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
GAO: Mileage Fee Could Be More “Equitable and Efficient” Than Gas Tax
| | 25 Comments
While governors debate raising (or eliminating) their states’ gas taxes, buzz is building about mileage-based fees, or a vehicle-miles-traveled charge. A House provision to ban U.S. DOT from studying such a fee has gone away (along with its sponsor), while Rep. Earl Blumenauer is trying to get the Treasury Department to look into how it could […]
Jay Rockefeller to Retire From Senate in 2015
| | No Comments
Sen. Jay Rockefeller is expected to announce later today that he won’t run for re-election in 2014. The West Virginia Democrat will have served 30 years in the Senate. He chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, one of the four Senate committees – though probably the least of the four – that crafts the surface transportation […]
Will Driverless Cars Add Another Color to Australia’s Heat Maps?
| | 5 Comments
Here’s the big news of the day: Autonomous cars are making a big splash at the Consumer Electronics Show right now. Audi is testing its self-driving cars on Nevada roads. Google’s already done it in California. Toyota and Lexus are getting ready too. Here’s the other big news of the day: The planet’s getting hotter. […]
What Does It Mean That LaHood Isn’t On the Second-Term List? Nothing.
| | 1 Comment
A White House official yesterday named three Cabinet members who are staying on for Obama’s second term and set off a firestorm of speculation about those he didn’t name — among them, Ray LaHood. The fact is no one knows yet whether the transportation secretary will stay on for the second term or not, or for a part of […]
Bob McDonnell: Everyone Should Pay For Virginia’s Roads (Except Drivers)
| | 5 Comments
In transportation circles, there’s an endless debate about how to fund infrastructure. Raise the gas tax? Index it to inflation? Institute a vehicle-miles-traveled fee? Many jurisdictions have turned to property taxes, bonds, and sales taxes as a supplement. But Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is blowing the whole thing wide open with a half-baked scheme for the […]
How Rethinking the Golf Course Could Help Seniors Age in Place
| | 11 Comments
The 15,753 golf courses in the United States take up more space than half the state of New Jersey. And though they devour so much land, much of it in suburbia, the sport is foundering — in part because of the enormous amount of time and distance it requires. Some real estate professionals and experts […]
Do T&I Committee Members Get the Transpo Needs of American Cities?
| | 3 Comments
Who will be looking out for the interests of transit riders in the 113th Congress? It’s easy to figure it out, said Cap’n Transit over the weekend: Just check whether they have an R or a D next to their names. The Cap’n ranked House Transportation Committee members, from both parties, by the percentage of car-free […]
Study: Shorter Blocks May Be the Key to Cutting Traffic in Small Cities
| | 4 Comments
It’s well-established that density and mixed-use development reduce driving. Right? But strategies like those don’t work the same way everywhere, according to new research published in the Journal of Transport and Land Use. While in major cities, denser development is linked to lower rates of driving, researchers found that in smaller cities it might not […]
Mica’s New Post Gives Him a Good Vantage Point For Sniping at Amtrak
| | 6 Comments
Perhaps Rep. John Mica’s most remarkable legacy as chair of the House Transportation Committee is the single-minded focus he gave to attacking Amtrak. Under the guise of wanting it to succeed, Mica has repeatedly excoriated it as a “Soviet-style monopoly” and a waste of taxpayer dollars. He’s tried to sell off its only profitable line, […]
Fiscal Cliff Deal Leaves Big Questions on Transportation
| | 2 Comments
The most significant part of the fiscal cliff deal for transportation was the bump that some transit riders got in the form of a commuter tax break that’s now on par with what drivers get. There are two more minor elements in the bill for transportation — both of them random enough to fit into […]
The 2012 Capitol Hill Streetsies, Part 1
| | No Comments
Happy Holidays, Streetsblog readers! I hope this missive finds you stuffed silly with sugar cookies. You know, you just can’t wrap your head around what a bizarre year 2012 was for federal transportation policy until you put it all together in something like the Streetsies. So it’s a good thing we have the Streetsies to […]
Sound Off Here: Cast Your Votes For the 2012 Streetsie Awards!
| | 1 Comment
You’ve kept your opinions to yourself long enough, dear readers. You’ve spent the last year reading Streetsblog’s coverage of the bloopers and blunders on the way to the transportation reauthorization, the chaos of the election cycle, the innovative initiatives and the insipid things state DOTs do. Now it’s time for you to have your say. […]