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Pressure Mounts to Hold Sen. Boxer to Her Word on Safe Streets
With conference negotiations occurring in a black box, transportation advocates on all sides are anxiously awaiting word of the final deal. Rumors abound that Democrats have been willing to negotiate away local control over bike/ped funding as a bargaining chip to get other concessions from Republicans. We don't know if this is true or not, but bike advocates are stepping up their game, trying to hold Sen. Barbara Boxer to her promises to preserve funding support for small-scale street safety projects.
June 25, 2012
Boehner Masks GOP Attack on Safe Streets By Opposing Flowers
House Speaker John Boehner spoke to reporters yesterday morning. His message: "Republicans Relentlessly Focused on Jobs."
June 22, 2012
Boxer and Mica Release Vague Reassurance of Progress
Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. John Mica just released this statement:
June 21, 2012
386 to 34: House Instructs Conference to Get It Done By Friday
There's no excuse for dilly-dallying.
June 20, 2012
House to Vote on Firming Up the Conference Deadline
The House is about to vote on a motion to instruct, sponsored by Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN). It's a non-binding command to the House members of the conference committee to finish their work by June 22 -- this Friday. Walz's motion rejects the current talk of an extension in case the conference can't come to an agreement.
June 20, 2012
AASHTO Adds Designs to Bikeway Guide, But Not Protected Bike Lanes
Last week, AASHTO, the national association of state DOTs, published the first update to its bicycle facility design guide in 13 years (available online for $144). Since many transportation engineers take their cues from AASHTO, there was an urgent need to update the 1999 guide, which failed to include many effective design treatments and promoted some standards that actually made streets more dangerous. The new guide includes some significant steps forward, but it still lacks the bikeway designs widely recognized as the best practice for making cycling a mainstream mode of transport.
June 19, 2012
The Upside of iPhones Without Google Transit Directions
As we reported last week, the new Apple mobile operating system, iOS 6, will come with a new, Apple-designed Maps application that eschews Google's mapping tools and comes without standard transit directions. The Apple Maps app will provide driving and walking directions, but transit riders will have to access third-party plug-ins to figure out the best way from point A to point B.
June 18, 2012
Boxer Changes Her Tone, Adopts a Fighting Stance
The transportation bill conference committee negotiations have been difficult and contentious, by all accounts -- all except Senator Barbara Boxer's account. The EPW chair has been optimistic when others have been bitter, consistently focusing on how much the two sides agree rather than the places where they're still far apart.
June 15, 2012
Where Is John Mica as Congress Takes Transpo Programs to the Brink?
Over the past month or two, I couldn’t help noticing that Rep. John Mica, chair of the Transportation Committee in the House, seemed completely consumed with fingerpointing at federal agencies. While the country’s transportation programs neared a crisis point -- and indeed, there is no other way to describe the current deadlock over a transpo bill -- the top dog in the House was barking up a whole other tree.
June 12, 2012
Under Economic Impact Analysis, Highway Expansion Loses Appeal
Despite the common refrains about transportation spending creating jobs, most states don't actually give serious thought to the economic impact of transportation projects. More often than not, they're content to sink money into freeways despite a wealth of research that shows that transit, bikeways, and sidewalks deliver a much bigger economic bang for the taxpayer's buck.
June 12, 2012