Elana Schor
Recent Posts
Who Lost Out in the Bid for a Piece of TIGER Transportation Stimulus?
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With more than $56 billion in applications submitted for just $1.5 billion in available funding, the Obama administration’s TIGER grants — short for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery — was one of the stimulus law’s most hotly contested programs. So it’s no surprise that the process resulted in its share of losers as well as […]
Freight Rail, Streetcars Are Tops in Stimulus’ TIGER Chase
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The Obama administration today announced the winners of $1.5 billion stimulus in highly competitive stimulus grants under the program known as Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER. Southeastern and midwestern freight rail projects were the day’s biggest winners, with urban streetcar projects also making a big splash. Freight rail in Chicago, where the CREATE […]
Today’s Headlines
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LaHood en route to Kansas City and Tucson this week — a sign that streetcars are poised to join Moynihan Station in snagging big TIGER money? (WH Press) Japanese bullet-train magnate says he could build a Florida factory to help ensure a piece of the state’s ample high-speed rail pie (WSJ) Transit stimulus is still […]
Study: Even in Car-Centric Atlanta, Transport Reform is Health Reform
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The connection between transportation reform — an emphasis on land use that makes biking and walking as viable as auto travel for routine trips — and health reform is one that’s not often made, despite the best efforts of the Obama administration. Even in traffic-choked Atlanta, denser residential neighborhoods had positive health effects. (Photo: MSNBC) […]
NYC’s Moynihan Station is the First Big TIGER Stimulus Winner
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New York City’s Moynihan Station project has snagged $83 million in grant money from the stimulus law’s Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced today. A rendering of the proposed Moynihan Station. (Photo: The Real Deal) The grant makes the intended successor to the current Penn Station, a longstanding priority […]
What’s Wrong With America’s Ambivalence About Crumbling Infrastructure?
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In today’s New York Times, Bob Herbert celebrates the cause of infrastructure maintenance — a less exciting proposition for politicians than cutting the ribbon at new transportation projects, but in many ways more vital to economic growth. A crumbling bridge support in Colorado. (Photo: Pure Thinking) After talking to Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), an […]
Today’s Headlines
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LaHood affirms the recent assertion by House Speaker Pelosi: Congress is unlikely to raise the gas tax to pay for transportation legislation (Pantagraph) Local lawmakers are hunting for strategies to fund a proposed commuter rail link between the Poconos and NYC in the absence of a new long-term federal transport bill (P. Record) San Francisco […]
Today’s Headlines
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The White House didn’t discriminate between GOP and Democratic governors in its high-speed rail spending … but it did hit the congressional politics on the nose (Greenwire) A new study urges controversial transition from the gas tax to one on vehicle miles traveled (Post-Gazette) An examination of the future of urban transportation, through the lens […]
GM and Chrysler Get 6,666% Return on 2009 Lobbying Investment
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Washington lobbyists’ 2009 spending levels became final today, and the Detroit Free Press was the first to tally auto industry data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The big news: Car makers, suppliers, and dealers spent 10 percent less last year on federal influence than they did in 2008, despite reaping big returns from […]
White House: Transit Inflation Outstripping Private Transportation
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The White House’s annual economic report, in addition to its endorsement of inter-city rail and transit spending, also sheds more light on transit inflation, which is often reported anecdotally in the many cities struggling with fare hikes but rarely put in statistical terms by economists. (Photo: UPI) In the appendices of its report, the president’s […]
White House Economic Report Touts TIGER, High-Speed Rail, Transit
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The White House Council of Economic Advisers’ first annual report under President Obama made headlines today for its gloomy job-creation outlook, but tucked inside its 462 pages is a tangible reflection of a changed outlook on transportation policy under the new administration. Top White House economic adviser Christina Romer, at right, holds up yesterday’s report. […]
Today’s Headlines
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New York officials announce that Broadway will remain car-free in midtown (Streetsblog NYC) In the quest for bike-friendly cities, are snobby cyclists their own worst enemies? (A. Prospect) D.C. responds to its weather challenges by building new infrastructure: a snow mountain (WSJ) Korea eyes an estimated $45B deal to help build California’s high-speed rail network […]