American voters overwhelmingly support broader access to public transportation and safe walking and biking, according to a new national poll.

Americans have spent the last several decades moving farther and farther away from urban centers, in search of affordability. Rapidly growing communities ranging from the sunbelt cul-de-sacs of greater Phoenix to the exurban fringes of Northern Virginia have sold people on a lower cost of living. The decades of “drive-til-you-qualify” resulted in millions moving out for supposedly cheaper housing. But was it actually more affordable? A new tool from CNT reexamines housing affordability.

There isn’t a state in the union that doesn’t depend on oil for transportation. But states have varying levels of dependence, making some far more vulnerable to dramatic economic impacts as the price of oil goes up or down. This new report from the National Resources Defense Council analyzes the vulnerability of each of the 50 states to changes in oil prices.

Since Chairman Oberstar introduced the Surface Transportation Authorization Act (STAA) last summer, we’ve increasingly heard that addressing freight congestion is going to be a major component of any national transportation policy. We face a choice in how the nation will step up to meet the coming demand — and how clean those solutions will be. The upcoming reauthorization of the federal transportation bill is a great opportunity to help achieve a smarter, greener freight system. The innovative freight projects highlighted in this week’s “Good Haul” report by the Environmental Defense Fund demonstrates the practical solutions that are economically smart, protect us from harmful air pollution, and provide jobs for American workers.

A new study by Duke University illuminates the fact that thousands of green jobs are waiting to be tapped in transit bus manufacturing — if the federal government will make a sustained commitment to investing in public transportation. Jobs in and related to public transportation are some of the lowest hanging fruit in the push for green jobs, so what’s keeping the domestic manufacturing industry from ramping up?

Every year, nearly 5,000 Americans die preventable deaths on roads that fail to provide safe conditions for pedestrians. This decade alone, more than 43,000 Americans – including 3,906 children under 16 – have been killed while walking or crossing a street in our communities. A new report from Transportation for America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership, Dangerous by Design: Solving the Epidemic of Preventable Pedestrian Death (and Making Great Neighborhoods), ranks metropolitan areas based on the relative danger of walking. Read the report and view the full metro rankings.

Americans across the country, in towns large and small, are being hurt by fare increases and draconian cuts in public transportation service, an epidemic that did not have to happen, according to a report released today by Transportation for America and the Transportation Equity Network.

A new report from Transportation for America and the Transportation Equity Network takes a closer look at the cuts that public transportation agencies across the country are facing and how they’ve have impacted the people in those communities. Stranded at the Station: The Impact of the Financial Crisis in Public Transportation is the first systematic analysis of the issue, and the story is not a pretty one.

If we’re serious about reducing CO2 emissions, with nearly a third (28%) of our greenhouse gas emissions coming from the transportation sector, the question won’t be should we try to get cuts from transportation, but rather, what cuts can we get from transportation?’ A new report released Wednesday morning studies that question in depth and demonstrates how we can clean the atmosphere while also reducing our oil dependency, expanding our options for living and getting around and making transportation more affordable overall.

Due to the impact of high gas prices, the economic slowdown, and a growing preference for public transportation and other options for getting around, congestion was down in 2008 over 2007, marking the first two-year decrease in congestion since the Texas Transportation Institute began keeping track in 1982. Today, TTI released their bi-annual Urban Mobility Report today on the state of congestion and traffic in the U.S.