Recent Streetsblog USA posts about U.S. DOT

Midwest Rail Lives! Work Underway in Four States

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 5, 2012 | 4 Comments

Intercity rail dreams in the Midwest have certainly seen their share of setbacks — with federal funds being returned in Ohio, Wisconsin and, more recently, Michigan. But all is far from lost. Yesterday, U.S. DOT announced a $186 million grant to Illinois DOT to upgrade the line between Chicago and Joilet — about 40 miles […]

Biking and Walking Score Big in TIGER III

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 20, 2011 | 4 Comments

In the third round of TIGER funding, the Obama administration has continued to demonstrate a strong commitment to bike and pedestrian projects. Of the 46 projects chosen for funding, 22 incorporate some aspect of bike and pedestrian accessibility, and nine of them make cyclists or pedestrians the primary beneficiary, said Kartik Sribarra of the Rails-to-Trails […]

NTSB: States Should Ban Hands-Free Calls While Driving

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 15, 2011 | 27 Comments

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 […]

LaHood Defends High-Speed Rail Program At House Hearing

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 6, 2011 | 11 Comments

It’s Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s birthday, and he’s spending it testifying before the House Transportation Committee. The hearing is on “Mistakes & Lessons Learned” from the high-speed rail program, but — no surprise here — LaHood and House Republicans have differing ideas about what “mistakes” have been made. Here are some highlights. Chair John Mica […]

Is Transpo Funding Fundamentally a PR Problem? Five Ex-DOT Chiefs Discuss

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 2, 2011 | 3 Comments

How can you convince Americans that transportation is important enough to invest in? That’s the question that brought together five former U.S. Transportation Secretaries this week at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. James Burnley was deputy secretary and then secretary under President Reagan. He took the position that “75 percent” of the public “gives […]

Mapped: How Federal Funding Fails to Match Demand for Transit in the U.S.

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 29, 2011 | 8 Comments

UPDATE: Corrects the post to say that the map reflects all ongoing projects, not just those in the final engineering and construction stages. How much is New York’s Second Avenue Subway estimated to cost? What transit lines really make up LA’s ambitious 30/10 initiative? Besides the silver line to Dulles Airport, which may or may […]

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