T4America Blog

News, press releases and other updates

Author Archive

T4America selected to lead national examination of creative placemaking in transportation

We’re proud to announce that Transportation for America has been commissioned by ArtPlace America to undertake a rigorous national examination of creative placemaking in transportation to better understand how and where artists, designers, and cultural workers are collaborating with local governments and community partners to solve transportation challenges.

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Trump’s budget will hurt local communities

President Trump’s first budget request for Congress is a direct assault on smart infrastructure investment that will do damage to cities and towns of all sizes — from the biggest coastal cities down to small rural towns. Tell your representatives that this proposal is a non-starter and appropriators in Congress should start from scratch.

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President Trump’s budget request severely undercuts stated commitment to investing in infrastructure

press release

Earlier today, President Trump released his budget proposal for FY 2018 that cuts the U.S. Department of Transportation’s discretionary budget by 13 percent, ends the popular TIGER competitive grant program, eliminates the New & Small Starts transit construction program, and terminates funding for long-distance passenger rail funding, among other notable cuts.

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How are artists being trained to collaborate with civic leaders on transportation & planning projects?

In cities across the country, artists are helping to solve civic problems. But what sort of training is helping them and other cultural workers facilitate smoother collaborations and better projects? Our third webinar on creative placemaking will continue exploring how cities and artists are working together in transportation planning and community development. Whether it’s bringing people […]

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New technical assistance opportunity for MPOs interested in performance measures

Today T4America is launching a new technical assistance program to help metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) go further with measuring and quantifying the multiple benefits of transportation spending decisions to help ensure that every dollar is aligned with the public’s goals and brings the greatest return possible for citizens.

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How metro planning agencies are promoting physical activity and health

Join us for the release of a new paper showing how regional transportation planning agencies are promoting physical activity and health.

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Recapping our discussion about states making transportation a key driver of their economic development agendas [video]

States are changing how they select transportation projects in order to save money and boost economic development. Catch up on our webinar explaining how states are attempting to focus state funds on more cost-effective investments in transportation.

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Introducing “Empty Spaces,” new research about parking requirements for transit-oriented developments

The oversupply of parking around transit — usually at the direction of outdated engineering guidelines — takes up valuable land, raises the cost of development, and misses key opportunities. This new research from Smart Growth America analyzes the amount of parking actually used in five transit-oriented development areas and how it compares to the guidelines that many planners, engineers or developers follow.

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Unpacking the final suite of new USDOT performance measures [video]

The new requirements released last week by USDOT for how states and metro areas will have to measure traffic congestion were just part of a larger package of all-new performance measures. Catch up on what you need to know about them with our detailed webinar unpacking all of it.

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Greater federal investment in infrastructure welcomed, but must be paired with increases in accountability and transparency

press release

After the release of the Senate Democrats’ $1 trillion infrastructure proposal, Beth Osborne, Senior Policy Advisor for Transportation for America, released this statement:

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Get to know our new arts and culture outreach associate

Smart Growth America and Transportation for America are pleased to announce the hiring of Mallory Nezam as an arts and culture outreach associate, assisting our efforts to help communities across the country integrate arts, culture and creative placemaking into neighborhood revitalization, equitable development and transportation planning efforts.

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How are states making transportation a key driver of their economic development agendas? [Webinar]

Join us in two weeks as we explore how two states have made transportation a key piece of their economic development agendas and have focused state funds on cost-effective investments in transportation.

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Introducing “Dangerous by Design 2016”

Between 2005 and 2014, a total of 46,149 people were struck and killed by cars while walking. That averages out to about 13 people per day.

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Transportation for America’s statement on the selection of Elaine Chao to serve as Secretary of Transportation

press release

On the confirmed reports of President-Elect Trump’s selection of Elaine Chao to serve as the Secretary of Transportation in his cabinet, James Corless, Director of T4America, released this short statement:

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Revisit our post-election livestream panel discussion

Two days after the election, we streamed a live post-election panel discussion on how the 2016 elections will impact transportation policy at the federal, state and local levels. If you missed it, catch up here.

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Live stream: How the 2016 election results will impact transportation

Sign up to join Transportation for America live on November 10th and hear a panel of experts discuss how the November 8th elections will impact transportation policy at the federal, state and local levels.

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Smart cities: why now?

The US Department of Transportation’s Smart Cities Challenge was just the latest event to expose the growing interest for cities using technological solutions to solve pressing transportation problems like reducing transportation costs while also making it easier to get around, making housing more affordable and ensuring that low-income residents benefit from our increasingly prosperous cities.

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Webinar wrap: How MPOs are prioritizing public health to build prosperous regions

Last week, we had a discussion detailing how public health professionals are working with regional transportation planners to plan, fund, and support building more state of the art active transportation projects — accompanying the release of Measuring What We Value: Prioritizing Public Health to Build Prosperous Regions.

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Webinar wrap: How artist-in-residence programs can embed creativity in city agencies

The second webinar in our series further exploring the role of arts and culture in transportation planning and community development was a terrific discussion of two cities’ artist-in-residence programs.

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Transportation for America’s long-tenured director tapped to lead the Sacramento Area Council of Governments

press release

After more than eight years as the director of Transportation for America, the only national non-profit coalition dedicated to smart, homegrown, locally-driven transportation solutions, James Corless has been selected by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) to become the agency’s new chief executive officer beginning in the spring of 2017.

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