Author Archive
The rapidly disappearing infrastructure promises of 2017
The House-approved tax reform legislation is the most recent evidence that neither the administration nor Congress seems to be very serious about supporting and encouraging infrastructure investment.
Transportation for America’s guiding principles for an infrastructure plan
As we continue to await either broad principles or specifics of the Trump’s administration much-anticipated infrastructure plan, T4America has released these four simple guiding principles to inform and evaluate any such future plan.
USDOT is trying to eliminate a new requirement to track carbon emissions from transportation
USDOT is attempting to rescind a federal requirement for states and metro areas to measure their carbon emissions as part of a larger system of accountability for federal transportation spending.
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.
New report: Transit funding supports manufacturing jobs from coast to coast
Public dollars devoted to making capital improvements to public transportation systems support thousands of manufacturing jobs, in communities small and large, in nearly every state across the country.
Celebrating a month of arts and culture in transportation
Throughout the rest of September, along with our parent organization Smart Growth America, we’ll be celebrating the positive, measurable impacts that arts and culture can have on transportation projects by sharing a handful of inspiring local stories, culminating with the release of a new examination of creative placemaking we produced with ArtPlace America at the end of this month.
House abdicates methodical policymaking for new regulations on automated vehicles
Congress has taken the first major legislative step to encourage & govern the roll-out of automated vehicles, passing the SELF DRIVE Act of 2017 by a voice vote today. Unfortunately, the House only consulted a narrow range of stakeholders like automakers and technology companies to produce this flawed legislation.
House making final decisions on cuts to TIGER, transit construction & rail this week
With the current federal transportation budget expiring at the end of this month, this week the House is considering a handful of amendments and taking a final vote on the 2018 fiscal year budget. Up for debate are amendments that could improve — or further damage — the House’s already problematic transportation budget for 2018.
Elected officials and local organizations: Support TIGER & public transit funding
Facing the prospect of severe cuts from the Trump administration and Congress, T4America is looking for elected officials and organizations to show their support for investing in smart projects to move goods, move people and support the local economies that our nation’s prosperity is built on.
A Colorado city in the Smart Cities Collaborative partners with Uber for a “quicker way to deploy transit to our residents”
Lone Tree, Colorado, one of the 16 members of our Smart Cities Collaborative, successfully launched a new pilot project last week. For the pilot, the small Denver suburb is evolving their existing fixed-route circulator served by four small buses by adding an on-demand component through a partnership with Uber.
House & Senate reject president’s request to end all federally supported transit construction
Over the last week, House and Senate committees have both passed transportation budget bills for the upcoming year. For the most part they again rejected President Trump’s requests to eliminate the TIGER grant program, halt all new federally supported transit construction, and slash passenger rail service.
Announcing the winners of our three creative placemaking grants
Transportation for America is pleased to announce the selection of three communities to receive $50,000 creative placemaking grants through our Cultural Corridor Consortium program. Our three winners, from Dothan, AL, Los Angeles, CA, and Indianapolis, IN, all propose to apply artistic and cultural practice to shape transportation investments — positively transforming these places, building social capital, supporting local businesses, and celebrating communities’ unique characteristics.
Our Smart Cities Collaborative rolls on as cities get down to the nuts and bolts
During the third meeting of our Smart Cities Collaborative in Miami-Dade County, FL, earlier in June, our 16 member cities continued working to develop projects that harness innovation and technology to solve their transportation challenges.
T4America’s creative placemaking work gets another boost from the NEA
T4America is pleased to announce that we’ve received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support our ongoing work to help transportation professionals learn how to engage with artists and design better transportation projects that better reflect and serve local communities.
Avoiding displacement while making a vital Nashville corridor function better for everyone
As one of the fastest growing regions in the country, Nashville needs to make some intentional decisions about its future. Nolensville Pike, an auto-oriented corridor ripe for infill development running south out of the city, is ideally situated to meet the booming demand for more housing and small business space close to the urban core. But doing so without careful planning could displace the unique immigrant communities and long-time residents that have been living there for years.
Trump admin’s full budget proposal makes clear their intent to end federal support for transit construction
The Trump administration released their full budget proposal for 2018, ending any possible uncertainty about their belief that highway projects are always inherently in the national interest, transit is explicitly a local concern, and leveraging greater local and state investment in transportation is not a trend to be encouraged.
Avoiding a government shutdown, Congress moves to preserve TIGER and transit funding — for now
In a budget deal to fund the government through the end of September, Congress partially accommodated the President’s requests for more defense and security spending, but ignored his requests to eliminate funding for TIGER, new transit construction, and other programs vital for building strong local communities.
California prioritizing repair, transit investments, and walking & biking with new gas tax increase
California could be the next state to raise new revenues to invest in transportation, and unlike most states doing so since 2012, CA lawmakers are prioritizing repair and pledging billions toward transit, safe streets for walking and biking, and an overall multimodal approach to solving the state’s transportation challenges.
162 organizations and local business and elected leaders from 30 states urge Congress to support TIGER & public transit funding
162 organizations, including elected state/local officials and chambers of commerce, sent a letter to House and Senate appropriators today urging them to preserve funding for competitive TIGER grants and the construction of new public transit service. Both are vital programs that support smart investment and also encourage local communities to raise their own funding to invest in their priority projects.
Trump admin moving to end transit construction program and TIGER immediately
New documents released this week by the Trump administration make it clear that 2018 won’t be soon enough to eliminate funding for future transit construction and TIGER competitive grants — they want them gone now, in 2017.
Our three principles
It’s past time to elevate the national conversation about infrastructure.
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