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
Ray LaHood Gets Behind 2 Mile Challenge
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On his “Fast Lane” blog this week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gave a shout-out to the 2 Mile Challenge, an initiative by the Clif Bar people to encourage people to bike instead of drive. LaHood started by saying that with gas at $4 a gallon, there’s no reason to use a car for the 40 […]
Sen. Kerry on Transportation Funding: “We’re in a Crazy Place Right Now”
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As the House and Senate get closer to unveiling their respective transportation proposals, it’s crunch time for figuring out how to pay for infrastructure investment moving forward. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), who has let slip that he’s in favor of a two-year reauthorization because of current funding constraints, chaired a hearing in the Finance Committee […]
Seven Transportation Improvements Everyone Can Agree On
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The Reason Foundation, a free-market think tank, is not always a transportation reformer’s best friend. Its scholars gave Florida Gov. Rick Scott inaccurate advice he then used to justify killing high-speed rail in his state. They want to prevent the gas tax from funding “peripheral” programs like transit and active transportation. But Reason Foundation experts have teamed up with […]
So Many Subsidies for Big Oil, So Little Political Will to End Them
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Lisa Margonelli, director of the New America Foundation’s Energy Productivity Initiative, hit the nail on the head on the problem with Congressional action on oil subsidies. Yesterday, she wrote in Politico that ending Exxon’s unjustifiable tax breaks would be nice, but there are far more egregious examples of U.S. government handouts to big oil: Really, […]
Brookings: Transit Access to Jobs Is the Missing Link
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If you’re a middle-income person living in the Philadelphia metro area, there’s an 85 percent chance you live within three-quarters of a mile of a transit stop, and you probably have to wait about 12 minutes for a bus or train. But if you’re looking for work, beware: only 20 percent of the jobs in the […]
Don’t Hold Your Breath for a White House Transportation Bill
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Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told reporters today that the administration sent its draft bill to Capitol Hill two weeks ago. “It’s with the people that it needs to be with,” LaHood said, “the staff that’s working on a bill.” So while we reporters have been busy poring over draft bills that, it later turns out, […]
Sens. Rockefeller, Lautenberg Compete With Kerry’s Infrastructure Bank
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In February, President Obama released his transportation plan, which included the launch of a national infrastructure bank. The next month, Sens. John Kerry (D-MA), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced a bill to create a similar bank, but with some key distinctions. And yesterday, Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), […]
How Would Blumenauer’s New Commuter Benefit Proposal Work?
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If you drive to work, you can get a $230 monthly parking benefit, subsidized by the federal government and paid through your employer. If you take transit, right now you can get up to $230 per month, but the cap may revert to $120 when the current transit benefit law expires this fall. And if you […]
Knowing Is Half the Battle: States Lack Data to Make Good Transpo Decisions
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As attention turns to performance measures as a way to squeeze every last drop of value out of scarce transportation dollars, states are going to need to do a better job proving the efficiency and effectiveness of their programs. Trouble is, most states don’t even bother to collect the information they need to show what […]
Tales From the Post-Earmark Era: Pork Won’t Hog the Transpo Money
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We knew it could happen, people! There had to be a better way to distribute federal dollars than Congressional earmarks. The FHWA just announced that 11 programs, funded at a combined $422 million, will be making discretionary grants for innovative projects. “These grants will support projects that work to improve safety, maintain a state of […]
Republican Response to USDOT’s High-Speed Rail Grantees
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In my last story about the allocation of high-speed rail funds, I said House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) must be pleased to finally see the Northeast Corridor get its due. In a statement hot off the GOP’s presses, Mica didn’t sound exactly pleased. Once again, the Administration has scattered funding to numerous slower-speed […]
Northeast Corridor, the Midwest, and California Say “Thanks, Florida!”
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Thanks to Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s head-smacker of a decision to refuse billions in federal high-speed rail funds, other parts of the country are getting a windfall. Even with $400 million of Florida’s money vanishing in the name of deficit reduction, the remaining $2 billion will go a long way in improving rail service in […]