Transportation For America Join T4America this Thursday to unpack the transportation ramifications of tomorrow’s elections

Join T4America this Thursday to unpack the transportation ramifications of tomorrow’s elections

3 Nov 2014 | Posted by Teddy Lederer | 2 Comments | elections, teleconference, transportation vote 2014, webinar

Voters will make decisions on November 4 that will resonate deep into the future. Join us Thursday as we provide the inside scoop on how the elections will affect MAP-21 reauthorization and ever-dwindling highway trust fund revenues, and how important state and local transportation measures fared.

If the Senate flips to a Republican majority, what will it mean for federal transportation legislation and the anticipated Spring 2015 insolvency of the federal transportation fund? If Massachusetts successfully votes down an attempt to kill a portion of their new transportation funding package, what would that mean for other states’ hopes to stabilize transportation funding? What will the next two years bring?

Once the dust settles, we will be hosting a free teleconference on November 6^that 3:30pm EST to analyze and discuss the full impacts of these elections.

We’ve been keeping a close eye on several significant ballot measures from Florida to Washington. Pinellas County will take a landmark vote on an ambitious expansion of their transit services. Texas could pass a measure to raise billions for highway spending without having to raise taxes or fees. And Maryland and Wisconsin are attempting to create dedicated transportation funds that can’t be diverted for other uses.

Federal legislation is routinely a reflection of what states and localities have already tested and tried to be true, which is why key state and local measures are so important for predicting what might be on the horizon in the next Congress.

We hope you join us this Thursday.

2 Comments

Howard Wong, AIA
10 years ago

Hopefully, a Republican Congress and a Democratic White House will force some cost-benefit criteria for funding allocations. Bad projects, with poor new ridership gains, haven’t advanced integrated transit networks, abetting political avarice rather than helping people. In San Francisco, the Central Subway Project will cost over $1.6 billion for a 1.3 mile route—with dismal new ridership projections—while diverting $605 million of state/ local matching funds from greater transit needs. Now, developers and real estate interests are pushing for a northern subway extension—more politics over logical transit investments.
Jon Spangler
10 years ago

The passage of Measure BB in Alameda County, CA, was a great achievement here in the East Bay.

Also notable was the election of Nick Josefowitz to represent San Francisco on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board. He will be another more progressive vote on the BART Board as it grapples with upgrading its 40-year-old system to meet rapidly-increasing ridership and be more ADA and bike friendly. Robert Raburn won reelection, another good sign that BART policies will become more progressive.

Jon Spangler
member, BART Bicycle Advisory Task Force.