Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
High Speed Rail

Senate Panel Backs $1.2B for High Speed Rail, $1.4B Extra For Highways

The Senate panel in charge of transportation spending has just released its version of the budget bill that passed the House last week, giving less to high-speed rail and more to highways than the lower chamber of Congress.

The
Senate's transportation bill, shepherded by senior appropriator Patty
Murray (D-WA), provides $1.2 billion for the Obama administration's
high-speed rail initiative -- $200 million more than the White House's budget request, but significantly less than the $4 billion that the House set aside for that purpose.

Highways,
by contrast, got $41.1 billion from the House but $1.4 billion extra
from the Senate, for a total of $43.5 billion in spending. Transit
would get $480 million more than the White House requested, along with
a $150 million infusion for the cash-strapped D.C. Metro system.

Senators matched their House counterparts on funding for the administration's inter-agency "livable communities" project,
which is aimed at encouraging transit-oriented development. And the
Senate outdid the House on rail safety, providing the $50 million in
grants for technology upgrades that was sought by two senior Democrats after the D.C. Metro crashed  last month.

The
Senate's total spending on both transportation and housing for 2010:
$122 billion. The bill released today is expected to be merged with the
House product sometime in the fall before heading to the president's
desk.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

July 2024 Metro Board Meeting: Ridership Up, Security Measures, LAX, and More

LAX station will open this November. Metro will expand security measures, from TAP-to-Exit to turnstile hardening. Plus more Metro action!

July 25, 2024

Covina to Begin Construction on Recreation Village

The new facility will be next to the Metrolink station and include a variety of opportunities for fitness and amusement

July 25, 2024

Incomplete Streets Part 2: in OC Caltrans Ignores Caltrans Policy on Bike and Pedestrian Needs

Caltrans has a policy requiring Complete Streets in its projects, but Caltrans Districts routinely ignore it

July 24, 2024
See all posts