Recent Streetsblog USA posts about State DOTs

The State DOT Revolving Door: Meet Jerry Wray, Ohio’s “Asphalt Sheriff”

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 29, 2013 | 11 Comments

One of the top goals of the national transportation reform movement is to get state DOTs to spend their money more wisely. The feds distribute tens of billions of dollars to state DOTs each year with very few strings attached. But for every state like Massachusetts or Tennessee that’s decided to shift toward building walkable […]

Does Detroit Need Another $1.8 Billion of Freeway? MDOT Thinks So

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 17, 2013 | 18 Comments

If there’s a city that could serve as a cautionary tale for overbuilding highways, that city is Detroit. So it’s fascinating — and encouraging — to see this city going through an internal tussle over the wisdom of building a highway. Hot off a major victory in reforming its balkanized system of suburban and […]

Citing Lack of Funds, Tennessee Calls Off $1.5 Billion Highway Project

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 15, 2013 | 5 Comments

Something tells me we’re going to be seeing a lot more of this in the not-so-distant future. Last week Tennessee DOT commissioner John Schroer took to the pages of the Memphis Commercial Appeal to explain his decision to halt construction of his state’s portion of I-69. The reason, he explained, is that the state can’t […]

The Next Generation DOT

By Charles Marohn | Jan 4, 2013 | 10 Comments

Cross-posted from the Strong Towns blog. Charles Marohn is a planner and engineer in Minnesota and the executive director of Strong Towns. We’ve been looking at the instincts of today’s transportation agencies. While on an individual level it is clear that these organizations are filled with people who are professional, competent and want to do the […]

Seven Jiu-Jitsu Moves for Advocates to Use MAP-21 to Their Own Advantage

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 11, 2012 | 2 Comments

OK, truth: Raise your hand if you find federal transportation legislation intimidating and incomprehensible. I thought so. Me too. The problem, as you know, is that it’s enormously important that advocates not only understand the new transportation law, MAP-21, but that they understand it in granular detail so they can find the small opportunities buried […]

How States Are Adapting to MAP-21’s Changes to Bike/Ped Funding

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 28, 2012 | No Comments

The current transportation law dealt a few hard knocks to bicycling and walking programs. One big one was the restructuring of the Transportation Enhancements program into something called Transportation Alternatives, which has to fund more types of projects with less money. The idea is that each state’s TA money will get split in half. Fifty […]

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