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
NJ Senator Lautenberg Introduces Bill to Limit Bridge and Tunnel Tolls
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Last summer, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey raised EZPass tolls from $8 to cross a bridge into the city during peak hours to $9.50, with planned increases to $12.50 in a few years (cash tolls are increasing somewhat more). Tolls for five-axle trucks will rise as high as $125. The hikes […]
Nearly Half of TIGER Award Money Goes to Roads, 29 Percent For Transit
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If you live in Stamford, Connecticut and your walk to the train station gets safer next year, you can thank USDOT’s TIGER grant program. Or when your hometown of American Falls, Idaho suddenly gets complete streets downtown, accommodating people on foot, on bikes, on buses, in cars, and in wheelchairs, encouraging local shopping. Or when […]
NTSB: States Should Ban Hands-Free Calls While Driving
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In Missouri last year, a 19-year-old driving a pickup at 55 mph sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes immediately before he caused a deadly crash. The ensuing collision killed the texting driver as well as a 15-year-old student who was on a high-school band trip to the Six Flags amusement park in […]
Congress Puts Off Key Decisions on Transpo Bill and Transit Tax Benefit
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The website didn’t lie: Apparently there really are no markups scheduled on the Senate Banking Committee’s calendar. Committee Chair Tim Johnson had told Politico that the committee would vote out the transit portion of the MAP-21 transportation bill on Friday, but yesterday, he recanted, telling the same reporters that “something came up.” Johnson said they’ll try […]
Senate Commerce Committee Sets the Standard For Transpo Performance
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The EPW Committee passed the highway portion of the transportation bill last month. The Banking Committee will tackle transit on Friday. And today, transportation reformers applauded as the Commerce Committee passed its bill dealing with the rail and safety component, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Deron Lovaas of NRDC said in his blog post about the […]
TIGER III News Begins to Leak — Chicago Bike-Share Among the Winners
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U.S. DOT is officially announcing the winners of the third round of TIGER grants tomorrow, but they give the news to members of Congress first so those members can brag about all the bacon they bring home. See below for a list of the grants we know about so far. Chicago’s Blue Line and bike-share are […]
Senate Banking Committee to Vote on Transit Section of Transpo Bill Friday
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If the Banking Committee is going to make any progress on the transit section of the Senate transportation bill, it’s going to have to happen before this weekend, when Congress leaves for the holiday recess and doesn’t come back till late January. Indeed, on Friday, the very last day of the session, Banking is planning […]
Transit’s Not Bleeding the Taxpayer Dry — Roads Are
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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Roads don’t pay for themselves. But maybe they should. “Taxpayers cover costs that should be borne by road users,” asserts the State Smart Transportation Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Road subsidies push up tax rates, squeeze government services, and skew the market for transportation.” SSTI, […]
Another GOP Transportation Proposal That’s Really All About Oil Drilling
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Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee have been working to find $12 billion to fund the transportation bill for the next two years. All their proposals have met with rejection from the committee’s Republicans. Here’s why: The Republicans have been holding out for a funding mix that would include their favorite Christmas presents — oil […]
Combating the Myth That Complete Streets Are Too Expensive
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Live in a town where bicyclists and pedestrians are personas non grata and buses get stuck in automobile congestion? Do you put on your walking boots only to find that your city’s street design conveys the message, “These roads were made for driving?” It’s time for a complete streets upgrade, then – but often, when […]
OMB: Senate Seeking Too Much Highway Money to Fund Transportation Bill
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Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and his Finance Committee have been looking high and low for a $12 billion patch to fund the transportation reauthorization bill that passed the Senate EPW Committee a few weeks ago. According to Politico’s transportation reporters, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch, has already rejected several of […]
Donate to Streetsblog: Stand Up For Safe Streets and Transportation Choices
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As cities struggle to undo the damage from decades of autocentric, sprawl-inducing policies, they often come up against state and federal transportation officials that insist on supporting a status quo that leads to more traffic congestion, more pollution, and less affordable options for everyone. On Capitol Hill, we come across many lawmakers who really get […]