Transportation for America, Author at Transportation For America

About Transportation for America

For general inquiries about the campaign, email info [at] t4america [dot] org.

Proposed federal rules for measuring and addressing congestion in states and metro areas generate widespread opposition

Nearly 150 organizations — including dozens of local chambers of commerce and elected officials — and nearly 5,000 individuals spoke out in opposition to a flawed proposal from USDOT.

WASHINGTON, DC — Led by Smart Growth America (SGA), Transportation for America and the National Complete Streets Coalition, a broad coalition of business groups, local elected leaders, national and local organizations and thousands of individuals filed formal comments last week urging USDOT not to incentivize transportation projects that would punish cities investing in public transportation, treat main streets like highways, ignore the needs of people walking or biking, and push local communities of all sizes to waste billions of dollars in vain attempts to build their way out of congestion.

The comments were in response to a proposal from USDOT that will, when finalized in 2017, govern how states and metro areas are required to measure and address congestion and other metrics like freight movement and emissions, on a large share of our nation’s roadways. The 120-day public comment period closed on Saturday, August 20th. (The letter from the full coalition is here, a separate letter signed by 21 chambers of commerce is here, and the comments submitted by individuals are here.)

For two years, as required by 2012’s MAP-21 transportation authorization, USDOT has been working to establish a new system of performance measures to help govern how federal dollars are spent and hold states and metro areas accountable for making progress on important goals — a welcome shift toward measuring what our transportation spending actually accomplishes.

But this proposed rule would lead to negative outcomes in communities and billions of dollars wasted due to its singular focus on moving single-occupancy vehicles as fast as possible while failing to count the benefits of carpooling, public transportation, telecommuting, bicycling or walking. (T4America outlined the problems with the rule in detail here.)

“There’s a direct connection between how we decide to measure congestion and the ‘solutions’ that we decide to invest in,” said James Corless, director of Transportation for America (T4America). “And by prioritizing vehicles over people and completely ignoring a diversity of transportation options, this proposed rule would fail the communities that our transportation investments are intended to serve.”

To develop a stronger alternative measure to submit to USDOT, SGA convened a working group of more than 30 local elected officials, state DOTs, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and transit agencies, and national and state trade groups and advocacy organizations.

This work was supported by numerous state DOTs, MPOs, transit agencies and advocacy organizations; Oregon Metro (Portland) and Indy MPO; Trimet; Metro Atlanta Chamber and Indy Chamber; and the Transportation Equity Caucus, League of American Bicyclists, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, People for Bikes, PolicyLink, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Center for Neighborhood Technology and many others.

The coalition specifically requested the following changes to the final rule:

Focus on the movement of people instead of only vehicles — the rule would treat a bus full of commuters the same as a single vehicle carrying one person;
Remove the duplicative vehicle speed measures that provide marginal benefit;
Provide a timeline for USDOT to implement an accessibility performance measure;
Measure greenhouse gases (GHG) from the transportation sector, which represents the largest GHG emissions sector in the country; and
Improve data sets to incorporate accurate roadway volumes, strategies to develop and implement safe and accessible multimodal networks, accessibility, and trip origin and destination.

In addition, a congressional delegation led by Senators Carper and Menendez in the Senate and Representative Blumenauer in the House also sent letters to USDOT Secretary Foxx requesting that USDOT assess the movement of people, rather than vehicles, as a better measure of congestion and also reward the improvements that can come from transit, toll lanes, or encouraging travelers to choose other options like walking or biking.

We are hopeful that the Obama Administration will heed our call and change this rule to encourage a more holistic approach for measuring traffic congestion that counts everyone and supports the ambitious plans of local, metro and state leaders to make smart transportation investments to better connect all people to opportunity.

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For immediate release
Contact: Steve Davis
steve.davis@t4america.org
202-971-3902

Transportation for America (www.t4america.org) and the National Complete Streets Campaign (www.completestreets.org) are programs of Smart Growth America (www.smartgrowthamerica.org).

How can the arts and design help neighbors envision the future?

Developing an inclusive vision for a community’s future is challenging work and it frequently suffers from not including enough voices. What role can artists and designers play in improving the visioning process? Join us for the first in a new series of webinars further exploring the role of arts and culture in transportation planning and community development.

Back in February, T4America launched The Scenic Route, our online interactive guide to creative placemaking in transportation with an online conversation designed to introduce the concept of creative placemaking to transportation planners, public works agencies and local elected officials who are on the front lines of advancing transportation projects.

To continue building on that work, we’re launching this new series of webinars further exploring the role of arts and culture in transportation planning and community development. Join us for the first of this series, as we discuss the practice of community visioning exercises, and how artists and designers can help improve those processes. Join us on Thursday, August 11, 2016 from 4-5 p.m. EDT.

About our speakers

James Rojas, PLACE IT!
James Rojas is an urban planner, community activist, and artist. He has developed an innovative public-engagement and community- visioning method that uses art-making as its medium. He has collaborated with municipalities, non-profits, community groups, educational institutions, and museums, to engage, educate, and empower the public on transportation, housing, open space, and health issues.

Renata Soto, Conexión Américas
Renata Soto is co-founder and Executive Director of Conexión Américas, a nonprofit organization based in Nashville and founded in 2002 to promote the social, economic and civic integration of Latino families.

Ben Stone, Smart Growth America
Ben Stone is Director of Arts & Culture at Smart Growth America and its program Transportation for America. Ben leads the organization’s broad efforts to help communities across the country better integrate arts, culture, and creative placemaking into neighborhood revitalization, equitable development, and transportation planning efforts.

Illinois legislature passes new policy that will aid the financing of transit projects

A just-passed bill in Illinois will make it easier to finance the construction and expansion of transit service across the state, making it easier for several crucial transit projects to go forward in the Chicago region.

This post was written by Peter Skosey, the Executive Vice President of the Metropolitan Planning Council in Chicago, Illinois, and reprinted here with his permission. MPC is a T4America member. Curious about membership with T4America? Find out more here.

Transit in Chicago just got a whole lot better, thanks to the General Assembly in Springfield — not the actor normally credited with such matters.

On July 1, 2016, the House and Senate approved the Transit Facility Improvement Area (TFIA), an innovative approach to finance specific transit projects in the City of Chicago. MPC has long supported this solution that many other cities across the country use, including Denver, San Francisco, Atlanta, New York and Milwaukee.

For decades, the entire country has neglected maintenance of existing trains, roads and bridges in favor of building new infrastructure. However, the latest federal transportation bill created a new “core capacity” provision, championed by Illinois’ own Sen. Dick Durbin, which allows critically needed maintenance projects [that will improve capacity], such as rebuilding the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red and Purple lines from Belmont north to the end of line in Evanston, to receive significant funding from Washington. These federal transit grants have one “catch:” locals must match those dollars, in this case about one-for-one.

chicago amtrak expansion By authorizing TFIA, the Illinois General Assembly created a way for Chicago to provide the necessary match for Red/Purple Line modernization and critical improvements to Union Station — for which Amtrak is currently doing phase 1 engineering and seeking a master developer.

Here’s how TFIA works: The added value that enhanced transit service brings to the surrounding property is captured in the form of property taxes and used to finance the improvements to the transit facility [that catalyzed the increases in the first place].

In the case of Union Station, Amtrak is seeking a developer to build on three parcels it controls. (Indicated in blue in the image above.) The additional property tax generated from those three new developments would be captured for up to 35 years to finance critical improvements to Union Station allowing for wider platforms, a roomier concourse and more trains in and out of the station. This is imperative, as Union Station is at capacity now and future growth of Chicago’s downtown depends on people being able to access their jobs via transit.

Many deserve kudos and thanks for supporting the TFIA measure: the original Senate and House sponsors of SB277, Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove); House leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) and Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), who sponsored the ultimate bill, SB2562; members of the House who voted 78 to 27 in favor; and the Senate, which unanimously approved the measure.

Passage of TFIA was a great step forward in the battle to maintain our region’s transportation infrastructure and remain competitive in the global economy. Next up: Illinois must identify $43 billion in new revenues over the next 10 years to take care of the rest of the system.

These kinds of important changes to state policy are exactly what we’ll be discussing at Capital Ideas II this November 16-17 in Sacramento. Join us there and learn lessons to take back to your state. Register today!

Introducing a new suite of resources to support transit-oriented development

In December, Smart Growth America announced a new initiative to help communities across the country advance transit-oriented development (TOD) projects to grow their economies, achieve their social equity goals, and improve quality of life for everyone. As part of this initiative, yesterday SGA launched TODresources.org, an online hub for national information and ideas that will help users develop outstanding transit-oriented development projects.

That effort, the Transit-Oriented Development Technical Assistance Initiative, provides on-the-ground and online technical assistance to communities working on — or planning to work on — transit-oriented projects across the country. The initiative is designed to help elected officials, municipal staff, advocates, developers, transportation professionals, and urban planners discover new ideas, connect with one another and, ultimately, build great projects.

As part of the initiative, today we launch TODresources.org, an online hub for national information and ideas that will help users develop outstanding TOD projects. The new site includes a dynamic database of leading research on TOD, information about funding and financing options for TOD projects, and opportunities for TOD professionals to connect with one another. Anyone interested in TOD can join the project’s mailing list to get news about new resources and opportunities.

The TOD Technical Assistance Initiative is a project of the Federal Transit Administration administered by national non-profit Smart Growth America. In addition to the new website, the project includes on-site technical assistance for communities. In April 2016, nine communities were selected for the inaugural round of this assistance. The project also includes a collaborative network of TOD professionals, which is open by invitation only.

The TOD Technical Assistance Initiative is one of the ways the U.S. Department of Transportation supports the efforts of communities across the country to build compact, mixed-use, equitable development around transit stations and foster sustainable economic development related to planned transportation projects. When done well, TOD can create convenient, affordable places to live and work for people from all walks of life. This new website and our broader work is designed to help the people building those projects learn how to make that happen.

Crossposted from TODresources.org and Smart Growth America. Transportation for America is a project of Smart Growth America.

Introducing Planning for a Healthier Future

Cities and regions around the country face important choices about how to use limited resources to promote healthy communities and provide a great quality of life for all of their residents. Planning for a Healthier Future, a new resource released by T4America, helps metro areas find ways to use performance measures to improve public health, address social equity concerns, and advance environmental quality.

Download the report

Thanks to 2012’s MAP-21 legislation, all metro areas and states will soon be using a limited array of performance measures. While the in-progress federal requirements will cover a limited range of measures, this report lays out additional measures that enable MPOs and regions to understand the health impacts of transportation and land use decisions within three other dimensions: physical activity, traffic safety, and exposure to air pollution.

This report is the result of our two-year Planning for a Healthier Future collaborative with teams from the regions of Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, San Diego, CA and Nashville, TN. These four regions are actively working to improve health, increase access to opportunity for vulnerable populations, protect the environment and promote economic competitiveness by developing and implementing transportation performance measures for their respective metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs).

As part of the report kickoff, we hosted an online discussion featuring members of our team and other experts.

Watch the recording for a deeper dive into our new resource, including firsthand experience from some of the metro regions that participated in the related collaborative.

National media applauds T4America and Sidewalk Labs partnership

We recently announced that we’re teaming with Sidewalk Labs to help cities strategically use data and technology to develop better transportation options for all. With USDOT’s Smart Cities challenge wrapping up in the next month with the selection of just one winner, our collaborative will engage the 77 other hopeful cities and provide guidance on ways to proceed thoughtfully and intentionally with their ambitious plans. The announcement of our new partnership was met with approbation and excitement—take a look at some of the excerpts below:

“But what about the dozens of cities who submitted ideas [to USDOT’s Smart Cities contest] but didn’t win? Whose proposals are now collecting dust? Sidewalk’s collaboration with T4A is tailored to that problem…To understand why Sidewalk wants to work with T4A, it helps to know a bit about its history. T4A is actually part of Smart Growth America, a nonprofit that helped popularize a planning idea called “complete streets,” a set of design and policy recommendations that, in a quietly revolutionary way, suggest that streets should be designed not just for cars, but for buses, cyclists, walkers, and more. Sidewalk Labs sees [T4A] as the perfect partner to develop the next generation of recommendations, which are digital: “connected streets.” – Fastco Design

“The collaboration will tap into the superpowers of each entity. Sidewalk Labs has digital technology expertise, while the Transportation of America has experience working with state and local governments to develop transportation and land use policy. Transportation for America, or T4A, is an alliance of elected, business, and civic leaders from across the United States.” – Fortune.com

“Sidewalk Labs will bring the tech, as the group’s already developing platforms for connected cities, like Flow, which lets cities aggregate and analyze data from multiple sources such as sensors, cameras and apps. T4A’s bringing the muscle, as it already has experience working with cities and their governments, experience tech companies don’t necessarily have. T4A will develop a study on the current state of transportation and tech, to help guide cities to answers for transportation issues.” – CNET

“Helping cities tackle transportation problems with emerging technology is the thrust behind a partnership announced Wednesday between Sidewalk Labs and Transportation for America.”  – Route Fifty

“Transportation For America has a vision that aligns with the goals of Sidewalk Labs: Both aim to transform urban areas big and small to better serve the needs of its citizens with an emphasis on infrastructure within communities, rather than the highways that connect them.” – Inverse

Check out additional coverage in Next City and Curbed.

Empowering cities to shape their urban mobility future, a Q&A with T4America’s James Corless and Russell Brooks

In an era of constantly emerging technology and mobility solutions, cities face a critical choice—they can either play a role in shaping the technology to accomplish their goals, or passively be transformed by it. Our new partnership with Sidewalk Labs will work with dozens of U.S. cities to thoughtfully and intentionally use emerging technologies to meet their most pressing transportation challenges. By harnessing powerful data and new digital tools, cities have the potential to develop efficient and affordable transportation options for all.

In addition to yesterday’s big announcement, we sat down with Eric Jaffe of Sidewalk Labs for a Q&A about the role cities can play in building connected streets, and T4America’s plan to make it happen. Read an excerpt below featuring James Corless, Director of Transportation for America, and Russell Brooks, Director of T4A’s Smart Cities initiative. The full Q&A is available on Sidewalk Talk.

Let’s start with the basics. What do you mean by “connected streets”?

CORLESS: Connected streets is similar to complete streets in as much as it’s not a checklist. It’s an approach. In complete streets, it’s an approach to actually designing a street and a network of streets that works for everyone. If this is the next generation, in connected streets, it’s really about using data and technology to make sure that transportation systems work for everybody and works for cities — to move people regardless of the mode of transportation seamlessly, quickly, efficiently, and affordably.

What are the benefits of connected streets for city residents and communities?

CORLESS: If cities aren’t shaping and driving this conversation, we could make problems worse. But if we do drive the conversation, and cities actually shape this proliferation of technology and services, then I do think we’ll going to be able to reduce the divide between what I’d call the transportation haves and have-nots. If you’re on a fixed income or work a late shift, you’re going to be able to actually get home faster, more affordably. You’re going to be able to connect to more opportunity, be able to get your kids to child care much more easily than you could before. I do think we need to remember from a consumer perspective that if we can get this right and we can empower cities with the tools, the authority, and the funding, we’re going to make transportation networks work for everybody, regardless of income, age, and ability. That’s a promise of connected streets.

T4A spends a lot of time on the ground with local governments. How do you counsel them in terms of getting ready to partner with the private sector in ways that might be unfamiliar to them, but that need to be productive for everyone to gain the advantages of these technologies?

BROOKS: I think part of it is educating the cities around the possibilities. As I’ve been talking with cities around the Smart City Challenge, I think some of them don’t understand that they have that lever of power, or the extent of what’s possible. I think that’s a really big part of it. I think it’s helping them generate the partnerships from the local community to actually drive that change. Which is something we’ve been doing for a long time. When it comes to the work we’re doing building consensus and coalition in local communities. And helping them identify those outcomes and needs, so they understand that technology isn’t the goal but it is the tool.

Sidewalk Labs and Transportation for America Announce Partnership to Help Cities Solve Local Transportation Challenges with Emerging Technology

Outreach Effort to More Than 70 Cities Will Help Cities Get Smarter About Transportation and Share Best Practices on Creating “Connected Streets”

Sidewalk Labs and Transportation for America (T4A) announced today a new partnership to engage cities in developing efficient and affordable transportation options for all. The two organizations will work with dozens of U.S. cities to define how technology can help them meet their pressing transportation challenges. This collaborative will help local leaders get more people where they want to go quickly and affordably, enhancing livability and sustainability, by harnessing powerful data and the availability of new digital tools.

The partnership will build on Sidewalk Labs’ expertise working with cities to develop digital technology that solves big urban problems, combined with Transportation for America’s experience collaborating with state and local governments to develop forward-looking transportation and land use policy. Through the partnership, T4A will launch an in-depth study on the state of current transportation policy and technology in American cities, and build a peer-learning collaborative of city leaders to define and design the “connected streets” of the future.

Connected streets will advance the concept of complete streets into the digital realm. Just as the complete streets framework gives local leaders the policy tools to improve the safety and equity of streets for all users across all modes, connected streets offers tech-enabled interventions that can support local efforts to move people more seamlessly, efficiently, and affordably. Connected streets can help create a truly balanced, multimodal approach to urban transportation that expands access to job opportunities and improves quality of life across a city.

“Too often there’s a disconnect between tech interventions and transportation outcomes. We’ve seen cities embrace a more holistic approach in our collaboration with the U.S. DOT Smart City Challenge, but it’s important to broaden that discussion to all the other cities looking for better tools to improve mobility,” said Anand Babu, COO of Sidewalk Labs. “By drawing on Transportation for America’s long experience working within local communities, we can focus the conversation on cities’ goals and break down the divide between technologists and city leaders. And as a result, we’ll build a network where best practices and ideas for solving these problems through emerging technologies can be shared among cities across the country.”

“In the course of providing technical assistance to local communities over the past few years, we continually hear from cities who want better tools to tackle the same problems of congestion, growing commutes, and access to affordable transportation options,” said James Corless, director of Transportation for America, a project of Smart Growth America. “Working with Sidewalk Labs, we can help local leaders learn about the possibilities presented by emerging technologies, but also help first codify what they want to achieve in terms of transportation equity, reliability, and access, so the technology can be put to best use.”

Sidewalk Labs announced in March that it is building a new transportation coordination platform called Flow, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation and seven finalist cities from the DOT’s Smart City Challenge. The Flow team has met with all the finalists to understand the challenges they face and what tools might help them meet their goals for creating efficient, sustainable, equitable, and safe transportation systems. The winner of the Smart City Challenge will be announced in June, and will receive Flow at no cost.

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ABOUT TRANSPORTATION FOR AMERICA:

Transportation for America is an alliance of elected, business and civic leaders from communities across the country, united to ensure that states and the federal government step up to invest in smart, homegrown, locally-driven transportation solutions — because these are the investments that hold the key to our future economic prosperity. T4America is a program of Smart Growth America.

ABOUT SIDEWALK LABS:

Sidewalk Labs is an urban innovation company that works with cities to develop technology that solves big urban problems across transportation, housing, energy, and data-driven management. It’s the result of a partnership between Alphabet and Daniel Doctoroff, the former Deputy Mayor of Economic Development and Rebuilding for the City of New York and the CEO of Bloomberg LP.

House transportation spending bill takes unprecedented steps to increase access to opportunity for all Americans

Transportation for America, PolicyLink, and The Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights applaud the House Appropriations Committee for directing the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to measure how transportation investments will connect all Americans to opportunity and essential daily needs such as jobs, schools, healthcare, food and others.

For immediate release
May 26, 2016

Our organizations thank Representatives Waters, Carson, Ellison, Grijalva, and Quigley for their leadership in including this important provision in the 2017 House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations report that passed the House Appropriations Committee yesterday.

“Connecting people to opportunities is one of the primary reasons we build transportation infrastructure, plain and simple,” said Transportation for America Director James Corless. “It’s incredibly encouraging to see the House Appropriations Committee recognize the fact that transportation isn’t an end in itself. To determine if we’re building the right things in the right places, it’s critical that we measure — and improve — the access people have to opportunities. Jobs, healthcare, schools, grocery stores full of healthy food — it’s critical that the streets and transit systems we invest in give as many people as possible more affordable access to all of these things.”

“Each day, millions of Americans — particularly low-income communities and communities of color — struggle to access the resources they need to thrive, simply because they have no transportation to get them where they need to go,” said PolicyLink President and CEO, Angela Glover Blackwell. “By calling on USDOT to work with communities to measure how well we are connecting people to opportunity, Congressional leaders have taken a key step toward equipping local leaders with the equity-focused data they need to reimagine and build a more just transportation system.”

“We are encouraged that the House Appropriations Committee has acknowledged the importance of measuring how our transportation investments stack up in terms of connecting our communities to opportunity, and the Department of Transportation must take up the charge to establish an accessibility performance measure without delay,” said Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice President of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Without access to transportation, our communities lack the ability to connect to all of the things that they need to sustain their families, including jobs, child care, and affordable housing. With access to transportation, our communities have a world of opportunity opened up to them. The Department of Transportation should leave no stone unturned in ensuring that dollars spent on transportation are being used in the smartest way possible to connect our communities to opportunity.”

The report accompanying this bill encourages the Secretary of Transportation, in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration, “to establish an accessibility performance measure to be available to states, metropolitan planning organizations, and transit agencies to assess the degree to which the transportation system, including public transportation, provides multimodal connections to economic opportunities, including job concentration areas, health care services, child care services, and education and workforce training services, particularly for disadvantaged populations.”

USDOT is in the middle of an ongoing process to establish a new series of performance measures for transportation spending — resulting in a new system that will require states and metro areas to measure the impact of their transportation dollars. But the measures developed so far have been limited to metrics like road and bridge conditions, safety and congestion, among others — failing to consider whether or not investments give all people better access to what they need each day.

Do the projects proposed by state and local transportation agencies divide communities or knit them back together? This new accessibility measure will direct USDOT to find ways to measure the answer to questions like that.

The House THUD Appropriations bill, in its current form, also provides robust funding for the Federal Transit Administration’s capital investment program and has strong funding for the important TIGER multimodal discretionary grant program. Both of these programs are essential to helping communities throughout the country build cost-effective multimodal transportation systems that can help connect all residents to opportunity.

Our organizations look forward to working with House leadership as the bill moves forward to ensure USDOT, states and local leaders have the resources needed to successfully build and measure our transportation investments to ensure that all Americans have access to basic needs and economic opportunities.

For more information, contact:
Steve Davis
Director of Communications
202-971-3902
steve.davis@t4america.org

Watch the recording of T4America’s discussion on USDOT’s rulemaking on traffic congestion performance measures

Yesterday, Transportation for America hosted an online event to discuss USDOT’s recently announced transportation performance rulemaking on measuring traffic congestion and its implications for communities nationwide.

The rule will govern how states and metro areas will have to measure and address congestion, along with freight movement and emissions. These new requirements will help measure what America’s transportation dollars are actually buying us—which is great, except the rule as currently written would measure success in outdated ways.

Watch the archived version of yesterday’s webinar to learn more about the rulemaking and the critical ways it can be improved.

Then, take action by calling on USDOT to change what’s included in the rule. Click here to sign and send a letter that we (along with Smart Growth America) will deliver in person to USDOT before the comment period closes.

Senate transportation appropriations bill adheres to local leaders’ call to fund TIGER, public transit and passenger rail

The annual transportation and housing appropriations bill – known as T-HUD – was approved last week by the Senate Appropriations Committee and contains good news for transportation. The annual spending bill fully funds FAST Act-authorized programs receiving support from the Highway Trust Fund and funds important competitive programs such as TIGER, public transit construction grants, and intercity passenger rail.

Earlier this year, T4America—in partnership with over 170 elected officials and local, civic, and business leaders from 45 states—sent a powerful message to congressional appropriators that the competitive TIGER and New Starts programs are crucial local economic prosperity and competitiveness. The letter urged Congress to include at least $500 million for TIGER transportation grants as well as the full $2.3 billion authorized in last year’s FAST Act for the ‘New Starts’ public transit construction program. Senate appropriators listened and provided $525 million for TIGER and $2.3 billion for New Starts in the FY2017 T-HUD bill.

TIGER

The Senate bill increases funding for the TIGER program by $25 million, for a total of $525 million for FY17, of which $25 million is reserved for planning grants. This is a big win for a couple of reasons.

First, the TIGER competitive grant program is one of the few ways that local communities can apply for and win funds for their priority projects, helping to get smart, locally-supported projects with a high return on investment off the ground. The TIGER competition ensures the best projects receive funds based on merit and cost-benefit analyses, and provides a level of accountability and transparency not currently available in many statewide transportation programs.

Second, TIGER was not even authorized in the five-year FAST Act, making it all the more important that this vital program receive strong support this year.

Public transit

TIGER isn’t the only crucial program up in the air. The federal government’s primary resource for supporting new, locally planned and supported transit expansion projects was up for consideration. The Senate T-HUD bill fully funds the New Starts program in FY17 with $2.3 billion.

Passenger rail

The FAST Act authorized passenger rail programs along with the larger highway and transit authorizations for the first time ever. The Senate T-HUD bill continues support for passenger rail by providing $1.4 billion for Amtrak, and for the first time since 2010, allocating competitive funds for safety, state of good repair for the Northeast Corridor, and operating and capital support for restored or new passenger service throughout the rest of the country. The Senate Appropriations Committee has placed a heavy emphasis on safety and short-line railroads in FY17.

Next Steps

The transportation funding bill now heads to the Senate floor for further consideration, with action likely starting this week. The House has yet to introduce its FY17 T-HUD bill, a measure that could get stalled by disagreement from party leaders over their broader budget blueprint. T4America will continue keeping a close watch as the critical annual FY17 spending bill progresses.

Join us as we break down FHWA’s most recent rulemaking on measuring traffic congestion

Do you want a transportation system that makes you count? Join Transportation for America for a free, public webinar on Wednesday, April 27 at 1:00 p.m. EST to discuss the recently announced Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) national transportation performance rulemaking on measuring traffic congestion and its implications for communities nationwide.

For the first time, USDOT has released new requirements for how states and metro areas will have to measure traffic congestion. However, the rule as proposed doubles down USDOT’s focus of prioritizing single occupancy vehicles over multi-modal solutions and completely discounts non-vehicular users. How we measure congestion matters, and this rule applies to the lives of all who use our transportation system.

Joe McAndrew, T4’s Policy Director, will cover what’s in FHWA’s performance rulemaking, a few high-level first principles to guide change, and how civic, business and elected groups can impact the outcome of this rulemaking.

There’s a direct connection between how we decide to measure congestion and how we choose to address it. If we focus, as this rule does, on keeping traffic moving at a high rate of speed at all times of day on all types of roads and streets, then the result is easy to predict: our solutions will prioritize the investments that make that possible, regardless of cost vs. benefits or the potential impacts on the communities those roads pass through.

Sign up for Wednesday’s discussion, and in the meantime, here are ten things you should know about this new rule and what you can do about it.

Find out who made the “Best Complete Streets Policies of 2015” list tomorrow (4/12)

More than 80 communities passed Complete Streets policies in 2015, and these policies are some of the strongest and most effective ever passed. Which policies stood out as the best? Find out tomorrow when Smart Growth America’s National Complete Streets Coalition unveils the annual ranking of the best Complete Streets policies in the nation.

Guadalupe Street in Austin, TX. Austin had one of the highest-scoring policies of 2014. Which communities will be on the 2015 list? Photo courtesy of the City of Austin.

Crossposted from Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition

Notably this year, one community scored a perfect 100 on their Complete Streets policy. In the near decade that we have been tracking policies, this is the first time a community has achieved a perfect score. Which community passed the perfect policy? Join us for the launch of this year’s rankings to find out.

To kick off this year’s rankings, join us for an online discussion on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT. This event is free, but registration is required. Webinar registrants will also be the first to get a copy of this year’s rankings, bright and early tomorrow morning. Register today for tomorrow’s kickoff event.

WHAT:	Announcing “The Best Complete Streets Policies of 2015”
WHEN:	Tuesday, April 12, 2016, 1:00-2:00 PM EDT
WHO:	National Complete Streets Coalition staff, leaders from communities with top-scoring policies, and additional special guests

Join the event to find out which community scored a perfect 100, learn how communities create top-scoring policies, and understand what your community can do to craft an outstanding policy of its own.

2015 Complete Streets contenders

82 communities passed Complete Streets policies in 2015 and were included for consideration in this year’s rankings. They are:

Fairbanks, AK
Fairbanks Metropolitan Area Transportation System, AK
North Pole, AK
Hot Springs, AR
Little Rock, AR
San Mateo, CA
Moraga, CA
Stamford, CT
West Hartford, CT
Cape Coral, FL
Longwood, FL
Naples, FL
Orlando, FL
St. Petersburg, FL
Gainesville, GA
Savannah, GA
West Des Moines, IA
Windsor Heights, IA
Carbondale, IL
Park Forest, IL
La Porte, IN
South Bend, IN
Vincennes, IN
Dry Ridge, KY
Grant County, KY
Independence, KY
Taylor Mill, KY

Ashland, MA
Beverly, MA
Framingham, MA
Hudson, MA
Lynn, MA
Longmeadow, MA
Natick, MA
Northampton, MA
Norwell, MA
Weymouth, MA
Middleville, MI
Mount Pleasant, MI
Portage, MI
East-West Gateway Council of Governments, MO
Pagedale, MO
St. Louis, MO
Mississippi Gulf Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization, MS
Oxford, MS
Glendive, MT
Polson, MT
Greensboro Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, NC
Raleigh, NC
Omaha, NE
Keene, NH
Swanzey, NH

Asbury Park, NJ
Bound Brook, NJ
East Amwell, NJ
Hamilton, NJ
Monroe, NJ
Moorestown, NJ
Northfield, NJ
Somerville, NJ
Albuquerque, NM
Bernalillo County, NM
Mid-Region Council of Governments, NM
Auburn, NY
Chautauqua County, NY
Sodus Point, NY
Owasso, OK
Reading, PA
Myrtle Beach, SC
Sioux Falls, SD
Tennessee Department of Transportation
East Ridge, TN
Battle Ground, WA
Mabton, WA
Sunnyside, WA
Toppenish, WA
Wapato, WA

Complete Streets policies—including laws, resolutions, executive orders, policies, and planning and design documents—encourage and provide safe access to destinations for everyone, regardless of age, ability, income, ethnicity, or how they travel.

The Coalition evaluates policies based on 10 policy elements, including the policy’s vision, the project types included, and next steps for implementation, among others. Ogdensburg, NY had the nation’s highest-scoring policy in 2014.

More than 830 jurisdictions at the local, regional, and state levels have now enacted Complete Streets policies—a remarkable feat considering that a mere 33 policies were in place a decade ago. Join us on April 12 to celebrate the best policies of 2015 and safer, more convenient streets that work for everyone.

Over 170 local elected, business and civic leaders from 45 states call on Congress to support TIGER & public transit funding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, DC — Over 170 elected officials and local, civic and business leaders from 45 U.S. states today sent a letter to congressional appropriators urging them to provide at least $500 million for another round of TIGER competitive transportation grants as well as the full amount authorized in last year’s FAST Act for new transit construction.

As Congress begins to craft the transportation budget for the 2017 fiscal year, the 170-plus local leaders of all stripes, representing an incredible diversity of places, sent a powerful message that opportunities provided by TIGER and FTA’s New Starts program are crucial to their long-term success.

The fiercely competitive TIGER program is one of the few ways that local communities of almost any size can directly receive federal dollars for their priority transportation projects, and represents one of the most fiscally responsible transportation programs administered by USDOT. Unlike the overwhelming majority of all federal transportation dollars that are awarded via formulas to ensure that all states or metro areas get a share, regardless of how they’re going to spend those dollars, the federal government has found a smart way to use a small amount of money to incentivize the best projects possible through TIGER. Projects vying for funding compete against each other on their merits to ensure that each dollar is spent in the most effective way possible and through the first seven rounds, each TIGER dollar has brought in 3.5 non-federal dollars.

It’s a roadmap to a more efficient way to spend transportation dollars that spurs innovation, stretches federal transportation dollars further than in conventional formula programs, and awards funding to projects that provide a high-return on investment. And according to these hundreds of local leaders who know the needs of their communities best, congressional appropriators would be remiss to provide any less than the $500 million it has typically received since its inception in 2009.

The letter also calls on appropriators to fully fund the federal government’s primary resource for supporting new, locally-planned and supported transit expansion projects. The New and Small Starts programs have facilitated the creation of dozens of new or extended public transportation systems across the country, also awarded competitively to the best projects.

Congress already recognized the importance of this program in the FAST Act when they increased its authorization by $400 million for this fiscal year. The 178 signatories on the letter fully expect appropriators to fund the program at it’s fully authorized level of $2.3 billion in the FAST Act, our country’s current transportation law. From the letter:

As you prepare the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, we write to respectfully request that the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program is funded at or above FY16 level of $500 million and that the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grants program is funded at the FAST Act authorization level of $2.3 billion.

Both the TIGER and Capital Investment Grants programs complement DOT’s traditional formula-based programs. Both programs provide unique, cost-effective, and innovative solutions that leverage private, state, and local investment to solve complex transportation and spur economic development.

Read the full letter here with all 174 signatories, including 25 mayors (pdf).

Contact: Stephen Lee Davis
Director of Communications
202-971-3902
steve.davis@t4america.org

Dive into creative placemaking with an online discussion about our new interactive guide on 2/17

Join Transportation for America as we release our new online interactive creative placemaking guide, The Scenic Route: Getting Started With Creative Placemaking in Transportation, with an interactive webinar on Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 3:30pm EST.

America’s cities, towns and suburbs are rapidly changing and evolving, and transportation investments are playing a catalytic role in transforming communities. But all too often, major transportation projects are disruptive to the surrounding community, and frequently impact or even displace existing residents and businesses.

For those of you planning, designing and building transportation projects, creative placemaking is an emerging approach that every community should consider.

What is creative placemaking? An approach that can lead to better projects and better places, that uses arts and culture to more genuinely reflect what makes a community unique, that builds the kind of trust and relationships between the public and the planners that can make it easier to advance these important projects or the funding required to build them.

Join the kickoff webinar to learn about some of the most exciting placemaking projects in the country. You’ll also get an early copy of the forthcoming guidebook when it’s released. The event will be a chance to ask questions of our placemaking experts. And be sure to share your own successes on Twitter at the hashtag #CPguidebook.

We look forward to having you join us next week!

12 transportation policies states should consider in 2016 to stay economically competitive

To remain economically competitive, states must invest in infrastructure, but state legislatures have a critical choice ahead of them: continue pumping scarce dollars into a complex and opaque system based on outdated policies out of sync with today’s needs, or follow the lead of the states highlighted in Transportation for America’s new report, Twelve Innovations in Transportation Policy States Should Consider in 2016.

Download your copy of the report.

State legislatures, as incubators of innovation and more flexible than Congress when it comes to enacting new transportation policies, have a golden opportunity in 2016 to reform their transportation programs to expand transparency and accountability, boost state and local economies, invest in innovation across the state, save the state money and improve safety for the traveling public.

Why this focus on state transportation policy?

Similar to Congress’s action in 2015 with the passage of the FAST Act, most of the 23 states that increased their own transportation funding revenue since 2012 have failed to update the underlying policies governing the spending of those new funds. The distribution formulas for those funds are often relics of decades-old priorities that are out-of-touch with the new needs of increasingly diverse economies and demographics.

T4America’s new report outlines 12 transportation policy solutions recently passed legislatively or instituted through administrative action in states, many of which are being pursued by Transportation for America’s START network members and other key policymakers in 2016.

These dozen policy proposals have shown the ability to:

increase accountability and transparency to build taxpayer confidence;
make states economically competitive and empower locals to do the same;
invest in innovation and reward the smartest projects;
maximize savings through better project development; and
improve safety through better street design

Considering the fact that the federal program is still largely a block grant given to and controlled by the states, state leadership on transportation issues will be more important than ever in the years to come.

The START Network

T4America supports efforts to produce and pass state legislation to increase transportation funding, advance innovation and policy reform, empower local leaders and ensure accountability and transparency. We do this through our State Transportation Advocacy, Research & Training (START) Network of state and local elected officials, advocates and civic leaders, providing our members easily accessible resources that arm decision makers and advocates with template policies, research and case studies from leaders nationwide. Join the START network today, and share with us any bills in your state legislature that you feel we should be tracking here.

State-level reform will be essential for advancing creative and innovative transportation funding and policy reforms to make the most of limited infrastructure dollars. Get engaged by joining the START Network and get your free copy of the report today.

Join us next week for an online discussion about “Buses Mean Business”

Last week, Transportation for America and Smart Growth America’s transit-oriented development initiative hosted the public launch of new research about bus rapid transit (BRT) lines and their potential for economic development, and next week, we’re inviting all of you to join us for an online presentation of the findings.

The National Study of BRT Development Outcomes, authored by Arthur C. (“Chris”) Nelson and published by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities at Portland State University, was publicly released on Tuesday, January 12 at a live event in Washington, DC.

This new peer-reviewed research provides compelling evidence that BRT systems in the U.S. can indeed generate economic development, attract jobs, retail and affordable housing — at a cost that’s well within reach for many mid-size American cities.

So many people have expressed interest in this research that we’re holding an online version of the kickoff event. Join us on Monday, January 25, 2016 at 3:30pm EST to learn all the details of this new research from the report’s author, as well as what this means for communities considering a BRT line.

All across the U.S., interest in BRT is booming as a smart, more affordable transit option. As of today, more than 30 U.S. regions in at least 24 states are either building or actively considering building new bus rapid transit lines in 2016 and beyond. The new study looks at what these projects could mean for development patterns, housing affordability, and employment and wages in those areas.

Next week’s webinar is a chance to hear all the details of this new research, as well as ask your questions of the report’s author. We’ll be taking questions during the event, as well as on Twitter at the hashtag #BusesMeanBusiness. Register to join us next week — we look forward to talking with you.

Buses Mean Business: New evidence supporting economic benefits of bus rapid transit

For those of you in the DC area next week (including those of you planning to attend the Transportation Research Board conference), join us on Tuesday for the national release of a new academic study on the economic benefits resulting from smart investments in bus rapid transit.

Join us next week on Tuesday, January 12th at 10:30 a.m. inside the Carnegie Library across from the DC convention center to hear from the report authors and other notable speakers.

Buses, you say? All across the US, interest in bus rapid transit (BRT) is booming as a smart, more affordable transit option. For the first time, a new peer-reviewed research study provides compelling evidence that BRT systems in the U.S. can generate economic development, attract jobs, retail and affordable housing — at a cost that’s well within reach for many mid-sized American cities. Join us as we help unveil the results of this new study outlining the potential economic returns of BRT investments, plus a firsthand explanation from the former Mayor of Indianapolis on why his city is banking on a brand new bus rapid transit network as one of the city’s primary economic competitiveness strategies.

Tuesday, January 12th, 2016
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
The L’Enfant Map Room, Carnegie Library
801 K Street NW, Washington, DC
(Immediately south of DC convention center)

or contact Alicia Orosco: alicia.orosco@t4america.org

Join us on social media to talk about the findings, whether you’re attending in person next Tuesday or checking back here to read the full report on Tuesday. Is your city planning a new bus rapid transit line or system?

#BusesMeanBusiness

Hosted by:

The Hon. John Robert Smith, Advisory Board Chair, Transportation for America & Senior Policy Advisor, Smart Growth America
The Hon. Gregory Ballard, Former Mayor, Indianapolis, IN, and Advisory Board Member, Transportation for America
(Study author) Arthur C. Nelson, Ph.D, FAICP, Professor of Planning & Real Estate Development, University of Arizona
The Hon. Christopher Zimmerman, Vice President for Economic Development, Smart Growth America

Can’t make the meeting?

Help us spread the word about the event and the new study (which you’ll be able to read next week). Use the hashtag #BusesMeanBusiness and share the event on Twitter (link below), Facebook, and other social networks.

Sponsored by Transportation for America, Smart Growth America’s TOD Technical Assistance Initiative and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities.

SGA’s TOD Technical Assistance Initiative is made possible through support from the Federal Transit Administration.

Eugene EMX Bus rapid transit

Congress’ FAST Act provides needed funding certainty but fails to move the country forward

After the House and Senate took action to approve the final five-year, $305 billion Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act transportation authorization this week, T4America director James Corless offered this statement:

“We’re grateful that Congress finally moved beyond short-term extensions and passed a five-year transportation bill with funding to provide the multi-year certainty states and cities have been clamoring for to bring their ambitious plans to life. The bill provides modest increases in funding for local communities, includes passenger rail in the surface authorization for the first time ever — recognizing its key role in connecting communities big and small — and makes it easier for cities and towns to apply for low-cost federal financing for locally-driven infrastructure improvements and transit-oriented development.

“While this new law does make a handful of notable improvements, the final product misses the mark on far too many counts and overall doubles down on a status quo approach to investing in transportation.

“The majority of our elected representatives, along with most of the traditional transportation industry, were all too willing to pass a bill at almost any cost. Only a handful of elected leaders were willing to even discuss raising or indexing the gasoline tax to pay for the level of investment our country desperately needs.

“When it comes to policy, this bill falls far short of the transformational, outcome-based approach needed to keep our cities and towns prospering as our nation experiences profound shifts in demographics, consumer preferences and technology.

“The FAST Act fails to increase transparency and accountability in the process of picking transportation projects; a process that the taxpaying public finds murky, mysterious, and overly political. Though it does slightly increase funding directly to metropolitan areas, it failed to give smaller communities any more control over federal funding. It doesn’t increase the amount of money awarded competitively to the best projects on the merits and makes an enormous cut to the innovative TIFIA low-cost financing program for local projects. And though daily headlines are filled with an increasing number of stories about autonomous vehicles or shared mobility services changing the landscape of our cities, this bill is virtually silent on both counts.

“While states and metropolitan regions will enjoy the certainty of funding that they’ve not had in seven or eight years, they’ll be stuck with yesterday’s policies until 2020, and the tab will be passed on to our children. The FAST Act represents a major missed opportunity to do something much better that the country needs and deserves.”

House transportation bill uses tomorrow’s revenues to pay for yesterday’s policies

Following final consideration of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act (STRR) Act by the full House of Representatives, Transportation for America chairman John Robert Smith offered this statement:

“In a country that’s drastically changing, the House has doubled down on the status quo and declared that our country’s current model for investing in transportation is the best approach for another six years to come. Congress has once again failed to have a meaningful conversation about raising new revenue from users of the transportation system, choosing instead to tap as much as $85 billion in general taxpayer funds to close the yawning gap in our country’s transportation trust fund — leaving the hard decisions for those willing to lead some other day. We’re as disappointed with Congress as we are with many in the transportation community who are willing to accept a flat-funded multi-year bill that’s paid for by any means necessary.

“On policy, this bill falls far short of the transformational, reform-minded policy that we need to keep our cities and towns prospering as the country changes dramatically. It largely fails to award more money competitively to the best projects on the merits, to increase accountability or transparency for taxpayer dollars, to increase innovative low-cost financing that can leverage local dollars, or to provide greater flexibility for states and metro areas to invest in whatever transportation solutions can bring the greatest benefits.

“In addition, the House bill also fails to give cities, towns and local communities of all sizes greater access to and control over federal transportation dollars. Instead, this bill sends yet more control and funding to unelected bureaucrats at the state level, doubling down on a broken process that local voters overwhelmingly believe chooses projects based on politics, not need.

“There were numerous opportunities to improve the bill, but they were largely ignored or blocked from consideration. A bipartisan proposal from Representatives Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Dina Titus (D-NV) that would have given more funding and control to local communities had at least eight other cosponsors and support from local elected leaders in cities small and large. Yet House leaders in key committees refused to let this amendment with broad support even come up for a vote. They refused to let their fellow representatives stand up and speak about the ambitious plans in the local communities they represent. They refused to publicly hear an argument in favor of giving more funding and authority to the local leaders who best know their communities’ needs.

“While Chairmen Shuster and Graves and Ranking Members DeFazio and Holmes Norton are to be commended for moving beyond short-term extensions and toward the multi-year funding certainty needed by states and cities to see their ambitious plans come to life, we need to pair that funding with the right policies, and this bill falls short. We’re hopeful that improvements can continue to be made in conference, including choosing to include the higher funding amount for local communities and incorporating the passenger rail authorization contained in the Senate bill.”

CONTACT:
Steve Davis, Director of Communications
steve.davis@t4america.org // 202-955-5543 x242