Though some pieces have fallen into place – including a decision on who will lead the House’s key transportation committee for the next two years — the 2012 election still leaves a number of key questions hanging in the balance. We’ve looked at a few local transportation ballot measures, but what will the impact be on transportation at the federal level as a result of the 2012 elections?

Last week we asked you for questions for U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and you came through with some great questions and topics that he’ll hopefully consider for his next edition of “On The Go,” his recurring video segment where he answers questions and discusses transportation topics at a little more length than he can [...]

I hope so, because the U.S. Secretary of Transportation wants to answer yours! Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has asked Transportation for America’s many partners and supporters to submit questions for him that he’ll answer in his next edition of “On the Go,” a monthly video segment with the Secretary where he answers a few [...]

Last night at midnight marked one year since the last federal transportation bill expired, a development that is noted — and updated every second to account for the delay — in the top right hand corner of every page on the Transportation for America web site. In a long, wide-ranging story this week, Jason Plautz of E&E News (subscription only) noted our clock while pointing out the 365 days of delay since the transportation bill first expired last September.

In an Associated Press story on April 15, Ohio Congressman Steve LaTourette was quoted decrying the apparently “radical” idea that the safety and comfort of people on foot or bicycle deserve as much consideration as those in cars. To his credit, LaTourette has fully recanted the statement and apologized for any misunderstanding, a result due in part to significant pushback from the bicycling community in his 14th Congressional District and throughout the country

We got some superb media coverage last week on the release of our national poll and there’s an engaging discussion underway today on the National Journal experts blog, but we wanted to especially highlight a terrific post today from Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, on his official DOT blog.

Secretary LaHood says that our poll echoes the same drumbeat he’s heard all around the country from people in big cities, small towns and all the places in between during his first 14 months in office: “people want better options.”

In an hourlong show that was overwhelmingly informative, shocking and sobering, Oprah Winfrey focused her top-rated talk show on the epidemic of distracted driving and the injuries and fatalities that it causes each and every year. Secretary Ray LaHood for one, appreciated the focus on an issue that he’s spent his first year trying to elevate in our national consciousness.

Following through on a policy change hinted at for much of 2009, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced this morning that federal transit officials would begin considering expanded criteria as they select which transit projects to fund, focusing on livability and sustainability.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood didn’t pull any punches in a blog post this week about one senator’s “stimulus waste” list. Senator Tom Coburn is a persistent critic of transportation “enhancements” and author of a failed amendment earlier this year to strip bicycle and pedestrian projects from a spending bill. His latest waste list includes two bike paths. Coburn told the Washington Times, “When we run $1.4 trillion deficits, the money we spend ought to be a high priority for the American people as a whole.” To which LaHood retorts: “What he really means is that, because he doesn’t get bikes, no one else does either.”

A top priority in the transportation debate is addressing the mobility needs of the 56 million residents of rural areas and small towns in America – about 20 percent of the population of the United States. Rural areas and small towns often fall through the cracks of federal transportation policy, which focuses on statewide priorities for building new highways and often overlooks local needs and preferences. Transportation for America has been working closely with our coalition partners on this important issue for some time. Now, it looks like Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is also getting on board.