Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Federal Transit Administration

In Homage to Daniel Inouye, Feds Commit to Funding Honolulu Transit

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

Senate titan Daniel Inouye passed away Monday at 88. The Hawaii senator was the longest-serving member in the chamber at the time he died. As a fitting tribute, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood yesterday signed a full funding grant agreement with Inouye’s widow at his side, committing the federal government to $1.55 billion in transit assistance. The […]

GAO: States “Flexing” Fewer Federal Dollars to Transit

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 21, 2012 | 3 Comments

Supporters of livable streets may hear about the “flexibility” of transportation dollars and cringe – after all, that word often refers to the ability of states to use bike/ped money for road building. But flexibility can work both ways. Between 2007 and 2011, states devoted $5 billion in surface transportation funds — known in some […]

Weathering the Next 108-Year Storm

By Deron Lovaas | Nov 2, 2012 | 1 Comment

Deron Lovaas is the Federal Transportation Policy Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. This article is cross-posted from his blog on Switchboard. The Boy Scout motto (“Be prepared”) should guide state transportation departments (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and transit agencies as we recover from the destruction Hurricane Sandy wreaked. This superstorm was deemed historic for transit […]

Why Recovery Aid Is Getting to Roads Faster Than Transit

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 31, 2012 | 1 Comment

As we reported yesterday, MAP-21 went into effect just in time for Hurricane Sandy, allowing the Federal Transit Administration similar emergency grant-making authority as FHWA. But Adam Snider at Politico reminded us this morning that the change is easier said than done. While U.S. DOT released $13 million yesterday to New York and Rhode Island […]

How State DOTs Got Congress to Grant Their Wish List

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 24, 2012 | 1 Comment

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 […]

Cliff’s Notes on the Transit Changes in MAP-21

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 13, 2012 | No Comments

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 […]

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