Nine Reasons For Bike/Ped Advocates to Take Heart: The Senate Edition
Now that the dust has settled, we have a few more notes on the Senate transportation bill that passed the EPW committee yesterday. Bike and pedestrian advocates are understandably shaken at seeing some major changes to the primary programs that fund their work. But here are some reasons to take heart:
November 10, 2011
Two-Year Transpo Bill Moves on to Full Senate Without Bike/Ped Protections
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted unanimously this morning to pass a two-year transportation reauthorization bill, moving the bill one step closer to passage by the full Senate.
November 9, 2011
Two Infrastructure Jobs Bills Die in Senate
Two competing versions of a transportation-related job creation bill went down yesterday in the Senate. The first, the Rebuild America Jobs Act (S.1769), was a Democratic proposal, modeled on President Obama's job creation bill, to invest $50 billion for infrastructure and another $10 billion as seed money to create a new national infrastructure bank.
November 4, 2011
How Will the House Answer the Senate’s Transportation Funding Bill?
The full Senate passed a major appropriations bill yesterday, including funding levels for transportation and housing. The Senate put the kibosh on Sen. Rand Paul’s attempt to strip bike/ped funding from the federal transportation program, as we reported yesterday. Here’s the lowdown on the bill as a whole.
November 3, 2011
Feds Put Off Issuing New Trucking Safety Rules
Federal safety officials missed their own deadline Friday for making new rules about dangerous trucks.
November 1, 2011
Bike/Ped Funding Intact as Senate Rejects Rand Paul’s Amendment
Bike/ped funding is pitching a perfect game in the Senate after Republicans swung (and missed) at the popular Transportation Enhancements program for the third time in two months. The final strike came this morning, when Kentucky Republican Rand Paul's amendment to divert all TE funds to bridge repair failed spectacularly, garnering only 38 votes in favor, with 60 senators voting against.
November 1, 2011
Why Create an Infrastructure Bank When We Could Just Expand TIFIA?
There’s been a lot of adulation heaped upon the TIFIA loan program lately. Both houses of Congress are ready to increase funding for the program nine times over, from $100 million to $1 billion a year – despite warnings from outside groups that there may not be enough eligible projects to use up all that money.
October 31, 2011
The Federal Government’s Smart Growth-Inspired Landlord
Robert Peck says he’ll gladly pay more to locate office buildings near transit – the time saved commuting makes it worthwhile.
October 26, 2011
Senate Panel to Vote on Transportation Bill Next Month
While a House transportation bill still appears to be a long way off, the Senate is prepared to move forward on its version. EPW Committee leaders just announced that they'll be marking up their two-year bill November 9.
October 21, 2011
Rail~volution: Will New Americans Fuel Smart Growth or Suburbanism?
This year’s Rail~volution conference — the annual gathering of livability advocates, urban sustainability coordinators, and transit agency officials – kicked off today with remarks by Chris Leinberger of the Brookings Institution and Manuel Pastor, who teaches demographics and ethnicity at the University of Southern California.
October 18, 2011