Streetsblog Capitol Hill

The long awaited Transportation bill unveiled this week by House Republicans, the “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act,” follows an unsurprisingly partisan path to solving few of the country's transportation challenges.

In Wisconsin, taxpayers pay roughly $779 per household for roads and $50 for transit. But most drivers still believe that transit is subsidized and roads pay for themselves, writes Tanya Snyder.

Officials in recession-battered Michigan increasingly see placemaking as an important economic recovery strategy. The Michigan Municipal League, a coalition of local governments, is leading efforts to make the state's cities talent magnets.

Houston's third outerbelt, the Grand Parkway, continues to move forward despite an outpouring of opposition, highlighting the special, institutionalized role real estate developers play in transportation decisions in Texas, writes Angie Schmitt.

"Carjacked" author Anne Lutz Fernandez says Time's tearful coverage of the traffic deaths of a 72-year-married Iowa couple fails to recognize the true problem: that Americans are persuaded that driving = living.

The megaretailer is part of a trend to rethink and shrink stores, as big boxes around the country have seen their sales plummet.

Rust Belt poster child Youngstown, Ohio made waves almost a decade ago with its revolutionary plan for "controlled shrinkage." But progress has been slow in a political system still wired for growth.

University of Toronto professors say that building more roads just encourages more driving. Building transit doesn't help reduce congestion either, though it still maximizes the value of the transportation system.

A new report from Transportation for America says that more than half of pedestrian fatalities happen on arterial roads that lack ped-friendly design - and therefore are preventable.

The "food deserts" problem is receiving heightened attention following the release of the USDA's locator map. But this analysis relies on the suspect premise that suburban supermarkets are superior to small, walkable urban foodsellers.

That's Billy Burge of the Grand Parkway Association, referring to a plan in Houston, Texas to expand the city out into greenfields on the outskirts of the city.

Leaders in Charleston County have reversed course on a $500 million highway expansion plan, following public outcry.

Congressional budget cuts spare some favorite programs of transportation reformers and smart growth advocates.

Transit agencies brace for reduced ridership but will keep running -- for a little while, at least.

A Charleston environmental group has suggested an alternative to a proposed expansion of Interstate 526 which solves the congestion problem with refinements to local streets and costs half the price.

Suburban Waukesha seeks to be the first city to pipe water from the Great Lakes since the 2008 Great Lakes Pact. But will approval just mean more sprawl in a sprawling region?

Funding shortage, collapse of I35-W Bridge, prompt community to prioritize maintenance over construction.

A new report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group PIRG's report estimates that road construction has cost the American public $600 billion since the highway system began.

A new senate climate measure is proposing to raise the gas tax, a move many in the transportation field have been suggesting for years. But the measure is meeting criticism for not directing the increased revenue towards transportation projects.

The newest transit safety bill was unveiled yesterday to cautious praise. While states are struggling to fund transit, FTA chief Peter Rogoff says the goal is to create a nationwide floor for transit safety.