Posts Tagged "minnesota"
Minnesota takes important steps to drive down emissions
To address urgent climate needs, every state will need to make it possible for their residents to drive less every day. But too many shy away from taking concrete steps to do so, putting all of their efforts into improving fuel efficiency and electric vehicle adoption. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) just took a key step in the fight against climate change: setting an ambitious target for reducing driving (measured as vehicle miles traveled, or VMT).
Driving Down Emissions in Minnesota
State and local policymakers have an important role to play in making it possible for people to drive less, which is essential for lowering transportation emissions. With our partners at Move Minnesota we produced a new case study companion to Driving Down Emissions looking at how Minnesota has seen some success reducing transportation emissions, why that progress won’t be sufficient, and how to stop leaving valuable strategies to create more livable and equitable communities on the table.
Get to know Minnesota’s new Community Vitality Fellow Marcus Young
As announced earlier this week, Marcus Young, a behavioral artist, will be embedded within the Minnesota Department of Transportation for a year serving as an artist-in-residence in a program created by Smart Growth America. Marcus will be taking a fresh look at the agency’s goals to promote economic vitality, improve safety, support multimodal transportation systems, and create healthier communities.
Marcus Young to be Minnesota Department of Transportation’s first Community Vitality Fellow
Transportation for America and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) are excited to announce MnDOT’s inaugural Community Vitality Fellow, Marcus Young. Young will be embedded within the agency for a year in its Saint Paul headquarters where he will serve as an artist-in-residence, taking a fresh look at the agency’s goals to promote economic vitality, improve safety, support multimodal transportation systems, and create healthier communities
Minnesota Department of Transportation to host a Community Vitality Fellow to advance transportation goals
Minnesota Department of Transportation joins Smart Growth America’s artist-in-residence program, by hosting a Community Vitality Fellow to creatively meet the agency’s goals of promoting economic vitality, improving safety, supporting multimodal transportation systems and creating healthier communities.
One more reason buses are cool (literally)
Just before the end of 2018, Transportation for America traveled to Thermo King’s headquarters in Bloomington, MN to get an up close look at the economic impact of public transportation dollars on Minnesota’s manufacturing jobs. Joined by several state and local leaders, Thermo King shared with the group how their high-quality HVAC systems fit into the public transit supply chain.
Crookston, MN: Where investment in public transit and hard-working Americans “help buses come alive”
Last week Transportation for America traveled to one of New Flyer of America’s transit bus manufacturing facilities in northern Minnesota to meet with state and local leaders like State Representative Deb Kiel, and get a close look at the economic impact of public transportation dollars on Minnesota manufacturing jobs.
Irrigate: Turning a huge Twin Cities construction project into an opportunity
Though the new Green Line light rail line would finally connect the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul with rail transit, business owners, local leaders, and advocates raised red flags about construction disrupting the corridor’s businesses as well as immigrant and communities of color. To mitigate the negative effects, Springboard for the Arts and other local organizations created a series of artistic interventions that did more than merely prevent painful disruptions; they helped the corridor thrive during a period of vulnerability.
State legislative stalemate jeopardizing millions in federal transit funding for Minneapolis rail project
Business leaders and suburban mayors in the Twin Cities are pleading with state legislators not to throw away dedicated federal funding for a long-planned regional transit expansion by dropping the state’s financial commitment.
What progress did states make this year on raising new funding or improving policy?
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.
A look at progress around the country on improving state transportation policy & raising new funding
Scores of state legislatures are still in session or nearing the end of their sessions. With transportation funding and policy on the docket in scores of states, here’s a roundup of the progress being made in states working to create more transparency, build more public trust in transportation spending, and even raise new money.
As many states close out their legislative sessions, the latest intel on state transportation funding
As we near the midpoint of the year and some state legislatures wrap up their sessions or approach recess, it’s a good time to take a look at where a few states stand on their efforts to raise new transportation funding.
Michigan ballot measure to raise transportation & education funds goes down by a large margin
A Michigan bill that would have raised new money and overhauled how the state pays for transportation was defeated by huge margin Tuesday with 80 percent of voters rejecting the complicated proposal.
New T4America report chronicles the prevalence of Minnesota’s structurally deficient bridges
As the state legislature debates legislation to increase transportation funding, T4America released a new report looking at the prevalence of structurally deficient bridges in the state of Minnesota. This report is a state-level version of “The Fix We’re In For”, a report we’ve issued several times since 2011, with 2015 statistics for Minnesota.
And then there were seven: April update on state transportation funding legislation
A total of seven states have now successfully passed legislation in 2015 to raise new money to invest in transportation, avoid budget shortfalls from declining revenue sources and keep up with growing needs — mostly by voting to raise their state fuel taxes.
Governors step out in favor of raising transportation revenue
States across the country are facing huge deficits in their own transportation budgets — a problem compounded by the uncertainty over the support they’ve always received from the federal transportation fund, which is now just months away from insolvency. However, over the last month or so, at least nine governors have highlighted plans to raise new state transportation revenues in their State of the State addresses, marking the issue as a top priority.
15 issues to watch in ’15, Part II: Places
It’s a challenge to craft a list of only five states, regions and cities that have important or notable things happening this year. Whether states attempting to raise transportation revenue this year, states changing key policies and continuing to innovate how they choose or build transportation projects, or local communities going to voters to raise money for new projects, there’s no shortage of places worth watching this year. Here are five that rose to the top, but tell us what you think we missed, in your area or elsewhere.
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.
Smarter transportation case study #6: Managed lanes with peak-period transit discounts in Minneapolis
In Minneapolis, priority lanes and differential pricing have cleared a key interstate during peak hours and allowed more commuters to utilize public transit. Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. (From our series of 14 case studies.)
Wrapping up the Minnesota release of the Blueprint
On Monday, June 29th the Minnesota Coalition of Transportation for America welcomed community, city, and state leaders to learn more about the T4 America vision for the next federal transportation bill — and how Minnesotans would benefit from a reformed federal transportation program.
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