Empowering cities to shape their urban mobility future, a Q&A with T4America’s James Corless and Russell Brooks
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James Corless, Director of Transportation for America, and Russell Brooks, Director of T4A’s Smart Cities initiative 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.
Transportation for America welcomes a new outreach director
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Transportation for America, a program of Smart Growth America, is pleased to announce today the hiring of Ranata Reeder as outreach director, helping to spearhead the organization’s work to build partnerships, grow our memberships and extend our growing alliance of local elected, business and civic leaders across the country.
T4America is partnering with Sidewalk Labs to help cities thoughtfully use technology to solve their transportation challenges
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With 77 hopeful cities leaving USDOT’s Smart Cities challenge empty-handed after the winner is announced later this month, we’re excited to announce a new partnership with Sidewalk Labs to help those cities and others develop efficient and affordable transportation options for all by thoughtfully and intentionally using emerging technologies.
Sidewalk Labs and Transportation for America Announce Partnership to Help Cities Solve Local Transportation Challenges with Emerging Technology
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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.
After years of trying to slash funding, the House proposes solid funding for next round of TIGER grants
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After several years of consistently trying to cut or outright eliminate the program’s funding entirely, House appropriators last week approved $450 million for competitive TIGER grants within the annual budget bill for all transportation and housing programs.
House transportation spending bill takes unprecedented steps to increase access to opportunity for all Americans
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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.
Ask USDOT to #MakeMeCount this Bike to Work Day
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This Friday, thousands of people across the country will put on their helmets and take to the streets for National Bike to Work Day, an annual event promoting active commuting options and safer streets. Will you be joining the event this week? If so, make your ride even more impactful by telling USDOT to #MakeMeCount when it comes to measuring how well a street works.
Spokane is one of a growing slate of cities considering transit ballot measures to help stay competitive and successful
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With a ballot measure for transit looming this fall, T4America Chairman John Robert Smith traveled to Spokane, WA to speak to city officials, business leaders, and other community stakeholders about the long-term economic and social benefits of public transit investments.
Feds get out of the way of communities that want to design safer, more complete streets
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Two encouraging moves made by the Federal Highways Administration in the last week clear the way for states, metro areas and local communities to use their federal dollars to design safer, more complete streets.
After city council action, Indy voters will decide on expanding and improving regional transit this November
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Indianapolis took another big step forward this week in their ongoing efforts to expand and improve transit service across the city and region. Monday night, the Indianapolis City-County Council voted to place a measure on this November’s ballot to allow voters to decide whether or not to raise new funding for transit service.
What progress did states make this year on raising new funding or improving policy?
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Nearly all state legislatures have adjourned for the year. Here’s our regular look at the progress made in states working to create more transparency, build more public trust in transportation spending, or raise new money.
Watch the recording of T4America’s discussion on USDOT’s rulemaking on traffic congestion performance measures
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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 […]
When it comes to traffic congestion, we need to measure more than just vehicles
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Last week, USDOT issued a draft rule that will govern how states and metro areas will have to measure and address congestion, along with other metrics like freight movement and emissions. However, the rule as it is currently written would measure success in outdated ways. Old measures leads to old “solutions,” like prioritizing fast driving speeds above all other modes of transportation and their associated benefits.
Senate transportation appropriations bill adheres to local leaders’ call to fund TIGER, public transit and passenger rail
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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.
Join us as we break down FHWA’s most recent rulemaking on measuring traffic congestion
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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.
Ten things to know about USDOT’s new proposal for measuring traffic congestion
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For the first time, USDOT has released new requirements for how states and metro areas will have to measure traffic congestion. While the new rule marks a continued, necessary shift to assessing what our federal transportation dollars actually accomplish, this proposal as introduced doubles down on outdated measures of congestion that will push local communities to spend billions of dollars in vain attempts to build their way out of it.
Breaking news: USDOT releases draft rule for measuring congestion
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A new federal proposal governing how states and metro areas will be required to measure congestion was just released early today. Our brief analysis finds that though there’s potential for improvement with how the rule is worded, it would still push local communities to waste time and money attempting to build their way out of congestion by using a measure of traffic congestion that’s narrow, limited and woefully out of date.
Smart Growth America welcomes Lynn Peterson as new senior transportation policy advisor
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Smart Growth America and Transportation for America are pleased to announce today the hiring of Lynn Peterson, former chief executive officer of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), as senior transportation policy advisor for Smart Growth America. Learn more about Lynn’s experience in Washington and what she hopes to do in her new position in a short Q&A below.
Will pending federal transportation rule double down on outdated view of congestion?
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USDOT is on the cusp of releasing crucial directions for how states and metro areas will have to measure traffic congestion. The new rule could push local communities to try in vain to build their way out of congestion, or mark a shift toward smarter approaches like shortening trip times, rewarding communities that provide more options or better accounting for other travel modes and telecommuting.
Find out who made the “Best Complete Streets Policies of 2015” list tomorrow (4/12)
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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.