T4America Blog

News, press releases and other updates

Posts Tagged "rural areas"

Safety and mobility choice through rural California

Juxtaposed by a well-supported bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, there are many people in rural communities, particularly agricultural workers, along the route that are in critical need of vital, reliable, affordable transportation options, and suffer dire health and economic consequences as a result.

Continue Reading →

Fix-it-first would be a win for rural communities

bumpy vacant country road

The lack of repair requirements in the infrastructure bill will shortchange rural areas, costing them potential jobs and leaving them with crumbling roads and bridges that won’t get repaired. Our report highlights why using highway funds to fix roads and bridges would bring numerous benefits to rural America.

Continue Reading →

Rural areas desperately need a transportation overhaul, too

People disparage rural areas with the term “flyover country,” but our federal transportation program currently treats rural areas even worse—as “driveover” country. If Congress adopts Transportation for America’s three new policy principles, transportation investments could truly help rural areas prosper. 

Continue Reading →

The TIGER program is no more….in name

The TIGER grant program is now being called BUILD. While the criteria are essentially the same, there’s one big caveat. Under BUILD, USDOT will now require applicants to provide evidence that they have secured and committed new, non-federal revenue for projects requesting funding. And there’s a whole list of reasons why that’s a problem.

Continue Reading →

TIGER grants focus on rural areas, recognize the value of complete streets, and ignore transit

Just a month after the Trump administration proposed a budget that would eliminate the competitive TIGER grant program entirely next year, the US Department of Transportation announced the winners of this year’s awards. This year’s winners show a clear shift in priorities — this round is decidedly rural or small town in nature and nearly devoid of transit projects. However, the winners also show that this administration recognizes how smaller-scale complete streets projects bring tremendous value to local communities.

Continue Reading →

Catch up and learn about what’s at stake for small and rural transit providers in the budget

Smaller cities and rural areas are facing potential funding reductions, phase-outs or the total elimination of vital federal programs they depend upon to provide transit service — whether as a lifeline or a powerful economic development tool.

Continue Reading →

What’s at stake for small and rural transit providers?

Federal transit funding is still on the chopping block. Those who operate or depend on transit — whether in small, rural areas or large, urban ones — must band together to convince both Congress and the President of the vital nature of public transportation services.

Continue Reading →

White House launches advisory group on rural issues that includes transportation officials

President Obama signed an executive order today creating an advisory group for rural issues. The group will be tasked with developing recommendations for boosting economic growth, job opportunities and quality of life in rural communities. The Executive Order notes that sixteen percent of the population lives in rural counties and that these areas are essential […]

Continue Reading →

South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson stresses rural transit needs as gas prices continue to escalate

Gas prices in the U.S. continue to escalate and could hit $4.25 by Memorial Day, according to some projections. These spikes tend to hit smaller communities and rural areas particularly hard, as residents and businesses must travel farther and use more energy during daily activities. Senator Tim Johnson, a Democrat from South Dakota, has pledged to use his clout on the Banking Committee to fund rural transit systems in the next transportation bill.

Continue Reading →

“I don’t know what this talk around DC is about livability not having anything to do with rural areas…”

28 May 2010 | Posted by | 0 Comments | , , ,

Earlier this week, we hosted 15 of our partners from rural areas across America for a two day “fly-in” focusing on the transportation needs of rural areas and small towns. We hosted a briefing at the Capitol in the morning and then these partners from all over the country, from Virginia to California, took the […]

Continue Reading →

T4 America’s rural and small town partners take their transportation message to Capitol Hill

Tuesday’s Congressional lobby day hosted by Transportation for America on the needs of rural and small-town America displayed a growing urgency for transportation options, livable communities and good access to jobs and opportunity — as great as one would find in any of our nation’s urban and metropolitan centers.

Continue Reading →