Crucial transportation projects could be halted if Congress fails to act
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
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
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 applauds President and House tax chair for efforts to fix the transportation funding crisis, as local leaders plead for help
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:
In Hill event, local leaders make case for federal support for transportation needs
Before a packed room on Capitol Hill, local leaders from three very different communities shared one very specific message with a handful of Congressmen and at least four dozen staffers: If Congress doesn’t act to shore up the nation’s transportation fund before it goes insolvent later this year, their cities and communities would bear the brunt of the pain.
Our series on local successes continues: Normal, Illinois
This inspiring story from Normal, Illinois is one that we’ve been following here for quite some time. Normal’s story is the third in our series of these stories that illustrate how local communities across the country are casting a vision for transportation investments and often putting their own skin in the game first with local funding while hoping for a strong federal partner to make those plans a reality. And that’s just what Normal found through the federal TIGER program.
Shining a spotlight on the nation’s strapped transportation fund this Wednesday
It’s not a new story by now: states and local governments stand to lose nearly all access to federal transportation support next year if Congress doesn’t act to shore up the nation’s transportation fund sometime before the end of the summer. So far, we’ve mostly talked about this as a national story, but make no mistake: insolvency would have huge impacts on local communities. To explore the issue in that light, we’re supporting a bipartisan briefing pulled together by two key House members
U.S. DOT Acting Assistant Secretary Beth Osborne joins Transportation for America
Transportation for America is pleased to announce the hiring of Beth Osborne, a key leader in federal policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where she served in the office of the Secretary since 2009 as Deputy Assistant Secretary and then Acting Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy.
Denver conference will showcase transportation success – but will others be allowed to emulate it?
Almost 1,000 people heading to Denver, Colorado this week for the annual New Partners for Smart Growth conference will get to see up close what we recently called “a bold bet on an ambitious and comprehensive plan to expand their transportation network a decade ago” in our profile of Denver’s transportation success.
CBO: Highway Trust Fund hole even deeper than expected
New revenue projections for the Highway Trust Fund released this week from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show that, not only is the nation’s transportation fund going in the red sooner than expected, but the gap to maintain promised funding levels has increased by about $5 billion.
Our op-ed in The Hill today: Helping the feds help the locals to help the economy
Excerpt from op-ed: “If we are going to raise the necessary revenue — and we argue emphatically that we should — we have to be able to articulate a clear and compelling case that the investment will lead to improved long-term economic prosperity. At the same time we need to direct more of the funding and latitude to local communities, rewarding the most innovative projects at the level where voters can best be assured of accountability.”
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