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.”

You may recall that the $787 billion economic stimulus bill that passed in February had nearly $30 billion allocated for transportation investments. That money was given out to states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) — largely free of any criteria or requirements for what projects it should be spent on. So after 120 days, how have states done in addressing these pressing needs and investing in progress for their communities?

AASHTO’s president says gas taxes need to go up. (Baltimore Sun) Protecting our climate and gaining more energy independence begins, and doesn’t end, with the climate bill making its way through Congress. (Reuters) The speed of spending federal stimulus dollars remains a contentious issue. (USA Today) Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar looks to [...]

Paratransit — which is used to provide critical transportation service for people with disabilities — faces severe funding challenges in Chicago. (Chicago Tribune) DC’s Metro tragedy makes clear the need for repair work on America’s aging rail system. (New York Times) Some city officials say the distribution of stimulus funds favors small towns and rural [...]

The U.S. House prepares to release the transportation bill in the coming weeks, but legislators have little consensus how to finance the next six years of projects. (Wall Street Journal) Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) looks to create “transit equity” in the new transportation authorization by adding more balance to the funding formulas for highways and [...]

Last week, the Hummer brand was sold to a Chinese company — but some question whether the gas guzzler even deserved to live. (New York Times) A New Scientist article questions whether trains are a truly green mode of transportation — and Ryan Avent knocks down the challenge. The federal stimulus helps jumpstart construction of [...]

We wanted to highlight this piece from Reuters’ Infrastructure Summit — especially an appearance by T4 America Partner The Citizens’ Transportation Coalition. Chairwoman Robin Holzer and the CTC have been working hard to bring attention to one of the most wasteful projects receiving money from the stimulus, using it as one more example to show how “the federal transportation funding system is broken, it’s just broken.”

In a telebriefing last week moderated by Transportation for America campaign manager James Corless, a panel of transportation experts from range of backgrounds discussed the transportation infrastructure portion of the stimulus bill and what it means for the future of our transportation system.

For those of you who don’t check the “Campaign News” tab at top on a regular basis or get the full RSS feed, we posted our full summary of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. If you are interested in the full, detailed, numerical breakdown of transportation spending in the stimulus package, read Transportation For America’s full summary of the provisions and funding requirements for transportation in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

This is Transportation For America’s full summary of the provisions and funding requirements for transportation in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.