Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Coming Soon to Popular Transport Stimulus Programs: Local Funding

By Elana Schor | Apr 7, 2010 | 6 Comments

Two of the most popular transportation programs in the Obama administration’s stimulus law, the $1.5 billion in competitive grants known as TIGER and the $8 billion high-speed rail initiative, had an added feature that made them even more attractive to cities and states: the federal funding awards would not require a local match. Amtrak’s Empire […]

Pennsylvania’s Bid to Toll I-80 Rejected by Feds

By Elana Schor | Apr 6, 2010 | 5 Comments

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) has scheduled a press conference this afternoon to discuss his pitch for new tolls on Interstate 80, but local media reports are already suggesting that his news is not good: the federal government has rejected the state’s bid to toll the highway, leaving its transportation budget short at least $450 […]

Would the New Senate Fuel Tax Deal a Death Blow to the Transport Bill?

By Elana Schor | Apr 6, 2010 | 4 Comments

Eight Democrats yesterday joined nearly the entire transportation universe, from road-builders to transit advocates, to warn the three Senate authors of a new climate bill against raising gas taxes without using the money for infrastructure. Their message, translated from the often impenetrable language of Washington: Imposing new fuel fees that are not routed to transport […]

8 Senate Dems Join Industry in a Gas-Tax Warning to Climate Bill’s Authors

By Elana Schor | Apr 5, 2010 | 5 Comments

As Sens. John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) prepare to unveil a new climate change measure that includes a tax on motor fuels, eight of their colleagues are urging the trio not to forget local transportation planning — and warning that any new gas tax should be used to help pay […]

Report: Bush-Era Transit ‘Cost-Effectiveness’ Rule to Cost Charlotte $67M

By Elana Schor | Apr 5, 2010 | No Comments

When the Obama administration moved in January to undo a 2005 rule that made a federal "cost-effectiveness" rating the most important factor in determining which transit projects received funding, critics and even some transit advocates were skeptical, questioning whether the U.S. DOT would be able to legitimately quantify the community-building benefits of rail and bus […]

What Happened to the Proposed ‘Transportation Tax’ on Wall Street?

By Elana Schor | Apr 5, 2010 | 1 Comment

For several weeks last fall, as members of the House infrastructure committee pushed for passage of a new six-year federal transportation bill as a strategy to rouse the economy from recession, a proposal to pay for the legislation with a small tax on oil futures trades attracted a healthy crop of Democratic cosponsors and some […]

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