Press Releases Archives - Transportation For America

Steps taken toward first expansion of passenger rail in decades

Amtrak and SRC submit a planning grant that will expand long-distance passenger rail service along the I-20 Corridor and in the Deep South.

Today, the Southern Rail Commission and Amtrak announced their application for a Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant from the Federal Railroad Administration for the I-20 Corridor—the first concrete steps to expand long-distance passenger rail service in decades. This grant would fund planning efforts for a new passenger rail service from Fort Worth, TX, across Mississippi and Louisiana, to Atlanta, GA, and is a critical step in bringing connectivity to communities along the route.

“This route will be one more arrow in the economic quiver for small and midsize communities across the Deep South,” said Beth Osborne, Director of Transportation for America. “We thank Amtrak for their leadership in moving this expansion forward, and we applaud Canadian Pacific for setting an example by serving as a willing and strong partner throughout this process. We look forward to seeing the completion of this route, which has been a long time coming, and hope for similar results in the greater Northwest and Mid-Atlantic, as well as all other underserved parts of the country.”

The I-20 Corridor has been previously studied twice for passenger rail and was determined to be an excellent candidate. The corridor includes numerous underserved and historically disadvantaged communities that will benefit from better transportation options. The rail line would link communities along the route to universities and larger cities, opening the door to attracting a bright young workforce, increasing economic opportunity, and bringing a sense of place to their downtowns. Amtrak’s decision to move forward with plans for the expansion comes before the FRA’s long-distance rail study, which was mandated under the 2021 infrastructure law, demonstrating tremendous initiative to move the project forward.

Partnerships between freight companies and passenger rail providers have been pivotal in moving this expansion along. Freight railroad Canadian Pacific acquired the route from KC Southern, and they’ve proven to be a willing and supportive partner to passenger rail. They will work to implement service for at least one round trip per year within two years, and two round trips within four years.

A Gulf Coast win opens the door for national long-distance passenger rail service

On Monday, CSX, Norfolk Southern, the Alabama State Port Authority, and Amtrak filed a motion to the Surface Transportation Board stating that they’d reached an agreement to restore passenger rail service on the Gulf Coast. In response, Transportation for America Director Beth Osborne issued the following statement:

Transportation for America is pleased that the Port of Mobile, CSX, and Norfolk Southern have reached an agreement with Amtrak, clearing the way for Amtrak to restore the long-awaited passenger rail service on the Gulf Coast. This settlement is a tremendous victory for the Gulf, but its impact extends beyond those states. The restoration of this service is pivotal for expanding passenger service across the nation, making good on the promise of the 2021 infrastructure law.
This settlement is a clear indication that we can find mutually-agreeable resolutions that benefit both freight and passenger rail—shippers and the people they serve. We thank the Federal Railroad Administration for making a strong stand to precisely that effect. We also commend the Surface Transportation Board for their leadership in guiding the parties through mediation to reach this agreement.
For freight, this is an opportunity to strengthen their partnerships with elected officials. For Amtrak, it is a call to action for the Board to use their collective authority to further the expansion of passenger rail. Urban and rural communities across the country have been closely monitoring this process, and they can now look at this agreement with hope for the expansion of passenger rail. We stand ready to help them achieve this goal.

Transportation for America applauds new emissions rule, “a vital first step”

In response to the USDOT’s newly proposed rule for states and municipalities to track and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Transportation for America Director Beth Osborne offered this statement:

The Biden administration took an important step today in holding states to account for their transportation emissions. This proposed rule will provide sunlight and accountability on how our tax dollars are being spent and the results of our investments, including the $643 billion approved for transportation in last year’s infrastructure law.
To create a more efficient, less polluting transportation system, we have to start by measuring the transportation sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, and then set targets for reducing them. States have enormous flexibility in how they spend federal taxpayer dollars, but there is little accountability to push them to meet federal goals. Today’s action by the administration will be critical to shedding light on state emissions and arming advocates, decision-makers, and taxpayers with the information they need.
This is also an achievable task for states. 24 states (plus the District of Columbia) already measure emissions from transportation in some form.
This is a vital first step, but there is still more the administration can and should do. We urge the USDOT to be bold and consider state progress on these new emissions goals when awarding discretionary grant funding, particularly for projects related to emissions reduction like the Carbon Reduction Program.
State DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) will now have the opportunity to set decreasing emissions targets, and they should not drag their feet in doing so. We stand ready to help them succeed.

FHWA Complete Streets report lays out an actionable path for transforming street design to prevent unnecessary deaths and injuries

After the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and USDOT issued a report to Congress this week about Complete Streets, Beth Osborne, Vice President of Transportation at Smart Growth America—the home of the National Complete Streets Coalition—issued this statement:

“This simple but critical concept of Complete Streets—designing our streets so that everyone can use them safely—was created within our National Complete Streets Coalition almost 20 years ago. After years of working tirelessly to encourage towns, cities, counties, states and the federal government to adopt this approach, we are deeply encouraged to see the concept enshrined and institutionalized within official USDOT documents, including this report. FHWA has done an excellent job in clearly laying out and describing the actions that are needed throughout the entire federal transportation program to truly build safe streets and roads for all people, including getting better safety data, assessing safety in project development, and making safety the primary goal and Complete Streets the default design.

“The title of this report is also telling. There are certainly ‘Opportunities and Challenges’ when it comes to making our streets safer and more convenient. Now we need to turn those challenges into opportunities and opportunities into reality. Every day the status quo approach stands and transportation agencies are allowed to design, build, or maintain their streets only for cars is a day where we allow the historic levels of death on those roadways to continue. This report gives us a path forward—one that needs to be acted on in the immediate future.

“The National Complete Streets Coalition will continue our hands-on work with states and localities to advance Complete Streets policies and upend our country’s outdated paradigm for street design that has produced a historic increase in traffic injuries and fatalities. We look forward to working closely with FHWA to turn their excellent recommendations into action.”

The National Complete Streets Coalition and Transportation for America are programs of Smart Growth America.

New calculator shows how highway expansions increase traffic

The SHIFT Calculator provides transparency about new traffic created by highway widening and expansion so transportation agencies can make smarter, more sustainable transportation investments.

A new tool released today provides anyone with the ability to estimate the increased traffic and pollution that will result from proposed highway expansions.

Over the past few decades, taxpayer dollars have funded billions of dollars in highway expansions intended to alleviate road congestion, but it usually does not take long for the traffic to return. This endless loop, known as “induced demand,” fails to address congestion while leading to more cars on the road and more pollution from the transportation sector, which is the nation’s largest source of emissions.

Using the State Highway Induced Frequency of Travel (SHIFT) Calculator developed by RMI, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and Transportation for America, anyone can now project the increases in driving that would result from highway expansions. The Calculator provides transparency and accountability for transportation projects that often do not deliver on promised benefits and instead make traffic and pollution worse. This new tool will enable transportation agencies to account for the principle of induced demand in the planning and implementation of highway projects.

“Road expansion projects have failed to deliver the promised benefits. In fact, the evidence shows that they actually make traffic and pollution worse,” said Ben Holland, manager in RMI’s Urban Transformation Program. “To achieve US climate goals, we must reduce the amount that the average person drives by 20%. This tool shines a light on the impacts of highway expansion and shows how these projects often move us away from our goals.”

The SHIFT Calculator was based on RMI’s Colorado Induced Travel Calculator, which advocates used to show that proposed and in-progress road expansions would increase vehicle miles traveled by up to 3% by 2030, at a time that the state is aiming to reduce those roadway miles by 10%.

“This easy-to-use tool will help advocates make their case to city and state transportation departments,” said Carter Rubin, a transportation strategist at NRDC. “So many of us have seen firsthand how quickly traffic returns when extra highway lanes open up, and this calculator provides the numbers to back up that experience. If cities and states really want to get residents out of traffic and cut down on smog, they should make it easier and faster for people to ride public transit, bike and walk.”

“For 90 years, we have known that building new lanes creates new vehicle trips that fill those lanes, and for 90 years, we have mostly ignored this fundamental law while repeating the same mistakes at great cost,” said Beth Osborne, director of Transportation for America. “We must stop making empty promises about congestion reduction that never materialize. Having the ability to estimate added travel caused by expansions can finally equip decision makers and the public with the data to make the case for something more effective at connecting people to jobs and opportunity.”

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About RMI

RMI is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5°C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the world’s most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.
More information on RMI can be found at www.rmi.org or follow us on Twitter @RockyMtnInst.

About NRDC

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.

About Transportation for America

Transportation for America, a program of Smart Growth America, is an advocacy organization made up of local, regional and state leaders who envision a transportation system that safely, affordably and conveniently connects people of all means and ability to jobs, services, and opportunity through multiple modes of travel. Learn more at t4america.org and follow us on Twitter @T4America.

Senate makes historic investment in yesterday’s transportation priorities

Deal worsens long-term prospects for addressing climate and equity woes

“The Senate’s final infrastructure deal is certainly big, but it’s anything but bold,” said T4America Director Beth Osborne after the Senate’s 69-30 approval of the package on Tuesday.

“There are certainly welcome new additions, including a major recalibration of the nation’s approach to investing in and running passenger rail and a small program to tear down divisive old highways. But with this deal, the Senate is largely doubling down on a dinosaur of a federal transportation program that’s produced a massive repair backlog we are no closer to addressing, roads that are killing a historic number of vulnerable travelers each year, little opportunity to reach work or essential services if a family doesn’t have multiple cars, and the continued inability for local governments to have a say over what projects are built in their communities.

“The White House will soon discover that they’ve dealt themselves a challenging hand in their long-term effort to address climate change and persistent inequities, while kicking the can down a crumbling road that’s likely to stay that way. And they’ve done so while sidelining the House’s visionary INVEST Act, which would have started to finally bring a long overdue 21st century paradigm to transportation.

“While we are excited to see a historic amount of funding for transit, the Senate also supercharged the highway program with a historic amount while failing to provide any new accountability for making progress on repair, safety, equity, climate, or jobs access outcomes. And in fact, when comparing this deal to the original bipartisan infrastructure framework announced in June 2021, transit is one of the few things cut at all (by $10 billion). Coming just a day after a dire new IPCC climate report calling for transformational change, the Senate is providing hundreds of billions for status quo programs that will be used to build new roads and produce ever-increasing emissions for decades to come.

“There were hundreds of amendments proposed to address these core shortcomings, but not only did the Senate fail to include any of them, the majority were not considered at all. This includes vital proposals requiring states to make progress on repairing their infrastructure before building expensive new things (in fact, this provision was applied to transit only), requiring measurable improvements in the number of people killed on our roads, measuring greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation system, and providing more money for removing or bridging over highways that were rammed through Black and Brown neighborhoods.

“We now turn to the House to see if they can bring more of a results-oriented approach to the transportation program. And we stand ready to work with the administration to change their internal procedures to get the best out of a very flawed piece of legislation.”

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INVEST Act passes: an overdue paradigm shift toward accomplishing measurable outcomes that prioritizes repair, safety, and access

We congratulate the House of Representatives for passing the INVEST Act, a transportation bill that commits to a fix it first approach, prioritizing safety over speed, and connecting people to jobs and essential services—whether they drive or not,” said Beth Osborne, director of Transportation for America.

“Chairman DeFazio’s leadership has produced a bill that acknowledges needs—like repair, climate and equity—and seeks to fix past problems while updating the underlying programs to ensure we don’t just continue to make those problems worse. The bill commits to expanding and improving intercity rail, promoting vehicle electrification and providing more charging stations, making all users safer by establishing Complete Streets policies and approaches, and reconnecting communities divided by transportation infrastructure.

“We also want to recognize and thank Rep. Hank Johnson, who led the effort to extend transit into areas with little or no service and to provide new flexibility for transit agencies to use federal dollars to run more trains, more buses, in more places, to serve more people. We hope to work with champions like Rep. Johnson and Rep. Chuy García to strengthen our commitment to transit, invest in repairing transportation infrastructure, and make the transportation system cleaner, more efficient and more equitable.

“As the focus now turns to the Senate, we remain hopeful that their legislation will include concrete policies to address climate change, safety, maintenance and equity in the core parts of the program—not only in new add-on programs. Merely providing lip service to repair, climate, and equity while continuing to build projects that produce the opposite would be an unjust use of taxpayer dollars, especially in our small towns, rural places, and marginalized communities.”

Release: Transportation for America on the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021

“The status quo is sending us backwards.”

A statement from Transportation for America director Beth Osborne on the surface transportation reauthorization bill passed today by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee:

“We’re incredibly disappointed to see the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously pass—yet again—another highway bill that cements the broken status quo in place for decades. This bill attempts to solve the problems with the transportation system with small, underfunded new programs while spending way more to continue to churn out those same problems.

“This bill is far from a down payment on the American Jobs Plan. In many ways it completely undermines it. The American Jobs Plan prioritized maintenance, climate, equity and safety; today the EPW Committee pushed those goals aside and passed a long-term bill that pumps billions into worsening these problems.

“Neither Republican nor Democratic priorities are addressed in this bill. It wastes taxpayer dollars trying to achieve congestion relief and safety with tools that have failed for decades. It creates barriers to employment and essential services for many people, particularly carless households in rural America, low income households and people of color. It allows states to opt out of lowering carbon emissions and continues to support strategies that are well known to raise them. In transportation, when bipartisanship is the goal, the broken status quo is the result.

“We don’t have time for another five years of creating more problems that will take 20-50 years to solve. We urge the Senate to engage in an open process to fix this bill or reject it and start again.”

Statement on the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021

A statement from Transportation for America director Beth Osborne on the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021 released this weekend by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee:

“Federal transportation policy has very serious problems to solve, from increasing pedestrian deaths, skyrocketing emissions, and the lack of equitable access to jobs and essential services. This bill tried to tackle them in the way we have seen in the past. It creates exciting new programs with a small amount of funding in the hope that it can fix the problems that will continue to be created by the much larger status quo program.

“However, the good things in the bill can be enhanced and built upon to reflect and enact all that is exciting about the American Jobs Plan. With targeted amendments that support fix-it-first, equity, safety, and our climate, this bill can achieve the outcomes we all care about. The investments we make today will impact communities for decades to come—we cannot afford to get it wrong again.”

Announcing our inaugural Arts, Culture and Transportation Fellows

Top left across to bottom right: Keiko Budech (WA), Cecelia DeLeon (WA), Katherine Gregor (TX), Sue Lambe (TX), Danicia Malone (IN), Jackie Nirenberg (TX), Jessica Ann Ramirez (WA), Antony Ramos (AR), Brittanie Redd (IN), Shann Thomas (WA), Erika Wilhite (AR).

Transportation for America announces its inaugural class of fellows for the new Arts, Culture and Transportation Fellowship to help 11 individuals in four cities take their work at the intersection of arts and transportation to the next level.

Transportation for America is excited to announce the fellows for its first Arts, Culture, and Transportation (ACT) Fellowship. Eleven fellows will represent four cities from around the country. The fellows are:

Keiko Budech, Communications Manager, Transportation Choices Coalition (Seattle/Puget Sound, WA)
Cecelia DeLeon, Visual Artist and Teaching Artist (Seattle/Puget Sound, WA)
Katherine Gregor, Principal, Katherine Gregor Communications / Communications, Austin Transportation Department (Austin, TX)
Sue Lambe, Manager, City of Austin Art in Public Places Program, City of Austin (Austin, TX)
Danicia Monét Malone, Urban Planner, Programs & Facilities Manager, Purdue Black Cultural Center (West Lafayette, IN and Indianapolis, IN)
Jackie Nirenberg, Community Engagement Manager, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Austin, TX)
Jessica Ramirez, Director of Community Engagement, Puget Sound Sage (Seattle/Puget Sound, WA)
Antony Ramos, Director of Digital Marketing, Fruit of Business (Springdale, AR)
Brittanie Redd, Principal Planner for Land Use Strategy, Department of Metropolitan Development (Indianapolis, IN)
Shann Thomas, Visual Artist and Teaching Artist: Film & Photography (Seattle/Puget Sound, WA)
Erika Wilhite, Artistic Director, En Masse Arts (Springdale, AR)

About the ACT Fellowship

The ACT Fellowship is a new opportunity for professionals to increase their knowledge of the transportation planning and design process while developing creative placemaking skills to better integrate artistic and cultural practices in transportation projects. With generous funding from the Kresge Foundation, T4America will provide hands-on, curated learning opportunities. T4America and SGA staff, as well as a team of national experts, will educate fellows on best practices, while fellows will have an opportunity to share their own challenges and learn from one another.

“Transportation for America’s arts & culture team has supported the integration of artists and the arts into transportation projects around the country for the past three years. We’re thrilled to now move into the next phase of this work with the launch of our inaugural class of Arts, Culture, and Transportation Fellows,” explains Ben Stone, director of arts & culture for Smart Growth America. “These fellows include artists, planners, arts administrators, and advocates representing some of the country’s most innovative organizations and agencies, and I look forward to supporting their work, providing an opportunity for them to learn from one another, as well as to learn from each of them.”

The fellowship is also designed to cultivate new national leaders in this arena. After the fellowship concludes, several graduating fellows will be offered the opportunity to assist with the next round of T4America’s State of the Art (SOTA) Transportation Trainings in communities across the country. By serving as consultants on these trainings, participating fellows will have the opportunity to develop new leadership, facilitation, and presentation skills.

About the fellows

Seattle/Puget Sound, Washington: The four-person team of Keiko Budech, Cecelia DeLeon, Jessica Ramirez, and Shann Thomas aims to co-create artworks at new light rail stations to create new community hubs that will preserve and celebrate each neighborhood’s history and culture in the Seattle/Puget Sound area. With the passage of Sound Transit 3, a ballot initiative that is raising $54 billion for light rail expansion and the most significant transit expansion package in Washington State history, this is an exciting opportunity for this group of fellows to undertake an arts, culture, and transportation project and gain skills to execute this work.

Austin, Texas: Sue Lambe, Jackie Nirenberg, and Katherine Gregor will work together to capitalize on the momentum of Capital Metro and the City of Austin’s Art in Public Places (AIPP) program. Capital Metro, Austin’s regional public transportation provider, is in the process of launching an art program that the team will work to formalize through new policies and processes. The AIPP program also has a new, historic opportunity to create public art projects on major streets through a percent-for-art program and the current $482 million Corridor Improvement Program.

Springdale, Arkansas: The duo of Antony Ramos and Erika Wilhite will incubate their project En Route, a creative placemaking initiative on buses and along bus routes in Springdale. Their work will center the perspectives and stories of the people who will be most impacted by transit development in Springdale. They hope to inform Connect Northwest Arkansas, a 10-year transit development plan that will create a blueprint for improving and expanding transit in the Northwest Arkansas region.

Indianapolis, Indiana: Danicia Monét Malone and Brittanie Redd are undertaking a tactical urbanism and equitable design initiative called #MyRide. This emancipatory data/design project will address a bus rapid transit development corridor in Indianapolis, directly confronting infrastructure changes, challenges, and concerns around how details are translated to residents.

The fellowship is generously funded by the Kresge Foundation, which defines creative placemaking as an approach to community development and urban planning that integrates arts, culture, and community-engaged design strategies to expand opportunities for low-income people in disinvested communities in American cities.

CONTACT: Steve Davis, sdavis@smartgrowthamerica.org / 202.971.3902

For resources on how arts can improve transportation projects, check out our Creative Placemaking Field Scan, which identifies seven trends and best practices.

Letter urges lawmakers to fully fund transportation this year and rethink the federal transportation program

WASHINGTON, DC – With over 200 signatures from elected officials and organizations,
Transportation for America today sent a letter to Congress calling for Members to use fiscal year
2020 appropriations and the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization as two opportunities
to fundamentally change the federal transportation program.

Transportation for America (T4America) urges Congress to fully fund critical transit, passenger rail
and multimodal programs at historic and/or FAST Act authorized levels this year and to set a vision for
the next reauthorization, including holding the program accountable for maintaining our
transportation system, building safer streets, and connecting people to jobs and services by providing
reliable transportation choices.

“We can no longer afford to keep doing the same thing when it comes to our broken federal
transportation policy,” said Beth Osborne, Director of Transportation for America. “With several
potential opportunities ahead—FY20 appropriations, the looming surface transportation
reauthorization, or an infrastructure package— it’s vital that Congress recognize that new funding
alone will not solve our problems. We are asking Congress to reset our priorities, like prioritizing the
repair and maintenance of our existing roads before allowing states to build expensive new ones that
also bring decades of new repair costs. We are asking Congress to invest in providing more
transportation choices and to measure transportation success the way normal people do: by
measuring what destinations they can reach quickly, safely, and affordably, rather than by just
measuring how fast vehicles are traveling. We are urging Congress to prioritize safety and equity by
embedding these values in our system. And we are urging Congress to harness the power of
technology as a means to achieve these goals and prevent it from exacerbating our problems. These
are achievable shifts that would make a huge, positive difference in people’s lives across the country.”

The letter also asks that the surface transportation reauthorization do more to provide people with
real transportation options—rather than just driving—by investing in transit, biking and walking. And
that it ensures that local entities are allowed to regulate new technologies, such as autonomous
vehicles and electric scooters, focuses on elevating communities of color and low-income
communities that have been disproportionately harmed by past transportation investments, and
prioritizes safety over vehicle speed when designing roads.

Regarding fiscal year 2020 appropriations, T4America specifically asks that Congress fund the transit
Capital Investments Grants (CIG) program, the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage
Development (BUILD, formerly known as TIGER) program, the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and
Safety Improvements (CRISI) program for passenger rail at or above the authorized levels; and take
legislative action to keep the mass transit account of the Highway Trust Fund solvent. These locally
driven programs provide communities with resources to invest in important transportation
infrastructure and operations that are otherwise difficult to fund.

The full letter with the list of all 200+ signatories spanning 40 states and including 50 elected
officials can be found here.

New report chronicles how the nation’s road conditions have worsened as many states prioritize expansion instead of repair

Report comes as the White House and congressional leaders continue discussing a $2 trillion infrastructure package that could exacerbate the problem

WASHINGTON, DC — Repair Priorities 2019, a new report released today by Transportation for America and Taxpayers for Common Sense, shows that, despite more spending, the percentage of the roads nationwide in “poor condition” increased from 14 percent to 20 percent and 37 states saw the percentage of their roads in poor condition increase from 2009-2017.

This is happening because states are neglecting basic repair in favor of expanding their roads. Given increasing spending flexibility by Congress over the last two long-term transportation reauthorizations, states spent nearly as much money expanding their road networks as they did repairing their existing roads ($120 billion spent building new lane-miles from 2009 to 2014).

“Whether during debate over an infrastructure bill or the long-term reauthorization looming next year, the rhetoric I hear over and over again from Capitol Hill and the White House about the need to invest more money in transportation is all about ‘repairing our crumbling roads and bridges.’ But our spending priorities rarely match this oft-repeated rhetoric,” said Beth Osborne, director of Transportation for America.

“A look at the numbers from the Federal Highway Administration in Repair Priorities makes it clear that we can scarcely afford to maintain the roads we have, let alone the new roads we keep adding to the system. While a handful of states are doing an admirable job putting their money where their mouth is by devoting the bulk of their federal dollars to repair, many other states are spending vastly more on expanding their roads or building new ones— creating new liabilities in the process—even as their existing system falls into disrepair.”

“Lawmakers and officials like a good ribbon cutting at a new road, but repair is too often treated like flossing teeth: A tedious, sometimes painful extra step that’s all too easily skipped. Except that it’s critical and saves taxpayers cash and pain down the road,” said Steve Ellis, executive vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “Instead of sending blank checks to the states, federal taxpayers deserve to have some assurances that their tax dollars will be spent effectively and efficiently on the highest priority projects, which in most cases is taking care of what we already have.”

It’s unclear if we could even afford to maintain all the roads that we’ve built, even if we devoted all available capital dollars toward repair. Repair Priorities estimates that we would need to spend more than $231 billion per year just to keep our existing road network in acceptable repair and bring the backlog of roads in poor condition into good repair over a six-year period (the typical length of a federal transportation reauthorization). By comparison, all highway capital expenditures across all government units in 2015 totaled just $105.4 billion, only a portion of which goes to repair.

The latest available data shows states have made some improvement in their spending since the first edition of Repair Priorities in 2011, but states are still spending just as much on road expansion as road repair. States spent $21.4 billion on average on road repair annually between 2009-2014 and $21.3 billion annually on road expansion.

When states devote money to expanding their roads, it doesn’t just redirect funds away from repair and maintenance; it also continually expands our overall annual spending need. We built enough new lane miles from 2009-2017 to criss-cross the width of America 83 times, requiring an additional $5 billion per year just to keep those new roads in good condition. That’s more than Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Arkansas receive combined in federal highway apportionments every single year.

So what will it take to fix the system? Transportation for America and Taxpayers for Common Sense provide four concrete recommendations for Congress to consider in any infrastructure package they consider, including the upcoming 2020 federal transportation bill. Congress should: guarantee measurable outcomes for American taxpayers with any new funding, require that states repair their existing systems before expanding, require project sponsors to demonstrate that they can afford to maintain new roadway capacity projects, and track progress and require that FHWA publish results.

Repair Priorities 2019 provides a national snapshot and state-by-state evaluation of current roadway pavement conditions, spending trends, and unmet needs. It also recommends crucial actions federal policymakers should take in the next transportation reauthorization bill to get the nation’s roads—and spending priorities—back on track.

The full report and state-by-state findings are available at https://t4america.org/maps-tools/repair-priorities

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Transportation for America, a program of Smart Growth America, is an alliance of elected, business, and civic leaders from communities across the country, united to ensure that states and the federal government step up to invest in smart, homegrown, locally-driven transportation solutions. These are the investments that hold the key to our future economic prosperity.

Smart Growth America envisions a country where no matter where you live, or who you are, you can enjoy living in a place that is healthy, prosperous, and resilient. We empower communities through technical assistance, advocacy, and thought leadership to realize our vision of livable places, healthy people, and shared prosperity.

Taxpayers for Common Sense is an independent, nonpartisan voice for taxpayers working to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly and that government operates within its means.

Washington State Department of Transportation announces the selection of two artists to serve in the country’s first statewide artist-in-residence program

With today’s announcement that Kelly Gregory and Mary Welcome have been selected to serve as artists-in-residence with WSDOT for a year, Washington becomes the first state to embed an artist in a statewide agency.

CONTACT: Ben Stone, bstone@smartgrowthamerica.org / 410.370.3843 and Barbara LaBoe, laboeb@wsdot.wa.gov/ 360.705.7080

Artist team Kelly Gregory and Mary Welcome will spend a year working with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) as artists-in-residence to bring a creative approach and help develop new ways to achieve agency goals through a first-of-its-kind program created by ArtPlace America and Transportation for America, a program of Smart Growth America.

Recognized as a tool for pioneering innovative and creative solutions, artist-in-residence programs have been piloted across the nation in municipal governmental agencies, but WSDOT will be the first statewide agency to pilot such a program at the state level. These two artists will help find creative ways to advance WSDOT’s strategic plan goals of inclusion, practical solutions and workforce development.

“The quality and quantity of applications we received for the artist-in-residence position impressed our selection committee, and we’re thrilled to have selected the team of Kelly Gregory and Mary Welcome,” said Ben Stone, Smart Growth America’s director of arts & culture. “Their collaborative approach, insatiable curiosity, and experience with design, planning, community engagement, and Washington state make them ideal artists-in-residence. I can’t wait to share their work with other states who are in the process of considering setting up their own similar programs.”

“We’re excited to work with Kelly and Mary to find innovative ways to better engage the communities we serve and deliver the best possible transportation projects,” said Roger Millar, WSDOT’s secretary of transportation. “They have experience with both rural and urban communities that will help us foster deeper community engagement, build relationships with underrepresented communities, and bring creativity to design challenges.”

“This opportunity stood out because it brings together so many of the issues we care about: transportation, infrastructure, community, the rural-urban continuum, and the role of civic service in stewarding the commons,” Gregory and Welcome said. “As artists and activists, we have a history of working in collaboration with non-arts communities and building relational bridges between fun and function. We really believe in the power of artists to bring fresh perspectives and strengthen community connections.”

About the two artists

Mary Welcome, of Palouse, Washington, is a multidisciplinary cultural worker collaborating with complex and often under-represented rural communities, with projects rooted in community engagement and the development of intersectional programming to address hyper-local issues of equity, cultural advocacy, inclusivity, visibility, and imagination. She collaborates to build cooperative environments that encourage civic engagement, radical education, and community progress.

Kelly Gregory is an itinerant social architect based on the Pacific coast. Her practice is rooted in socially-engaged work: affordable housing projects, exhibitions, reimagining spaces of incarceration, democratic public space, and in-depth community-driven research. Her projects fold current communities and future solutions into functional, beautiful spaces for collaboration and engagement. As a team, with a multi-disciplinary backgrounds in arts, outreach, architecture, and activism, they listen with communities and imagine new solutions in collaboration with neighbors.

For more information about the team, read this Q&A between the artists and Transportation for America: https://t4america.org/2019/03/21/get-to-know-washington-states-new-artists-in-residence

What will these artists do?

The residency, based in Olympia, will run for one year with both artists making rotations as a team through several WSDOT core divisions to gain knowledge on the agency’s operations, priorities and challenges. The artist team will then propose projects to address WSDOT’s overarching goals. Their work may address some or all of the following topics: improving community engagement, supporting alternatives to single occupancy vehicle transport, creating healthier communities and enhancing safety and equity. After four months of rotations, eight months will be devoted to the artists’ project(s) development and production.

The artists will begin the residency in July 2019.

More details about the program

Several organizations collaborated on the artist-in-residence program. ArtPlace America is providing a $125,000 grant for the program, including a $40,000 stipend split between the two artists and $25,000 for a final project(s) the artists and staff develop. Transportation for America will administer both the funds and the overall program, including providing staff and consulting assistance. The State Smart Transportation Initiative (SSTI) will also provide staff support. Both T4A and SSTI are programs of Smart Growth America. WSDOT is not providing funding for the program, but will supply in-kind contributions consisting of work space for the selected artists and staff time for agency workers to collaborate on the new program.

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Transportation for America is an alliance of elected, business, and civic leaders from communities across the country, united to ensure that states and the federal government step up to invest in smart, homegrown, locally-driven transportation solutions — because these are the investments that hold the key to our future economic prosperity. T4America is a program of Smart Growth America. www.t4america.org

The State Smart Transportation Initiative promotes transportation practices that advance environmental sustainability and equitable economic development, while maintaining high standards of governmental efficiency and transparency. It is jointly operated by the University of Wisconsin and Smart Growth America.

ArtPlace America is a ten-year collaboration among a number of foundations, federal agencies, and financial institutions. We began our work as an organization in 2011, and will finish in 2020. Our mission is to position arts and culture as a core sector of community planning and development.

WSDOT keeps people, businesses and the economy moving by operating and improving the state’s transportation systems. To learn more about what we’re doing, go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/news for pictures, videos, news and blogs. Real time traffic information is available at wsdot.com/traffic or by dialing 511.

208 local leaders and organizations urge Congress not to back down from federal commitment to transportation

208 local leaders and organizations—including 72 local elected officials—sent a letter to House and Senate appropriators today urging them to continue rejecting the administration’s proposed cuts to transit and passenger rail programs, and the BUILD competitive grant program.

This group of elected officials and organizations, spanning 36 states, urged Congress to continue their commitment to invest in these small but vital programs that help move goods, move people and support the local economies upon which our nation’s prosperity is built.

“This impressive group of 208 signatories are sending a clear message to Congress and the administration: The opportunities provided by these relatively small federal transportation programs are crucial to the long-term vitality of communities across the country,” said Kevin F. Thompson, director of T4America. “Local voters and leaders have been approving billions in tax increases at the ballot box to invest in meeting the growing demand for well-connected communities served by transit. But they’re counting on the federal government to continue its historic role as a reliable funding partner to support these bottom-up efforts to invest in transit.”

As Congress continues working to finalize the 2019 budget, the letter’s signers urge appropriators to “recognize the power transportation investments can and continue to have on making our communities dynamic, livable, and connected places while strengthening our country’s position in the global marketplace.”

The letter continues:

We want all American communities, large and small, across the country to benefit from a multimodal transportation network. We want to rebuild and improve our transportation infrastructure and that begins by ensuring that projects and programs in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act are fully funded and that the administration’s proposed cuts to key federal transportation programs—including the BUILD (previously TIGER) program, the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grants (CIG), and long-distance passenger rail programs—are defeated and funding for these programs are secured or enhanced.

As you consider funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2019, we urge you to prioritize federal investments in our national transportation system, specifically for public transportation and passenger rail service.

The full letter, including the list of all 208 signatories from 36 states, can be found here.

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Senate appropriators reject administration proposals to eliminate transit investment

On Thursday, June 7, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and approved the FY19 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Act. Kevin F. Thompson, Director of T4America, offered this statement in response:

“Millions of Americans are counting on new or improved transit service to provide options for reaching jobs and opportunity, and local governments are counting on federal funds to leverage local taxpayer revenue and bring these projects to fruition. The Senate Appropriations Committee recognized that need today. By unanimously approving $2.6 billion to fully fund all transit projects in the federal pipeline, Congress is signaling its intent to make local communities stronger and rejecting the Trump administration’s proposal to eliminate funding for transit and leaving every community to fend for itself.

“While the committee members ignored the administration’s requests to deeply cut or eliminate passenger rail programs and the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program, formerly TIGER, they did provide less funding for next year than was approved in the FY18 appropriations bill. They did so despite the fact that last February’s two-year budget deal allows for greater investment in infrastructure, a stated priority of Congress and the administration. We hope the full Senate will use this bill as a foundation to fund transportation programs at or above FY18 levels to benefit all Americans and truly improve access to opportunity.”

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22 communities selected to participate in the second cohort of T4America’s Smart Cities Collaborative

Transportation for America is pleased to announce the 22 communities selected to participate in the second cohort of the organization’s Smart Cities Collaborative program that will continue exploring how emerging technologies and new mobility options can improve urban transportation. Over the coming year, the Collaborative will once again bring together cities to cooperatively tackle the challenges related to implementing smart mobility policies and projects.

“Whether electric scooters, new dockless bikesharing systems, curbside delivery, or ridesourcing services, the pace of innovation is accelerating and these technologies and new mobility options are already on our streets and having an impact in our communities.” said Russ Brooks, Transportation for America’s Director of Smart Cities. “The cities participating in the Collaborative understand that they can’t sit by and let the private sector determine their fate. These cities are eager to engage proactively to ensure that the benefits of these technologies accrue to all parts of society and don’t create a new generation of transportation haves and have-nots.”

This year’s cohort will focus on how emerging technologies and new mobility options are reshaping the right-of-way and curb space, and changing the way we move through our communities.

“Cities have to move people and goods as efficiently as possible to thrive. Streets and curb space are some of the most important assets cities control, yet they’re often undermanaged. There is increasing demand for the right-of-way, and access to the curb is becoming the most desired piece of real estate in a city. Our goal is to empower cities to more effectively manage these assets at their disposal to solve their transportation challenges and become more efficient, safe, and equitable cities,” said Brooks.

Over 50 cities applied to be a part of the Collaborative this year, with 12 of the 16 cities in the first cohort of the Collaborative returning to continue in this second year. The inaugural cohort tackled challenges related to automated vehicles, shared mobility and how to use data to manage complex transportation networks.

“Seattle is excited to be one of the 12 cities returning to the Collaborative for a second year. The Collaborative is a terrific venue for cities to work cooperatively, share our thinking, and develop solutions to our common challenges. During the first year, the Collaborative helped us learn lessons from other cities as we advance and iterate our own new mobility strategies. We have directly employed what we learned from the Collaborative as we anticipate transportation disruption and continue to build a safe, people-centered, equitable, and carbon-free transportation system in Seattle,” said Evan Corey Costagliola, New Mobility Program Manager at the Seattle Department of Transportation.

The Collaborative will hold its first meeting in Denver on April 16-17. Throughout the year the communities will participate in a variety of interactive workshops, both with each other and with industry-leading transportation experts. From there, the participants will receive direct technical assistance and share the results of their projects with the rest of the Collaborative to drive best practices across the country.

The 22 communities participating in the Collaborative in 2018 are:

Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Boulder, CO
Centennial, CO
Gainesville, FL
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Los Angeles, CA
Madison, WI
Miami-Dade, FL
Minneapolis, MN

New York, NY
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Santa Monica, CA
Seattle, WA
Toronto, ON
Washington, DC
West Sacramento, CA

Sign up for news from the Smart Cities Collaborative. You don’t have to participate in the Collaborative to hear more about what these 22 cities are learning, what they’re sharing with one another, and what we’re all reading each week when it comes to the rapidly evolving world of urban mobility. Click the button below and tick the box for Smart Cities news.

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What have participants said about the Smart Cities Collaborative?

In 2016, supported by Sidewalk Labs, T4 America created the inaugural Smart Cities Collaborative cohort to help 16 cities proactively harness emerging technologies to improve mobility & quality of life. Here’s what some of the participants from that inaugural class of 16 cities had to say during that first year.

Senate Democrats’ infrastructure plan provides more funding, but as with the president’s plan, it fails to prioritize repair & maintenance

Upon the release of the Senate Democratic Jobs & Infrastructure Plan, T4A Director Kevin F. Thompson released the following statement:

“We strongly support the Senate Democrats call to increase funding for investments in vital infrastructure, addressing our maintenance backlog and funding transportation alternatives. But many of these programs signal the approach Congress should be, but isn’t, taking with the rest of their proposal: prioritize repair with formula dollars and select expansion projects on a competitive basis.

“It seems that both parties on Capitol Hill are missing an important point on infrastructure. We need to focus much more on what we are funding rather than how much we are spending. Both the President’s infrastructure plan and the Democrats’ plan are silent on how to address the quality of projects chosen and how to overcome the flaws in our current transportation program that produced such a massive national backlog in deferred maintenance and repairs in the first place.

“In contrast with the President’s plan, the Democrats’ plan does provide distinct funding for various categories of infrastructure investment rather than forcing them to cannibalize each other for funding. It encourages more competition rather than indiscriminately doling out the spoils of a finite funding package.

“But neither plan provides any new long-term source of transportation funding or prioritizes new federal dollars toward our backlogs of neglected maintenance. We cannot repair our ‘crumbling’ transportation infrastructure unless we raise new, real money for transportation, and then ensure that money is directed first to fixing our existing networks.

“The Senate Democrats propose funding these increases by making changes to the tax code. Regardless of the merits of tax reform, real, long-term, dedicated funding is necessary. If infrastructure investment is truly a priority, Congress needs to pay for it with new, long-term, stable revenue for transportation that’s derived from the users of the system. If Congress is unwilling to do so, then we should admit that infrastructure investment is not a priority.

“While we appreciate that the Democrats’ plan proposes new transit grants for critical asset repair and a new program for repairing bridges, these programs will fail to accomplish their goals if, at the same time, we fund programs that encourage building new over improving stewardship of existing infrastructure.

“We cannot simply pour new money into the same existing highway and transit formula programs that brought us to this moment. This is more than just an issue of money — if Congress is going to raise new money for transportation, we need to spend it in a new way. Absent any real reform, we’ll merely be empowering states and metro areas to build new things that they can’t afford to maintain over the long-term.”

“One cannot claim to invest in infrastructure while also cutting it”—T4 statement on President Trump’s infrastructure proposal and 2019 budget request

Upon the release of the president’s infrastructure plan and his budget request for FY19, T4America Director Kevin F. Thompson offered the following statement:

“One cannot claim to be investing in infrastructure on the one hand while cutting it with the other. The president’s infrastructure plan is merely a shell game, ‘investing’ money that his budget proposes to cut from other vital transportation and infrastructure programs. Taken together, they provide zero new dollars to invest in our country’s pressing infrastructure needs.”

“This proposal makes no progress on the four simple priorities we believe are essential for success. It provides no new money, does nothing to prioritize the smartest projects, and eliminates the programs that are most responsive to local needs. The president’s plan also fails to include any requirements to prioritize repair, even though he stated a clear preference for repair in his remarks this morning.

“The budget signals to local elected officials and taxpayers that they are on their own if they are to invest in transit, penalizing the communities that have already taken the initiative to raise local funding for new or improved transit service. The infrastructure plan gives blank checks out to governors to spend on projects with the greatest political sway—hardly the kind of accountability that taxpayers are clamoring for.

“We’re eager to work with Congress as they begin drafting their own infrastructure plan and setting the budget for the rest of this year and the next, and we hope they’ll follow our four simple principles and advance a national transportation program that invests more real dollars, rewards innovation and local revenue, funds only the smartest new projects, and provides states and localities with a trustworthy federal partner in their efforts.”

Tax reform promises prosperity but is more likely to assure austerity

Transportation for America Kevin F. Thompson offered this statement:

“The supporters of this tax package have promised that it will bring great prosperity. But the trillion-dollar deficit it creates all but guarantees that Congress will be forced to cut funding for job-creating surface transportation programs and other infrastructure investments that the President claims to support — imperiling the country’s economy. In other words, their promises of prosperity will actually lead to years of austerity.”

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Transportation for America is a program of Smart Growth America, the only national organization dedicated to researching, advocating for, and leading coalitions to bring better development strategies to more communities nationwide. From providing more sidewalks to ensuring more homes are built near public transportation or that productive farms remain a part of our communities, smart growth helps make sure people across the nation can live in great neighborhoods. For more information visit www.smartgrowthamerica.org.

Senate tax bill greenlights a torrent of cuts to transportation programs

After the United States Senate voted early Saturday morning to approve passage of their tax reform bill, T4America director Kevin F. Thompson released the following statement.

“The Senate’s action today on tax reform may be a cause for celebration for some, but it greenlights a torrent of cuts to vital transportation programs and infrastructure investments that will ultimately leave our cities and towns, large and small across the nation, less competitive. Whether cuts to the funding to improve or expand public transportation systems or the competitive grants that support the smartest projects, these cuts to transportation programs and investments are a blow to every community working hard to improve access to jobs and opportunity.

“This tax reform measure triggers ten years of annual automatic cuts to transportation programs unless Congress takes further action, and it may also signal the final demise of a national infrastructure package. After creating more than a trillion dollars in new debt, it is difficult to fathom where this Congress will find the resources to pay for another trillion-dollar program. Long-term, that means our country falls further behind, our economy suffers and the cost of any future infrastructure investments are even more prohibitive.”