Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Highway Expansion

Meet the Rick Perry Donor Who Runs Texas DOT

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 10, 2011 | 6 Comments

Last week Streetsblog looked into the suburban real estate moguls who used their public offices to advance the country’s largest sprawl project — Houston’s third outerbelt, also known as the Grand Parkway. But even with all the cronyism and self-deal propelling this project forward, just a few months ago it looked like the Grand Parkway had […]

Texas Sprawl Builders Funneled Taxpayer $ to Highway That Enriched Them

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 2, 2011 | 11 Comments

If the U.S. had a national transportation policy, this story of corruption and waste never would have happened. But an enduring feature of the current policy predicament is that once federal funding is in the hands of state DOTs, they more or less have a blank check, and the merit of any given transportation project […]

Transportation Projects Chosen For Federal Fast-Tracking Lean Multi-Modal

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 11, 2011 | 4 Comments

Last month Streetsblog asked whether President Obama would select transportation projects that reduce congestion, improve air quality, and create jobs when he picked several infrastructure investments, among those recommended by agency officials, to fast-track. The selection of these projects, intended to help spur short-term job creation, could avoid the mistakes of the 2009 stimulus program, […]

In Push For Jobs Bill, Obama Picks the Wrong Bridge to Highlight

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 22, 2011 | 2 Comments

President Obama chose the home turf of two of his principal political opponents to highlight the need for more infrastructure investment in the U.S. Standing beneath the Brent Spence Bridge, which connects Cincinnati (the home city of House Speaker John Boehner) with Kentucky (the home state of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell), Obama made his […]

Exxon: ‘One Mega-Highway, Please.’ Texas: ‘Coming Right Up’

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 13, 2011 | 10 Comments

It’s generally difficult to determine exactly how and to what extent the shadowy hand of Big Oil is at work in our publicly funded infrastructure decisions. Some of the more notable exceptions over the past few years have included the Koch Brothers-Scott Walker Wisconsin roads bonanza. Or the attempted assassination of the Cincinnati Streetcar by […]

Can High-Speed Rail Reduce Air Travel and Highway Expansion?

By Tanya Snyder | Jun 9, 2011 | 16 Comments

Yesterday, Miller-McCune’s Michael Scott Moore accused Southwest Airlines of helping to bury a potential Texas bullet train 15 years ago. “Southwest understood better than most high-speed rail critics just how well the trains could work,” Moore wrote. “[High-speed rail in Spain] has reduced Spanish highway traffic — even for cargo, by freeing up space on […]

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