The Sandy relief bill on the cusp of final passage will provide billions for cleanup and more than $12 billion for transportation — including an unprecedented step toward making transportation networks around the northeast and NYC more resilient in the face of climate change, more frequent and unpredictable storms, and rising water levels.

As negotiations continue between the Senate’s bipartisan transportation bill and the House’s policy provisions, it’s a good time to look once again at the process of drafting and passing a transportation reauthorization and see where things currently stand. Fortunately, we have this useful graphic from our Transportation 101 book that shows a simple view of how things usually proceed — complete with a “you are here” marker, just like a helpful wayfinding sign on a street corner.

The “conference” on the transportation bill between the House and Senate began yesterday. As the conferees work to produce a final bill, they must keep in mind the priorities that millions of Americans of all political and socio-economic stripes have expressed in polls, town hall meetings, and countless events. Many of these can be found in the bipartisan, compromise bill passed by the Senate and should be preserved during negotiations.

A House provision to undermine basic environmental safeguards and squelch citizen involvement was included in the three-month extension intended for conference with Senate. House leaders last week passed their three-month transportation bill extension to serve as a “shell” to get them to the negotiating table with the Senate. But in order to keep more conservative members happy, they included three anti-environment provisions, two of which — the Keystone XL pipeline and de-regulation of coal ash — unrelated to transportation.

Transportation for America Director James Corless today issued the following statement in response to the House passage of a 90-day extension of the current federal transportation program and motor fuels tax: “While we are disappointed that Congress was unable to pass a transportation bill before the end of the current extension, the action taken today [...]

As this map and graphic below amply demonstrates, the Senate’s transportation bill not only was developed with bipartisan input and adopted with votes from both parties, but it garnered support from every region of the country and from the reddest of “red” states, the bluest of blue, as well many others that trend purple. This is a noteworthy accomplishment in this Congress, and one that House leaders should take note of before dismissing HR 14 out of hand.

As of this morning, more than 100 House members had signed on as co-sponsors of HR 14, the House version of the Senate’s bipartisan transportation bill. Persuading the House to take up something like the Senate’s bipartisan measure, sooner rather than later, is probably the best chance we have that an actual authorization  can be [...]

The initial House bill proposed eliminating all dedicated funding for public transportation, ending a bipartisan agreement that’s been in place since 1982. Though the current rumor is that the House will restore that funding after massive opposition from across the country, there are other provisions still in place that will cut funds from larger transit agencies, create unneeded bureaucracy, and also result in a fragmented system of moving freight.

With the Senate having already approved their transportation bill and the House’s proposal languishing, we thought it might be useful to share this detailed analysis and side-by-side comparison of the two bills. We’ve included links to past blog posts and statements about the various provisions of the two bills so that you can have all [...]

One of many issues that need to be fixed in the House’s transportation bill is a plan to allow transportation money in a pollution-control fund to be used on new roadways for solo drivers. In 1991, Congress created a small program dedicated solely to helping communities deal with the negative side effects of over-reliance on major roads for rush-hour travel. A provision in the House’s transportation bill opens that fund to construction of regular highway lanes.