Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Government Organizations

Highway Boondoggles: New Mexico’s Paseo del Volcan Extension

By John Olivieri and Jeff Inglis | Jan 29, 2016 | 1 Comment

In a new report, Highway Boondoggles 2, U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group profile the most wasteful highway projects that state DOTs are building. The proposed Paseo del Volcan Extension, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a textbook example of a project intended to induce and subsidize suburban sprawl. The idea of building a road through […]

The Feds Want to Reform the Cult of “Level of Service”

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 28, 2016 | 22 Comments

“What you measure is what you get,” the saying goes. That’s certainly true for transportation policy. And for a very long time one metric has reigned supreme on American streets: “Level of Service,” a system that assigns letter grades based on motorist delay. Roughly speaking, a street with free-flowing traffic gets an A while one where […]

Highway Boondoggles: Washington’s Puget Sound Gateway Project

By John Olivieri and Jeff Inglis | Jan 27, 2016 | 1 Comment

In a new report, Highway Boondoggles 2, U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group profile the most wasteful highway projects that state DOTs are building. Today we look at a classic — Washington’s $3 billion “Puget Sound Gateway Project.” Washington plans to spend billions on the Puget Sound Gateway project to “relieve congestion,” but if anything the project will increase it. […]

The Feds Aren’t Crowing About the Record Amount of Driving in America

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 26, 2016 | 4 Comments

Gas is cheap again, and cumulatively, Americans are driving a record amount. Newly released U.S. DOT data shows that through the end of November, Americans drove a cumulative 2.88 trillion miles last year, well above the same period in 2014, indicating that 2015 will set a new national record for driving mileage. Adjusting for population growth, driving is still about […]

5 Things States Can Do to Bring Transportation Policy Out of the Stone Age

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 22, 2016 | 6 Comments

On its page commemorating the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower signing the Federal Aid Highway Act, the Federal Highway Administration offers a “Then and Now” chart showing how much America has changed since 1956. It’s a little corny, but in 1956 Chuck Berry was a chart-topper, hula hoops were the new craze, and Cold War tensions were very high. The […]

The Best and Worst of the New 5-Year Transportation Bill

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 3, 2015 | 6 Comments

Smart people are wading through the 1,300-page transportation bill that came out of conference committee earlier this week, and we’re starting to get a clearer sense of how it will change federal transportation policy for the next five years. The House voted to pass the bill by an overwhelming margin just moments ago, and President Obama has already […]

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