Transportation Policy
Streetsblog LA
Centers for Disease Control: Transportation Reform is Health Reform
The connection between transportation and public health has slowly
edged into the mainstream since Streetsblog Capitol Hill began covering
it last year, first through a billion-dollar grant program added to Congress' sprawling health care bill and now in a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) brief that connects existing U.S. infrastructure with chronic disease, obesity, and premature deaths.
May 6, 2010
LaHood Answers GOP Critic, Soothes Dem Skeptic of Sustainability Budget
As Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tangled with a senior GOP senator today over the White House's $500 million-plus request for its inter-agency office of sustainable communities -- a new project
aimed at channeling federal energy towards local transit-oriented and
smart growth plans -- an influential Democrat joined her fellow senator
in raising questions about diverting highway money to the effort.
May 6, 2010
New Analysis: 59% of Road Stimulus Went to Repair, 33% to New Capacity
In
the first year of the Obama administration's economic stimulus law, 59
percent of its $27 billion in transportation formula funds went to
projects that preserve existing roads, while 33 percent was used to
build new pavement, according to an analysis by the advocacy group
Smart Growth America (SGA).
May 5, 2010
Senate Dems Unveil Auto Safety Legislation
Democrats are moving quickly on their plan to take a unified approach
to auto safety reforms in the aftermath of the Toyota recalls, with
Senate Commerce Committee members releasing a new bill today that would
quintuple the maximum existing penalties for carmakers who -- like
Toyota -- fail to promptly notify the public of defective products.
May 5, 2010
Federal Transit Security Inspections: A Once-Every-Three Years Affair
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is
linked most closely in the popular consciousness with aviation
security, but its mandate also extends to protecting rail and transit
systems -- a job that needs to get more attention from the agency,
according to senior senators from both parties.
April 26, 2010
New Poll: 27% of Public Would Cut Transit Aid, Versus 12% for Highways
The latest weekly edition of the Economist/YouGov poll
asks where, if a balanced federal budget were the goal, the American
public would rather see cuts to federal spending. As the chart above
shows, transit was given the theoretical axe by 27 percent of
respondents, tied with agriculture and housing but far behind foreign
aid, which held the lead at 71 percent.
April 9, 2010
‘A Dozen or So’ Senators Delay Passage of Oberstar’s Highway Funding Fix
A contentious congressional dispute over
$932 million in transportation funding remains unresolved this week
after the Senate approved a one-month extension of federal aviation law
rather than a three-month version of the bill that included a fix to
the provision at issue.
March 29, 2010
Transport and the Tea Party: How Conservatives Talk About the Gas Tax
The passage of health care legislation this week, while elating
Democrats, has proven an equally potent motivator for conservatives
advocates of states' rights. Appearing on Sean Hannity's Fox News show
last night, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) was asked about the viability of the
legal challenge to the health bill filed by 14 mostly conservative attorneys general.
March 26, 2010