Transportation Policy

When lawmakers failed on Wednesday to reach a deal on avoiding the cancellation of $8.7 billion in transportation spending authority, the consequences of Congress’ inaction weren’t immediately palpable to most voters — but the loss is sinking in on the local level. (Photo: USGS.gov) From Texas to New Jersey to Colorado, local DOT officials are … Continued

(Editor's note: One of the drawbacks of the timing of things is I have been unable to add anything to the coverage of the Mobility 21 conference that occurred earlier this week.  Leaders from the freight industry, ports, car-lobby and government leaders held a summit on Monday to get together and talk about what they think needs to be done to fix our transportation system.  Fortunately, there was a lot of coverage in the media, Steve Hymon served as the conference's official blogger/twitterer and So.CA.TA.'s  Dana Gabbard wrote a lengthy review, which you can find below.)

While it pushes for an 18-month delay in the next federal infrastructure bill, the Obama administration has proposed a data collection effort that would help states and localities begin tracking ridership and usage of transit, roads, buses, and the like -- a small put pivotal step towards enacting national performance standards for transportation.

Interest groups seeking to influence transportation policy-making have long flooded the capital with campaign cash and lobbyists -- and their numbers are rising at an eye-popping rate. Nearly 1,800 interests are employing at least 2,100 transportation lobbyists to work the system in anticipation of the next federal infrastructure bill, according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation unveiled today.

Policymakers and private-sector players seem to be struggling to agree on how -- and whether -- to set national performance targets for America's transportation system, as evidenced by today's debate at a high-profile infrastructure conference.

As Washington conventional wisdom has it, raising gas taxes or creating a vehicle miles traveled tax to pay for transportation is impossible during the current recession. After all, who would want to squeeze cash-strapped commuters during tough economic times?

Health care and transportation funding are very different items on Congress' to-do list, but the Washington Post's assessment of the former issue fits the latter as well: Lawmakers return today from a month-long recess to find a political landscape that has barely shifted from the impasse of late July.

Streetsblog Capitol Hill reported yesterday that the U.S. DOT would end a Bush-era mandate to reward new transit projects for using private contractors -- but a similar pro-privatization rule for bus service remains in effect, preventing local transit agencies from competing with private charter companies.

While lawmakers were approving billions of dollars to entice auto buyers into moderate fuel-efficiency progress this week, the Obama administration was ramping up its push for electrified transportation.