Recent Streetsblog USA posts about U.S. DOT

Obama Administration’s Transportation Goals: Read Them Here

By Elana Schor | Jul 1, 2009 | 2 Comments

When the Obama administration proposed an 18-month delay in drafting the next federal transportation bill, U.S. DOT chief Ray LaHood called for Congress to include "critical reforms" alongside the extension of the existing law. But details on those reforms have been kept under wraps — until today. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, with his boss at […]

House Transpo Leaders and Obama DOT Run Off in Opposite Directions

By Elana Schor | Jun 24, 2009 | No Comments

The conflicted state of federal transportation policy-making was on vivid display today, as House lawmakers pressed ahead on a $500 billion bill that still lacks a funding source while the Obama administration scrambled to find $20 billion for a bailout of the highway trust fund. Members of the famously bipartisan House transportation committee lined up […]

LaHood Asks For 18-Month Extension of Four-Year-Old Transpo Law

By Elana Schor | Jun 17, 2009 | 1 Comment

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is asking Congress to extend the existing federal transportation law for 18 months, averting the coming insolvency of the nation’s highway trust fund while putting off broad-based transport reform for as long as the Bush administration did in the days surrounding the 2004 election. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (Photo: AP) LaHood’s […]

DOT Defines High-Speed Rail: ‘Reasonably Expected to Reach … 110 MPH’

By Elana Schor | Jun 17, 2009 | 2 Comments

The federal DOT has just released its guidance for states seeking a share of its $8 billion in high-speed rail funding — and tucked in the rules are standards that could prove crucial to the project’s success. President Obama helps his DOT chief prepare — for making high-speed rail decisions, perhaps? (Photo: whitehouse via Flickr) […]

Flashback: Is Obama Flipping on Highway Corruption Laws?

By Elana Schor | Jun 15, 2009 | 3 Comments

As Washington waits for the next federal transportation bill to emerge, Streetsblog Capitol Hill is taking a featured look at debates from the last congressional go-round that could impact the upcoming re-write. For today’s installment, let’s take a trip to New Jersey, circa late 2004. Before he was president, he voted to apply state anti-corruption […]

GOP-ers and Dems Agree: Feds Need to Get Their Transpo Act Together

By Elana Schor | Jun 9, 2009 | No Comments

Reports on federal transportation policy — like campaign fundraisers and lobbying groups — seem to proliferate in Washington, most of them drawing a few days’ worth of news coverage before fading from memory. (Remember the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission and the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission?) Former Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA), […]

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