Elana Schor
Recent Posts
Obama Administration Working on Its Own Six-Year Transportation Bill
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The annual powwow of thousands of transportation workers, planners, and wonks that’s known as the Transportation Research Board (TRB) conference kicked off in the capital yesterday with a candid admission from some senior U.S. DOT officials: reorienting American transport planning to accommodate the overlap with housing and environmental sustainability is proving pretty difficult. U.S. DOT […]
Today’s Headlines
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New joblessness figures are raising pressure on the White House for job-creation action, with Oberstar still pressing more infrastructure funding as a solution (WSJ) Illinois area lawmakers pitching a rail tourism corridor (Tribune) Is America headed for a canal trolley-boat comeback? (TNR’s The Vine) In Washington D.C., every locality wants to play host to Northrup […]
Coming Soon: A Senate Jobs Bill … With a New Approach to Transport?
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The House disappointed more than a few transportation reformers last month in passing a major jobs bill with $75 billion for infrastructure but no merit-based funding or changes from the existing formulas for highways and transit. Senate Democratic No. 2 Dick Durbin (D-IL) (Photo: STLToday) Hopes for a more pathbreaking approach to what’s been dubbed […]
Does Transit-Oriented Development Work Even Without Transit?
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Yes, says urban planner Neil Payton. From his guest column today on Reconnecting America’s blog: Denver’s light rail, in the background, ended up increasing the value of nearby homes. (Photo: Denver Post) Either [local planners] view [transit access] as too distant a possibility to factor in or, ironically, they view rail transit as a means […]
Could Rail be the Sleeper Issue in the Connecticut Senate Race?
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After Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) retirement propelled popular Attorney General Richard Blumenthal into Connecticut’s 2010 Senate race, ex-Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) now faces a more difficult bid — one described by his own pollster as a "war of attrition." So it’s worth asking what role the state’s lengthy transportation to-do list will play in the […]
Today’s Headlines
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EPA rolls out stronger new limits on smog, formed by a mixture of pollution from stationary and mobile sources (NYT) A look at the green job-creation potential of the next federal transport bill (Apollo Alliance via Grist) Oberstar cheers as Minnesota joins Safe Routes to School partnership (Review Messenger) How to redraw a new, more […]
Democratic Lawmaker Blasts Salazar For Calling Big Oil ‘Kings of the World’
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When Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced yesterday that his department would conduct stricter environmental reviews before leasing federal land to oil and gas producers, he added a comment that few in the Democratic party might contest: Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) (Photo: NewsGroper) In the prior administration the oil and gas industry were the kings of […]
Transport Economist Challenges Claim That ‘VMT Causes Growth’
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The claim to a link between economic growth and vehicle mileage — that, in other words, auto travel is essential to keeping U.S. productivity high — remains controversial and much-debated in transportation policy circles. One notable recent flare-up in that debate took place on National Journal’s blog after road lobbyist Greg Cohen, referring to an […]
The U.S. Transportation Financing Crisis: A Snapshot From the States
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Washington transportation policymaking can often resemble an unwieldy soup of anywhere between 50 and 535 local perspectives, as lawmakers from different states and districts vie for a fixed (or even shrinking) amount of federal funding. Congress isn’t eager to raise fuel taxes to pay for transportation — but what about the states? (Photo: Pop and […]
Today’s Headlines
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Florida may not be on any official list of high-speed rail finalists, but its congressional delegation is still wooing the White House (TBO.com) Webster’s dictionary names "distracted driving" 2009’s word of the year, to LaHood’s delight (The Swamp, DOT Blog) Small transit systems, such as the bus network in Greeley, CO, hoping to avoid getting […]
New Report Finds American Auto Fleet Shrinking
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Could the nation be turning away from its decades-old yen for auto ownership? Americans got rid of more cars than they retained in 2009, reversing a trend that saw total U.S. vehicles exceed the number of drivers more than 35 years ago, according to a report released today by the Earth Policy Institute (EPI). (Chart: […]
Biden’s Homage to Amtrak
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The nation’s Amtrak rider-in-chief, Vice President Joseph Biden, has penned an op-ed for the rail network’s monthly magazine entitled "Why America Needs Trains." The Vice President and his wife share a tender moment — on the Acela. (Photo: NYT) Biden doesn’t get too political in the piece, eschewing calls for more Amtrak funding in favor […]