Transit riders in Atlanta face massive cuts, “wholesale restructuring” of service
March 5, 2010 - Opposition to Senate extension results in looming shutdown of federal transportation programs
February 26, 2010 - T4 jobs proposal would create nearly half a million jobs, according to Economic Policy Institute
February 17, 2010 - Obama’s 2011 budget gives a lift to livability and transportation
February 2, 2010
- Transit grants out the federal door, but what about the cuts?
The United States of Transit Cutbacks
Driving is down and transit ridership is at record highs. Yet transit agencies across the country are considering layoffs, service cuts and fare hikes. Find out more and learn what you can do to help at t4america.org/transitcuts
Transportation: In your eyes
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