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
Politico: Boxer Already Working on the Next Transportation Bill
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Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) confirmed she is already working on the next transportation bill — “two months to the day after President Obama signed MAP-21 into law and before the new policies even kick in on Oct. 1,” according to Politico, which broke the story this morning. In an interview with Adam in Charlotte, Boxer said […]
Bicycle Buses a Big Hit at Party Conventions
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Last week, delegates and visitors at the Republican National Convention in Tampa helped themselves to 1,250 free rides on a bicycle bus — a sort of communal bike-share system called Freewheelin, sponsored by health insurance company Humana. According to the Freewheelin website, those RNC attendees logged 542 miles on the 20 free pedal-buses, burned 18,137 calories, […]
NACTO Beats the Clock With Quick Update of Bike Guide
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Once again, the National Association of City Transportation Officials has proven what an agile, modern coalition of transportation agencies is capable of. It was just a year and a half ago that NACTO released its first Urban Bikeway Design Guide and today, it’s released the first update to that guide. NACTO’s guide is far ahead of the industry standard, […]
John Boehner Makes Stuff Up About Gas Prices
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Out of thin air, House Speaker John Boehner sent an email yesterday with the subject line, “Labor Day Pain: Gas Prices Have Doubled on President Obama’s Watch.” As evidence of the “doubling” charge, Boehner links to his own website, where he claims, “The average price for a gallon of gasoline was $1.85 when President Obama […]
Fact-Checking Deval Patrick’s Attack on Romney’s Transpo Record
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Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick got wild applause last night when he told the Democratic Convention audience: In Massachusetts, we know Mitt Romney. By the time he left office, Massachusetts was 47th in the nation in job creation—during better economic times—and household income in our state was declining. He cut education deeper than anywhere else in […]
September Brings ‘Back to School’ Jump in Traffic Congestion
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Why do traffic delays jump in September? Obviously, fewer people are on vacation. But it’s not just commuters back to the grind getting to and from work. It’s parents dropping their kids off at school, often with even less forgiving start times than an adult workday. Region Forward, a DC-based livability partnership, shows that the […]
Democratic Platform’s Scarce Words on Transportation Fail to Inspire
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President Obama spent Labor Day touting his rescue of the U.S. auto industry, and today, like a chorus of backup singers, the Big Three automakers posted double-digit sales increases in perfect unison. Meanwhile, the Democrats kicked off their convention in Charlotte. Delegates will vote today on the Democratic platform, released late last night. The platform doesn’t say […]
The Future Is Here (And It’s Called Transit)
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Professional innovation guru Dominic Basalt wondered aloud in yesterday’s Washington Post, “Has the new golden age of transportation arrived?” Basalt, who heads a consulting firm called Bond Strategy and Influence (every word of which I find intimidating), is a little disappointed that we don’t have flying cars and levitating trains yet. Isn’t this the future? Science fiction […]
Tennessee DOT Moves Past Road-Widening as a Congestion Reduction Strategy
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In the late eighties and nineties, every traffic issue the Tennessee Department of Transportation faced was assigned the same solution: a bypass. But over the years, the department has come around to a new way of doing things, according to 40-year TDOT veteran Ralph Comer. Comer says the current commissioner, John Schroer, wants to become […]
Now No Republican Will Ever Ride a Bus Again
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You’ve got to hand it to the Republicans. Even the party of transit haters had to admit that the only logical way to move delegates around in the congested streets around the GOP convention was by bus. And they would have been right, except they had a little snafu that will undoubtedly convince everyone involved that transit […]
They Totally Went There: GOP Outlines Extremist Transpo Views in Platform
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In all issue areas, the Republicans outdid themselves on far-right-wing pandering with their new platform, approved yesterday in Tampa. Transportation is no exception. The new platform calls for the end of subsidies for Amtrak and high-speed rail, and for states to have maximum flexibility on transportation spending — unless of course they want to spend […]
Are Dense Urban Neighborhoods More Resilient During Natural Disasters?
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As the country watches Hurricane Isaac’s massive spiral head straight for the Gulf Coast, we are all experiencing post-traumatic symptoms of Katrina, which, seven years ago today, was heading for the same target. But I’m also remembering a severe weather event that hit closer to home (for me) somewhat more recently: Snowpocalypse, followed by Snowmageddon, […]