We lost a good one: T4America reacts to the passing of former Chairman Jim Oberstar
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Last Saturday we lost former U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, a champion of a strong, smart federal transportation program who served as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee before leaving Congress in 2011. John Robert Smith, chairman of Transportation for America, issued this statement in response: “ ‘Public servant’, is a title quickly embraced […]
Four senators introduce bill to help finance transit-oriented development
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Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) have introduced an important bill to make it easier for communities to support economic development around transit stations. For any community with a high-capacity transit line – subway, light rail, bus rapid transit – encouraging walkable development around the stations is […]
Part three: Crucial transportation projects could be halted if Congress fails to rescue transportation funding
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Congressional inaction on saving the nation’s transportation fund would have tangible impacts on projects planned for next year and beyond, forcing many long-awaited projects to halt indefinitely as soon as this summer. Illinois’ six-year plan for transportation improvements could be threatened, and one long-awaited enormous project on the border with Iowa could be a casualty.
States already scaling back planned work for next year in anticipation of funding crisis
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Congressional inaction on saving the nation’s transportation fund would have tangible impacts on projects planned for next year and beyond, forcing many long-awaited projects to halt indefinitely as soon as this summer. Numerous states are already beginning to make plans for a year where no federal money is available for new projects by scaling back plans and tentatively canceling projects.
Which highly anticipated transportation projects in your community would go back on the shelf next year?
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Which highly anticipated transportation projects in your community would go back on the shelf next year? Will it be a bridge replacement years in the making? New buses to meet growing ridership? A multi-use trail along a key highway that bike commuters are hoping to use? Improvements to make your Main Street safer and more pleasant for people who shop and work there?
Crucial transportation projects could be halted if Congress fails to act
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Barring congressional action, the nation’s transportation fund will be insolvent later this year and the federal government will be unable to commit to funding any new transportation projects next year. This would have significant impacts on projects that have been planned years in advance across the country.
When the trust fund goes bust: Report shows how much your states and city will lose
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Unless Congress adds new revenue to the nation’s transportation trust fund, the federal government will be unable to commit to funding any new transportation projects, depriving states and localities of resources critical to maintaining and improving the infrastructure that makes our economy possible.
RELEASE: When the Highway Trust Fund goes bust: Report shows how much states and metros will lose
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Congress has an opportunity to save the transportation program and recommit to investing in the repairs and improvements our communities and businesses need
T4America statement on the Administration’s proposal for reauthorizing the federal transportation program
WASHINGTON, D.C. – James Corless, director of Transportation for America, issued this statement in response to the release today of the Obama Administration’s proposal for reauthorizing the transportation program, MAP-21, which expires September 30: “MAP-21 marked the beginning of a much-needed process to reform and improve our transportation system, but it was only a first […]
How much federal transportation money will your region lose this summer?
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The Highway Trust Fund—which provides most of the funding for highway projects in the United States—is slated to run bankrupt later this year. If that happens, the program won’t be able to pay for any new projects next year and many federal transportation projects will come to a grinding halt. What will that mean for […]
Released today: Key policies to reinvigorate our nation’s transportation program
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Building from conversations with business, civic and elected leaders in communities throughout the country, Transportation for America has developed a platform of seven broad policies to reboot the nation’s federal transportation program and put it, and the nation, on a sound footing.
Survey: To recruit and keep millennials, give them walkable places with good transit and other options
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Four in five millennials say they want to live in places where they have a variety of options to get to jobs, school or daily needs, according to a new survey of Americans age 18-34 in 10 major U.S. cities, released today by The Rockefeller Foundation and Transportation for America.
Indiana Governor signs bill allowing Indianapolis to vote on transit ballot measures
In a huge victory for citizens and the local business community, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) Wednesday signed a long-sought bill giving metro Indianapolis counties the right to vote on funding a much-expanded public transportation network, including bus rapid transit.
Locals encountering help or hindrance from states on their transportation plans
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Several places have been in the news lately as they find their ambitious efforts to solve transportation challenges hinging on legislative action this lawmaking season. In some, state legislators are helping out with enabling legislation, but in others they are challenging the concept of local control and threatening needed investment.
Too weak to be effective: U.S. DOT’s first proposed performance measure needs work
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While the 2012 federal transportation law, MAP-21, was not the transformational milestone many of us hoped for, it did put in motion a first-ever framework for accountability and transparency, establishing 12 basic metrics by which to judge agencies’ performance. It was left to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to put flesh on the bones by adopting rules for how to apply those performance measures.
As feds OK funding, critical legislators move to block Nashville’s planned transit investment
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Opponents in the Tennessee legislature have put forward an amendment designed to stop Nashville’s bus rapid transit line, eliciting howls of protest over legislative intervention in a local project previously approved by the state DOT.
Summary of the President’s budget for transportation
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This week President Obama released his proposal for next fiscal year’s budget (FY15), outlining his vision and priorities for the coming fiscal year starting this October. The President’s budget for transportation, which aligns with many things that Transportation for America and our alliance of local leaders across the country have been proposing — from the need to shore up the trust fund to the urgent economic imperative to make new investments in transportation at all levels.
T4America statement on the President’s proposed FY 15 budget for transportation
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James Corless, director of Transportation for America, issued this statement in response to the Administration’s budget proposal, released today:
T4America congratulates Senator Carper on his appointment as chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee
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Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), has announced the appointment of Senator Thomas R. Carper (D-DE), as chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee. James Corless, director of Transportation for America, issued this statement in response:
T4America applauds President and House tax chair for efforts to fix the transportation funding crisis, as local leaders plead for help
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Today President Obama and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) introduced separate proposals that would prevent the looming insolvency of the nation’s key infrastructure trust fund. President Obama today unveiled a proposal for a four-year, $302 billion transportation bill, with a windfall from business tax reform covering the shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund for that period. Chairman Camp proposed tax reform measures that would include staving off insolvency of the transportation fund for eight years. James Corless, director of Transportation for America, issued this statement in response: