Author Archive
Senate makes historic investment in yesterday’s transportation priorities
Deal worsens long-term prospects for addressing climate and equity woes.
On infrastructure, the White House is about to trade away their stated goals on transportation in the name of bipartisanship
“In its current state, this deal fails to accomplish the administration’s goal of reducing emissions, preserving both the status quo of easy money to build new highways (while neglecting basic repair needs) and the existing, complex hurdles to build transit,” said T4America Director Beth Osborne.
INVEST Act passes: an overdue paradigm shift toward accomplishing measurable outcomes that prioritizes repair, safety, and access
We congratulate the House of Representatives for passing the INVEST Act, a transportation bill that commits to a fix it first approach, prioritizing safety over speed, and connecting people to jobs and essential services—whether they drive or not,” said Beth Osborne, director of Transportation for America.
House transportation proposal focuses on updating nation’s outdated transportation policy to get better results
The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s proposal for long-term transportation policy makes repair, safety, climate change, and access to jobs and services core goals for the bill’s spending, rather than as nice add-ons— taking a dramatically different approach than the Senate proposal.
Introducing Benito Pérez, T4America’s new policy director
Transportation for America is pleased to announce that Benito Pérez, a veteran of the District Department of Transportation in Washington, DC, is joining the staff as the new policy director.
Release: Transportation for America on Republicans’ second infrastructure proposal
“We’re disappointed to see Republicans—again—fail to provide any real infrastructure policy proposal, opting instead for small amounts of funding pumped through the broken transportation program.
Release: Transportation for America on the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021
“The status quo is sending us backwards.”
The good, bad, and ugly in the Senate’s new transportation proposal
The Senate committee responsible for writing the highway provisions for our country’s long-term transportation policies released their proposal over the weekend. This bill makes some notable improvements and creates some vital, small new programs, but largely leaves the problematic status quo intact—akin to filling up a bucket with a leak in it.
Statement on the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021
Federal transportation policy has very serious problems to solve, from increasing pedestrian deaths, skyrocketing emissions, and the lack of equitable access to jobs and essential services. This bill tried to tackle them in the way we have seen in the past. It creates exciting new programs with a small amount of funding in the hope that it can fix the problems that will continue to be created by the much larger status quo program.
How has President Biden done on transportation in his first 100 days?
President Biden has gotten a lot of attention for his (good) infrastructure plan and overall approach to transportation. But after 100 days in office, the administration has ignored a lot of low-hanging fruit when it comes to executive and administrative actions they can take to support public transportation, emissions reduction, and other critical goals.
Biden’s infrastructure plan is out. Here are our thoughts
Early this morning, the Biden administration released the American Jobs Plan, President Biden’s infrastructure proposal. There’s a lot to be excited about, including massively increased funding for transit and passenger rail—but as we wrote last week, how we target the funding matters as much as how much we spend. Here’s our take on the proposal.
What we want Secretary Buttigieg to answer at the House Transportation hearing tomorrow
Tomorrow, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg heads to Capitol Hill for his first hearing as Secretary, where the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will question him on the Biden administration’s goals for infrastructure. We’ve been impressed by Sec. Buttigieg’s rhetoric so far—from his commitment to repairing the damage in Black and brown communities caused by urban highways to making fix-it-first his “mantra”—so we want to hear how he’ll make it happen.
The Generating Resilient, Environmentally Exceptional National (GREEN) Streets Act re-introduced in the Senate today
Today, Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Tom Carper (D-DE), and Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02) re-introduced a bill that would measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled. This would be transformative. We originally wrote this blog when the bill was first introduced in July 2019—we hope that 2021 is the year it becomes law.
Request for proposals: Grant reporting for the Southern Rail Commission
Transportation for America is seeking support for grant reporting on behalf of the Southern Rail Commission.
COVID-19 threw a curveball at curb management. Here’s how cities adapted.
Transportation for America’s 2020 cohort of the Smart Cities Collaborative was always meant to focus on curbside management. But then came COVID-19, radically shifting all aspects of our lives—including how we use curbs. Our new report, COVID and the Curb, explores how cities adapted their curb management strategies to support public health and small businesses, and ideas for better curb policy at the local, state, and federal levels.
A policy proposal to undo the damage of “urban renewal”
Today, Transportation for America and Third Way released four policy recommendations to undo the damage of “urban renewal” projects that displaced more than a million Americans during the Interstate System construction in the 1950s and ‘60s. These four federal policy recommendations can be included in a COVID-19 stimulus bill or infrastructure package, or considered as stand-alone legislation.
Cities’ priorities must be the heart of any universal curb standard. These 5 principles pave the way.
ities and towns face a massive hurdle to managing their curb space: the lack of a uniform way to define the curb and its users. Without a universal curb standard, it’s difficult for local governments to coordinate with each other and private entities and assess the effectiveness of their curbside management policies. Participants in our Smart Cities Collaborative joined together to develop five principles that should inform any universal curbside language and standards.
How the Biden administration can make immediate strides on climate and racial equity
The spread of COVID-19 has sent the United States plummeting into an unprecedented national crisis, but it has also illuminated the path forward. Smart Growth America, along with some of our programs, identified immediate executive actions and long-term policy changes that the incoming Biden administration can implement to eliminate structural inequities and address catastrophic global climate change.
Which transportation ballot initiatives passed last week?
Last week’s election saw significant support for transit. While some of the larger local transportation ballot initiatives failed, voters approved the overwhelming majority of transit funding measures—several by a large margin. Here’s a rundown on how transportation ballot initiatives fared from Austin, TX to Wheeling, WV, and every place in between, updating our earlier blog.
We’ll never address climate change without making it possible for people to drive less
With transportation accounting for the largest share of carbon emissions in the U.S., we’ll never achieve ambitious climate targets or create more livable and equitable communities if we don’t find ways to allow people to get around outside of a car—or provide more housing in places where that’s already an option. Our new report shows how we can reach those targets while building a more just and equitable society.
Our three principles
It’s past time to elevate the national conversation about infrastructure.
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