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
Cliff’s Notes on the Transit Changes in MAP-21
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The FTA has put out a helpful guide [PDF] to the changes to public transit policy in MAP-21, the new transportation bill that takes effect October 1. Three cheers to the agency for making the changes easy to see with their tracked-changes format. While there are a lot of adjustments within the transit section, overall […]
The Awful Truth About the Transpo Bill’s Bike/Ped Loophole
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In the immediate, panicked moments after the MAP-21 conference report was released, I missed some of the nuances of just how bad a deal this bill is for bike policy. Three things stand out: States can use their Transportation Alternatives (TA) money on anything they want. Bike/ped programs are facing anywhere from a 33 percent […]
Brookings: Inadequate Transit and Sprawl Cut Off Workers From Jobs
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If there’s a problem connecting workers with workplaces, it stands to reason that there’s a problem connecting workplaces with workers. A new report from the Brookings Institution has teased out the subtleties of this side of the transit/jobs equation. Last year, Brookings found that, on average, 70 percent of jobs in a metropolitan region are […]
We’re Still Living in the SAFETEA-LU Era For Three More Months
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Something that escaped my attention until recently is the fact that MAP-21 is really only a 24-month transportation bill. Folded into the bill is an extension of SAFETEA-LU for another three months, until September 30 — the end of this fiscal year. The bill was signed into law last Friday and it expires September 30, […]
States Already Licking Their Chops Over Newly “Flexible” Bike/Ped Funds
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Just days after Congress passed a bill allowing states to spend funds supposedly designated for biking and walking on completely unrelated projects, transportation officials are already circling like vultures over that money. An AP story from Covington, Kentucky on Sunday quotes several transportation officials and executives parroting the GOP line that transportation enhancements funding, as that […]
GOP’s “Bridge Repair, Not Bike Lanes” Mantra Was Just a Lot of Hot Air
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Last fall, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) proposed diverting all transportation enhancements funding, which goes primarily to bike and pedestrian projects, to bridge repair. “With nearly 25 percent of our nation’s bridges deemed either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, we need to make their reconstruction a priority over errant beautification projects,” Sen. Paul said. He also […]
Obama to Sign Transpo Bill Today at 4:55
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The last thing the president will do during this hot, lazy recess week is to sign the transportation bill. He’ll be surrounded by construction workers, as this bill was always as much about jobs as it was about setting policy, and by college students, since the bill was combined with a provision keeping student loan […]
Under New Bill, America’s Transpo Loan Program Ignores National Goals
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In the highly polarized and antagonistic transportation bill negotiations, dragged out over the course of almost a year, there was one thing that Democrats and Republicans could agree on: vastly expanding the TIFIA loan program. The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program has, since 1998, provided federal credit assistance at favorable interest rates […]
A New Bill Passes, But America’s Transpo Policy Stays Stuck in 20th Century
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The House of Representatives approved the transportation bill conference report this afternoon by a vote of 373 to 52. [UPDATE 4:00 PM: The Senate has also approved the bill, 74-19.] This is a bill that’s been called “a death blow to mass transit” by the Amalgamated Transit Union, “a step backwards for America’s transportation system” […]
Conference Bill Preserves Transit Funding, Wastes Opportunities For Progress
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In H.R.7 — the transpo bill so backwards even the House couldn’t pass it — the roads-only crowd threw transit riders under the bus, as it were, eliminating dedicated funding for transit, which was left to fend for itself off scraps from the general fund. The best thing one can say about the bill issued by […]
Transpo Bill Cuts Bike/Ped Funding, Lets States Spend It on Left-Turn Lanes
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NOTE: The facts are even worse than they seemed when I wrote this article. States can flex TA money, not just to CMAQ, but to anything they want. See “The Awful Truth About the Transpo Bill’s Bike/Ped Loophole,” for more. In the transportation bill agreed to yesterday by Barbara Boxer, John Mica, and other Congressional […]
Complete Streets Provision Eliminated From Final Transpo Bill
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Transportation for America, the big-tent coalition for transportation reform, tends to be careful about the statements it puts out. Its folks are diplomatic, since they work with both sides on the Hill and a wide variety of coalition members. Yesterday, as details of the conference report were leaking out, they wanted to read the whole […]