Tanya Snyder
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Recent Posts
Senator Pat Toomey Fights to Spare America From Safe Streets
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You know the Senate is close to passing transportation legislation when someone introduces a hare-brained amendment to ban bike and pedestrian programs. Sen. Ron Wyden, as promised, yesterday introduced a bill to extend MAP-21 and the Highway Trust Fund’s authority by three months. It also transfers some money from the general fund into the HTF to keep […]
371 City Leaders Ask Boxer For More Local Control Over Bike/Ped Money
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Last week, 371 mayors and other city leaders wrote a letter [PDF] to Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, in support of local control over transportation dollars for bike and pedestrian projects. About two-thirds of the signatories are mayors, from cities as big as Philadelphia and Los Angeles and as […]
Talking Headways Podcast: Helmet Hair
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Did you wear your helmet when you biked to work this morning? Whether you did or you didn’t, it’s up to you. So why are there so many people shrieking about it? On one side, the 85-percenters, overstating the protection helmets offer against head injuries. On the other side, the 3-footers, claiming that it’s actually […]
And So Begins the Long Slog to the Lame Duck
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The push for a long-term transportation bill is slowly giving way to the reality of an utter lack of consensus around a funding mechanism. The chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which is charged with finding that consensus, indicated today that the job just isn’t possible right now. The Hill reports that Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) […]
Is Obama Opposed to the Bipartisan Gas Tax Proposal or Just Noncommittal?
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Yesterday, The Huffington Post ran this headline: “White House Appears More Open To A Gas Tax Hike.” Minutes later, The Hill published this one: “White House opposes gas tax hike to fix transportation funding.” So, which is it? The Hill’s headline was based on a statement by new White House press secretary Josh Earnest, who said about […]
Talking Headways Podcast: Rondo Revisited
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Finally, there is a light rail line connecting the Twin Cities. The Green Line, running 11 miles from Union Depot in downtown St. Paul to Target Field in downtown Minneapolis, cost $957 million and took decades to build. The process of choosing stations was contentious but eventually incorporated the proposals of low-income communities that wanted […]
Is Philly’s 24-Hour Subway Service the Wave of the Future?
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This weekend, Philadelphia ran subways all night on two of its lines for the first time in 23 years, and ridership jumped. The city normally runs a night-owl bus that mirrors the subway between midnight and 5 a.m., but the early Sunday morning subway ridership this weekend was 35 percent higher than the average for […]
Senators Murphy (D) and Corker (R) Propose 12-Cent Gas Tax Increase
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There are several proposals on the table to stave off the impending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund (which pays for transit, biking, and walking projects too) in two months. Just now, two senators teamed up to announce one that might actually have a chance. Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) have proposed […]
The “Worst Cities for Driving” Include a Lot of America’s Best Cities
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Don’t you just hate going to a really lively city with a pulsing street life? Where there’s a lot going on and people can walk from one place to the next? You might if you’re trying to drive there. And once again, NerdWallet has delivered the windshield perspective on America’s cities. The pop-finance website’s new […]
Americans Have Had It With the Hassles of Flying. Will They Take the Train?
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Americans are getting more and more frustrated with air travel. The airline industry is getting worried. Will passenger rail get the spoils? A new survey by the U.S. Travel Association [PDF] found that 27 percent of respondents thought flying had become more of a hassle in the last year. They’re annoyed about delays, safety, and […]
Talking Headways Podcast: A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings In the Metro
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The metro is coming to Loudon County, Virginia. Eventually. The Silver Line expansion that opens this summer will only go as far as Reston, but by 2018 it’ll be in Loudon, one of the nation’s fastest-growing — and wealthiest — counties. As the county’s population continues to grow — especially among communities of color — will […]
“Rally for Roads” Demands Transportation Funding Fix
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This morning, the road construction industry rallied in front of the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress invest in infrastructure. But some of the best-known transportation reformers in Washington were also on hand for an event that didn’t focus on one mode over others. The overriding message of the day was simple: Don’t let transportation […]