The New York Times resolutely defended high-speed rail in an editorial this morning, characterizing the elimination of remaining funds for the program this fiscal year as “harebrained.”

The budget deal reached by the White House and Congress zeroed-out the $1 billion allocated for high-speed rail in fiscal year 2011 and rescinded an additional $400 million that had been returned by Florida Governor Rick Scott. A previous agreement to keep the government running for an additional week had already included $1.5 billion in cuts.

Governor Scott weathered heavy criticism for rejecting the funds, including from fellow Republicans, and his administration has since acknowledged getting key facts about the project wrong in a presentation to the state Supreme Court.

The Times strongly opposed Scott’s decision, but noted that his action has enabled other interested governors, including 11 Republicans, to put in bids. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has 90 proposals from 24 states to choose from, with a total price tag of $10 billion, and a total of $2.4 billion to distribute. The Times wrote:

Two areas stand out on that list: the Northeast corridor from Boston to Washington; and California, which has ambitions to build a high-speed rail system from San Francisco and Sacramento to San Diego. California voters have approved almost $10 billion in bonds for the project (which has an ultimate price tag of some $45 billion), but the state wants the $2 billion for an extension.

While supportive of California’s efforts, the Times would like to see Amtrak’s application for an upgrade to the Northeast corridor’s Acela line receive top priority. Their $1.3 billion request would boost Acela’s speed from 135 miles per hour to 160 miles per hour between Philadelphia and New York City, one of the busiest and most popular stretches in the country. And, New York submitted an application to clear a path for Acela through New York City’s Penn Station, which more than 750 trains pass through daily.

USDOT has not yet announced when recipients will be selected.

High-speed rail investment has the potential to yield great economic and environmental rewards for California, but only if communities make smart decisions about land-use and growth at and around new stations.

A new report prepared by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association offers prescriptions for how communities can prepare for rail investments.

“The new statewide rail system presents a once-in-a-century opportunity to reshape their local economies and set the course for more compact, less automobile-dependent growth,” according to the report.

The first leg of California’s high-speed rail is the backbone of the system through the state’s Central Valley, including population-rich Bakersfield and Fresno. Once all 26 stations have been completed, the system will reach northward to Sacramento and include service from San Francisco to Los Angeles and further southward to San Diego.

The benefits are plentiful. For starters, by shortening travel time between successful metro areas, high-speed rail brings geographically distant focal points closer, connecting more people to opportunities and jobs. The new stations and ease of travel can also revitalize downtowns, bring economic opportunity to low-income communities and reduce suburban sprawl.

By providing a viable alternative to the car — and, in the case of longer journeys, to energy-intensive air travel — high-speed rail is also a terrific means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and assisting California in meeting the targets of its groundbreaking climate change law, AB 32.

But each of these potential benefits comes with a cautionary tale. The BART system in the San Francisco Bay Area, for instance, was intended to fuel compact and transit-oriented development, but many of the more suburban stations were surrounded by parking lots and built away from town centers, missing the opportunity to add ridership by building up those areas or spurring new walkable centers. Similarly, most of California’s airports are surrounded by parking lots and access roads, making nearby development less desirable. Policymakers must make a concerted effort to avoid a similar fate near high-speed rail stations and be willing to prioritize growth in strategic areas.

The station sites face myriad challenges and opportunities. Some, like San Francisco and Sacramento already have traditional downtowns, while San Jose and Anaheim have emerging downtowns with the potential for growth. Stockton, Merced, Fresno and Bakersfield have downtowns as well, but struggle with high unemployment and a lack of private sector investment. Reconciling rail with more traditional suburbs and major airports will be the focus at other stations.

SPUR offers ten recommendations for planning preparation, which include:

• Developing station area plans for each high-speed rail station area
• Drafting statewide station area planning and development guidelines to inform local decision-makers
• Drafting a statewide implementation plan
• Providing financial support for local planning as needed
• And, establishing local development corporations to facilitate local area development

To see the rest of SPUR’s recommendations and the entire report, you can visit their website here.

As a new Congress prepares to take up a multi-year infrastructure bill, 65 California mayors, supervisors and other elected officials joined together to send a united message about what their communities need for economic recovery and quality of life.

These elected officials released a signed letter sent to Senator Boxer of California expressing their support for reforms to the federal transportation program that would help California make the transportation investments needed to bring down California’s 12 percent unemployment rate, clean the air, and lay the foundation for healthier, more livable communities.

“The nation’s transportation program has not been significantly updated since the creation of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s. With California and the nation facing new and different challenges in the 21st century, a modern approach is needed to ensure that transportation continues to fuel the economy of California and the nation,“ said Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, who will soon take statewide office as Lieutenant Governor. “We need to put people back to work connecting our cities with high-speed rail, efficient and affordable public transportation systems, and building clean freight systems and safe places to walk and bicycle.”

According to a study from the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute comparing an equivalent amount of investment in the current federal transportation law with a proposal containing reforms from Transportation for America, California is poised to see 807,000 new jobs by focusing on accountability and performance while building a 21st century transportation system.

With five of the ten cities with the worst air pollution in the country, it’s critical for California to clean its air and improve public health — areas where transportation has a major, but often ignored, impact. In the greater Los Angeles region alone the health costs of air pollution are conservatively estimated at $22 billion per year, dragging down the economy and quality of life. The region is home to more than 12 million vehicles as well as the two busiest ports in the United States, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

As a member of the California Air Resources Board, the state agency responsible for cleaning California’s air, Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge believes that providing safe, clean, and efficient transportation alternatives are a crucial step toward relieving congestion, reducing air pollution and ensuring people and goods move freely and efficiently.

“There is a great need for sustained high-speed rail funding and the creation of a national freight plan to fund clean air projects. As the trade gateway to the United States, Southern California needs to have a long-term vision to clean the air while improving economic competitiveness. The federal bill should have dedicated revenues to support sustained investments in regional high-speed and clean freight rail that connect and serve our cities and trade hubs,” Mayor Loveridge said.

Compared to cars, passenger rail reduces oil consumption by 40 percent. Freight rail is four times more energy efficient than trucks and one train can carry as much cargo as 200 trucks. With thorough planning and placement, rail investments — including high-speed passenger rail — can reduce traffic on congested highways.

San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles and other major metropolitan cities will continue to grow. Safe, affordable and efficient public transportation systems will become increasingly important in connecting people to the jobs and services they and their families depend on. A bipartisan, national Transportation for America poll found that over 80% of Americans believe the nation would benefit from an expanded and improved public transportation system.

“Federal funding will allow our public transportation systems to continue to grow and serve expanding communities,” said San Diego City Councilmember Todd Gloria. “Investments in both capital transit projects and ongoing transit operations demonstrate the prioritization of strong alternatives to single-car transportation.”

Voters are also increasingly willing to tax themselves for improved transportation when they know clearly what they’re getting for the money — like voters did in Los Angeles with Measure R, a half-cent sales tax approved by a two-thirds majority to rapidly expand the local transit system. Elected leaders in the Los Angeles region such as Mayor Richard Bloom of Santa Monica are pushing for innovative financing programs from the federal government that would make ambitious programs like the 30/10 initiative — a plan to build 12 major transit projects in 10 years rather than 30 — a reality.

“These programs will create thousands of jobs and reduce air pollution and oil dependency, thus addressing the most serious national and global challenges we now confront as Americans,” said Mayor Bloom and Councilmember Terry O’Day. “What is truly exciting is that they will do this while improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods and give people access to services they need without having to drive to get them.”

These leaders also called for more accountable and transparent spending to ensure that during the recession and beyond, every federal dollar for transportation gets the most bang for the buck. The letter to Senator Boxer details the group’s collective support for a process of setting long-term goals for states and regions to pursue. Using these goals, regions and states would create regional plans and prioritize investing in projects to make continuous progress towards meeting them. Goals would include achieving measurable progress in increasing transit ridership, reducing congestion, repairing roads, making communities more walkable and bikable, reductions in air pollution, and improving safety, to name a few.

“Performance-based planning programs like the Sacramento Regional Blueprint provide a model for supporting economic growth, a cleaner environment, and safer and more effective transportation options through smart planning with specific goals in mind” said Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento. “In these times of limited resources, we must embrace accountability measures to make sure that each and every tax dollar is spent wisely. Our federal transportation program must keep the eyes on the prize – and support regions in focusing spending on projects that will deliver the outcomes our communities need.”

“Transportation For America’s platform promotes a transportation policy that will serve both local needs and national priorities,” said Judy Corbett, Executive Director of the Local Government Commission, a longstanding Transportation For America partner based in Sacramento. “I’m thrilled that so many California elected officials are joining us in speaking out on the critical issue of investing in a 21st century transportation system.”

The federal transportation bill is rewritten only every six years. These 65 elected leaders are making it clear to Congress that they must adopt reforms that will prioritize maintaining our existing infrastructure and funding the 21st century transportation system that is safer, cleaner, smarter, and works for all communities.

• Download the letter to Senator Boxer
• View the full list of partners, including these California mayors and elected officials

Once completed, the project will stretch more than 200 miles and allow residents to bike from the edge of the San Joaquin Delta in eastern Contra Costa County to Berkeley and Oakland along the San Francisco Bay and Livermore to the south in Alameda County.

Pat O’Brien, General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, tasked with overseeing the funds, told the San Francisco Chronicle: “this is probably one of the most incredible things we’ve done. It’s really a hallmark for East Bay residents.”

The project is expected to create up to 500 jobs in engineering, trades, design and environmental law and compliance, according to Streetsblog San Francisco.

Many East Bay advocates for bicycling and transportation options have been around since the project’s conception.

“I’ve been working on getting this crossing funded since 2001, and it’s been nip and tuck all the way, especially when the economy tanked,” said Bruce “Ole” Ohlson of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.

Some communities covered by the trail, such as Brentwood and Antioch, are located on the suburban fringe and have been historically inaccessible to non-automotive forms of transportation. With these funds, the Mokelumne Trail will allow bicyclists access between the adjacent cities through development of a new Highway 4 bypass.

“This is the suburbs, and when they were building streets, the last thing they did was build them friendly to bicycling,” said Ohlson.

Other portions of the trail will connect to BART service, the Bay Area’s commuter rail system, expanding options for getting to work and making the highways a little less congested.

“When the Iron Horse Trail is completed to Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station, everyday is going to be Bike to Work Day in Pleasanton,” says Dave Campbell, Program Director for the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.

Several other communities, including Albany, Hercules, Martinez and Crockett will also be included in the trail extensions.

Yesterday, four members of Congress whose districts include the project — George Miller, Pete Stark, Barbara Lee and John Garamendi — joined bicyclists, East Bay Regional Park Board members and others to celebrate the TIGER award in an press conference at the portion of the project that will connect to the Coliseum/Oakland Airport station.

Check out the very impressive full map of the network below.

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series profiling the winners of the US DOT’s TIGER grants on the T4 America blog. For more information about the TIGER grants, view our interactive map and list of all the winners, read the rest of the posts in this series profiling the winners, and read all TIGER-related stories with the “TIGER” tag from the blog.

Transit benefits have continued to be a key plank of the Silicon Valley based Sun Microsystems, even as the company was acquired by Oracle. Sun’s SMART Commute Program, or Sun Microsystems Alternative Resources for Transportation, provides employees with up-to-date commuter information, participation incentives and shuttles connecting public transportation to Sun campuses.

More than 2,900 employees have participated in U.S. commuter incentive programs at campuses in Massachusetts, Colorado, California and Oregon. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the company operates the Sunway Shuttle program, which links public transit stations and company campuses. Launched in 2005, the service provides thousands of rides to Sun employees each year on average. With six vehicles operating seven different shuttle routes  each workday, the service is one of the largest employer-operated transit shuttle programs in the entire Bay Area. In the first eight months of 2005, the number of employees riding shuttles rose 15 percent, from 7,700 employees to 8,700. Real-time information about the service is updated online and employees can elect to receive text messages about changes to services or delays.

Nearly 15,000 Sun Microsystems employees participate in Sun’s iWork program, which enables employees to work from home, drop-in centers, or at campuses throughout the country. Employees at Sun’s major campuses around the country also receive transit subsidies and/or prepaid transit passes to encourage and facilitate the use of public transit.

“The nightmares of commuting here lent itself to a positive environment for alternative transportation efforts,” said Jordan Boyd, manager for workplace services at Oracle. Sun’s comprehensive Commute Benefit program has reduced the commute trips of Sun employees, while reducing costs and pollution.

Sun actually has targeted goals that need to be met regarding usage of the transit benefit,
targeting a five percent per employee increase for 2008 and 2009, a goal that was exceeded.
In FY09, the company took the first step toward estimating greenhouse gas emissions from operations, calculating the emissions resulting from the direct and indirect supply chain of Sun’s products.

For More Information: Sun Microsystems; San Francisco Chronicle

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

Increased congestion and greenhouse gas emission from transportation compelled Oakland city officials to act. In 2008, the City Council passed a law requiring new building development to take the transportation and infrastructure implications of the project into account. Today, all new residential developments of more than 50 units and/or 50,000 square feet of non-residential space are required to submit a transportation demand management plan detailing strategies to increase bicycle, transit, pedestrian and car-share use. A similar policy in San Francisco inspired the law.

“GreenTRIP” is an innovative certification program used for new residential and mixed-use developments. Depending on the type of development, developers must meet between one and three traffic reduction strategies, including: separating the cost of parking from the cost of the unit; providing discount transit passes; or providing free car-share membership. The program is currently in its second pilot phase.

Transportation is responsible for 50 percent of greenhouse gases in the San Francisco Bay Area — due in part to long distances between work, housing and recreation — so linking housing and transportation makes a lot of sense.

Kate White, executive director of the San Francisco-based Urban Land Institute, hailed GreenTRIP as “the next frontier of green-building,” while Pamela Toliatt, mayor of nearby Petaluma, praised GreenTRIP as “a tool to prove to our residents that a developer is committed to reducing traffic and greenhouse gases.”

GreenTRIP receives funding from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s Climate Protection Grant Program, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. An advisory committee guides the development of the program  along with TransForm, a Bay Area transportation and land use planning coalition.

For More Information: TransForm

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

Getaround Inc. is a California-based company that enables sharing of the 280 million  personal vehicles in the U.S. that sit unused 93 percent of the time. By enlisting the  underutilized cars in countless driveways and parking spaces, Getaround enables a fleet of millions of shared and rentable cars, without adding more vehicles to the road. Getaround’s Corporate Headquarters is based in San Francisco, with a research and development office in nearby Moffett Field, California. The company launched this fall.

Getaround uses in-vehicle hardware and native smartphone applications to ensure a seamless carsharing experience. These applications allow renters to quickly locate available cars within walking distance, browse car profiles and make reservations.

The company’s iPhone application garnered industry recognition by winning the “Best Money Making Application” award from iPhoneDevCamp, hosted by Yahoo. Popular Science, CNET and the New York Times have also covered Getaround’s progress.

“Since the transportation industry hasn’t really changed much in the past 50 years,” said Jessica Scorpio, Business Development Director for Getaround, “we thought it was pretty ripe for some innovation.”

Getaround’s system works with existing communities, enabling friends, family, co-workers and neighbors who already share cars to do so in a safe and efficient manner. A switch to carsharing has the potential to reduce vehicle miles traveled by 44 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 40, as well as induce increased walking and biking.

“Other car rental companies have huge overhead expenses related to purchasing vehicles and have issues related to fixed locations,” Scorpio said. “But we can very quickly have inventory on every street corner without having to shell out a fortune.”

Carsharing has grown exponentially in the U.S. since 1998, more than doubling every year from 1998 to 2005. Social carsharing is the next logical extension to this rapidly growing market and is predicted to increase from 400,000 members today to 4.4 million members in 2016.

Getaround is honing in on cities, campuses and suburban areas initially. Due to the low overhead model employed, the system is highly scalable and will quickly expand outside of the limited areas covered by traditional carsharing models.

For More Information: Getaround, Inc.; Entrepreneur Magazine

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Editor’s Note: Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. Many of these smart transportation solutions are already fueling innovation throughout the country, through both the public and private sector. These 14 case studies from around the U.S. and the world demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.

Read the ITS Case Study Series

There are many reasons smarter growth makes sense. By building more sustainably and closer to where people work and shop and plan, we reduce hours stuck in traffic and make it easier to reach life’s necessities.

But there is something even more important at stake: our health. According to new data from the American Lung Association in California, smart growth policies can prevent 140 premature deaths and 105,500 asthma attacks every year in that state. The figures resulted from looking at a proposed 2035 planning scenario for California that prioritized more compact and sustainable development with better transportation options.

Changing how we build and plan would also relieve our communities of $1.66 billion in public health costs. It would also prevent:

•    260 heart attacks
•    215 acute bronchitis incidents
•    95 cases of chronic bronchitis
•    2,370 asthma attacks
•    101,960 other respiratory symptoms
•    205 respiratory ER trips and hospitalizations
•    16,550 lost work days
•    132,190 tons of criteria pollutants

Chelsea Allinger discussed the link between smart growth and active living over at Smart Growth America:

Like many Americans, I grew up knowing only one type of community design — drivable suburbia. In my community, exercise wasn’t something that happened naturally over the course of the day. It required carving out designated time slots from a crowded schedule.

Frankly, that didn’t happen as often as it should.

Since that time, I’ve learned that cultivating a more active lifestyle doesn’t have to mean finding a 25th hour in the day. Moving to a walkable, mixed-use, smart growth community quite literally changed my life — with, as it turns out, more significant health benefits than I’d initially realized.

Here is Dr. Sonal Patel in Capitol Weekly, discussing why many of her colleagues in health care also see the connection:

Most California cities were designed to make it easy to drive and park cars. Homes were separated from stores, workplaces and other commercial activities. The unwitting result was sprawling cities that maximize the amount of miles we drive and the time we sit idling in traffic and that minimize healthier options like walking, biking or public transit.

In the past decade, California has been on the cutting-edge of efforts to build more sustainably and closer to transit. In 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 375, which required local communities to include greenhouse gas reduction targets in their land-use and transportation planning policies.

At the rally, Transportation for America’s deputy director Lea Schuster stood shoulder-to-shoulder with prominent labor leaders and California lawmakers to tell Washington to help speed up the 30/10 Plan – a plan to build 12 major local transit projects in 10 years rather than 30. The plan would spur economic growth and protect the environment, create 166,000 jobs, ease congestion, and reduce air pollution and dependency on oil.

LA Labor Rally Denny: Lea Originally uploaded by Transportation for America to Flickr.

Move LA’s Denny Zane speaks at the podium, flanked on his right by T4 deputy director Lea Schuster, holding the Move LA banner touting the 30/10 plan for the LA metro area.

If Congress establishes the programs needed to move 30/10 forward, cities and regions around the country that have local transportation tax measures could receive up-front loans from the federal government to speed the construction of vital public transportation projects and programs. Fast-tracking the projects and speeding up the timetable would save millions in escalating material costs, while creating thousands of new jobs in the short run. Guaranteed and preapproved local tax revenues would then be used to repay the loans.

In the case of Los Angeles, voters approved a measure at the ballot box (Measure R) to tax themselves for 30 years to pay for transportation. Implementing 30/10 would allow them to get the money up front to build 12 projects over 10 years and pay back the loans over 30 years.

Speakers supporting the effort to establish the federal lending programs included Senator Barbara Boxer, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, LA County Federation of Labor leader Maria Elena Durazo, and Move LA’s Denny Zane.

All the speakers cited 30/10 as a job creating and environmentally progressive transportation model for the rest of the country. As Senator Boxer said, “We know if we do embrace this notion of 30/10, we will create thousands of good-paying union jobs and we will reduce our billion-dollar-a-day addiction to foreign oil.”

LA area Representatives Jane Harman and Judy Chu both stated their support for the initiative with Jane Harman declaring, “30/10”’ will be my number one priority in Congress. And LA labor leader Richard Slawson hailed it as “our stimulus package.”

As roads, freeways and bridges have grown increasingly congested and fallen into a state of disrepair and federal transportation funds have become scarce, taxpayers in communities across the country have voted to tax themselves to raise money for long-term transportation programs to expand public transportation and fix aging infrastructure — proving again that Americans will increase their own taxes to pay for transportation if they know what their taxes are buying.

As with 30/10, well-planned transportation programs can provide the immediate economic stimulus needed to put people back to work and provide safe, clean, and affordable transportation options.

As Denny Zane, Executive Director of Move LA and one of the founders of the 30/10 Plan stated, getting the legislation needed to establish the federal lending programs to provide the upfront loans will take a national effort, a national coalition, and national leaders. He cited the success of Transportation for America and its leadership in putting together a coalition of more than 500 organizations and elected officials fighting for federal transportation reform as performing the “type of work that we need” and being the campaign that will “help put the votes together” to establish the programs to ensure that the 30/10 Plan and other initiatives like it become a reality.

Kathy Moxon, the director of Redwood Coast Rural Action in (extreme) northern California, a participant and speaker at the briefing, took a few moments in between meetings at the Capitol to talk to T4 America about this idea of “livability” in rural areas that some in Congress have been questioning.

We wanted to know more about the view from rural northern California — is livability a rural value?

We’d like to thank Kathy for coming to D.C and participating in the fly-in and giving us a few minutes of her time.