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
Oregon Takes the Next Step in Moving Beyond the Gas Tax
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Rep. Earl Blumenauer likes to say that Oregon was the first state to adopt a gas tax and it will be the first state to get rid of it. In 2006-2007, the state conducted a pilot study of alternative revenue collection methods, with an eye toward moving to a better system. This fall, they’ll do […]
Governors Get on Board With Smart Growth
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As yesterday’s post about Oklahoma City’s fight to replace a downtown highway with a real urban boulevard illustrated so well, cities are often at the vanguard of smart urban planning and transportation choices while state-level agencies can be laggards. So it’s nice to see some governors and ex-governors stepping forward to emphasize the value of […]
White House Transportation “Champions” Didn’t Get There By Car
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Every week, the White House honors leaders and innovators in a chosen field, and yesterday was transportation’s turn. Their choices of honorees spoke volumes about this administration’s principles around transportation. “We’re not talking about the past,” Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood said at yesterday’s ceremony. “We’re not talking about building more roads and bridges. We’re talking […]
How Much Bang Are Cities Getting From Federal BRT Bucks?
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How substantial are the benefits delivered by federal investment in bus rapid transit projects, and how can the feds help local governments build better bus improvements? A new report from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office [PDF] looks at the results of BRT projects that have been completed in 20 cities since 2005, when SAFETEA-LU expanded federal […]
Has DOT Retained a Bit of Say-So on TIFIA?
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Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today that the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the new, expanded TIFIA loan program is now available [PDF]. The recently-passed MAP-21 transportation reauthorization dramatically expanded TIFIA, bringing the program’s funding up from $122 million to $750 million next year and $1 billion in 2014. Subtract $60 million in 2013 and […]
Highway Builders to Party Leaders: The Future Is “More Than Just Roadways”
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Over the past two weeks, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association has sent letters to the Republican National Committee [PDF] and the Democratic National Committee [PDF], asking them to consider inserting a plank in their platforms about transportation. And they were clear in their letter that, despite being major cheerleaders for road-building, the future they see […]
MAP-21 Puts the Squeeze on Bridge Repair and Bikes
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One of the most popular elements of the new transportation authorization is its consolidation or elimination of 60 federal programs. But this cleanup is not without its casualties. One of those casualties is the off-system bridge program. And another one, indirectly, is bicycle and pedestrian programming. As you can see, the Highway Bridge Program is […]
No Explanations as Traffic Deaths Jump 13.5 Percent
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In the wake of the shocking and tragic massacre in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, many people are now, understandably, skittish about going to the movies. But the most dangerous part of going to the movies is driving there. In the first three months of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 7,630 […]
How State DOTs Got Congress to Grant Their Wish List
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Bike and pedestrian funding got slashed. Federal assistance for transit operations was rejected. Even the performance measures – arguably the high point of the recently passed federal transportation bill – are too weak to be very meaningful. For Americans who want federal policy to support safe streets, sustainable transportation, and livable neighborhoods, there were few […]
Smart Growth America: States May Pave Over Their Own Good Intentions
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Last week, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign revealed how states prioritize spending: 20 percent for transit, 2 percent for bike/ped, 38.5 percent for maintenance, and about 22.5 percent for highway expansion. Looking just at those last two numbers, that breaks down to 71 percent more spending on repair than sprawl-inducing new lanes. But Smart Growth America cautions […]
Why Congress Can’t Kill the Partnership for Sustainable Communities
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Let’s say you worked for a city that was trying to revitalize a piece of land with a bunch of dilapidated buildings on it. You want to build some residences and some retail space, and you want to make better connections to the street grid. Congratulations – HUD and U.S. DOT both have money to […]
Tea Party Deficit Hawks Don’t Mind Charging the Taxpayer For Personal Cars
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From the Drivers-Don’t–Pay-Their-Own-Way Department… ThinkProgress has done some sleuthing and found that seven Tea Party freshmen, who came to Congress on a platform of strict frugality and deficit reduction, have been sticking taxpayers with the bill for their own personal cars. These are some of the same people who hijacked the transportation bill conference process by […]