Transportation Funding

Villaraigosa Talks to Reporters After Addressing the Move LA Conference in January

That OCTA and Caltrans are promoting a project that will increase the amount of traffic on Route 57 isn't the only thing that has locals so concerned.  Residents are also concerned that the widening will remove a sound wall which keep carbon particulates off their windows.  One resident tells the register:

Far be it from me to disagree with an elected representative of the people, but the time for word smithing is past.  As the midnight deadline approaches, the Senate is again dithering while a needed regional project sits on the drawing board.  Anyone surprised by the most recent State Senate Stall isn't paying close attention.  Officials in Sacramento have repeatedly show scorn for alternative transportation, be it the continual robbing of "dedicated transportation taxes" or using parochial concerns to threaten this fall's proposed sales tax ballot measure, and the voter's right to decide transportation issues for themselves.

Maybe there are some Times' editors reading Streetsblog?

The $1.7 billion in public transportation funding promised by the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act would be a step in the right direction, but it pales in comparison to what might have been. The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act -- the cap-and-trade bill that died in the Senate last month -- would have brought 100 times that much in federal transit investment, thanks in large part to Senator Ben Cardin. In a recent interview with Grist, the Maryland Democrat offers a refreshing perspective on the future of US transportation policy.

Metro's Plans Are Big on Expansion, Not So Big on Increasing Bike/Ped. Access to Their Stations