Transportation Funding

Ryan Holeywell reports that Congress and the Obama Administration are set against gas taxes, even as voters across the country are approving them to fund transportation and transit projects.

In an unusual showing of agreement by both houses, it would appear that Congress will terminate funding for HSR in a bill that authorizes funding for the transportation department next year. The House hears the bill Nov. 17; Senate the next day.

This post from The Infrastructurist looks at recent arguments for and against high speed rail projects in the U.S. through the lens of spending.

Since the release of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica's proposed $230 billion surface-transportation bill, reviews have been mostly negative. National Journal asks its panel of experts for their take.

In Northwestern Indiana, transit projects will outnumber road projects for the firs time in history. Funding for roads, however, still outpaces transit projects.

A report authored by Transportation for America and the American Public Transportation Association suggests that, no less than Social Security and Medicare, retiring baby boomers will have to cope with limited mobility options.

As federal transportation funding grows increasingly uncertain, cities across the country are trying new approaches to generate funds for their planned streetcar projects.

Bus rapid transit has seen a recent spike in interest, and with that interest has come the analysis that BRT takes away from light rail projects and vice versa. But as this post points out, they need each other and work better when both are around.

While cities throughout California and the rest of the nation struggle to afford even their most basic services, L.A. County's moving ahead with more than $4 billion in transportation projects.

The U.S. is falling behind other nations in keeping up its transportation systems and infrastructure, according to a new report from the Urban Land Institute.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams has pledged to increase the amount of money dedicated to bicycle planning and bicycle infrastructure from 4% to 17% in the city's next budget.

This article from The Economist explains why America's transportation system is failing, and how the federal government's infrastructure funding mechanisms are contributing to the decline.

The federal government should play a larger role in lending money to local governments for transit projects, and not just spending money, according to this oped.

A new survey shows that the majority of Americans place high value on transportation projects, but even more of them say they're not willing to pay any more for it than they already do.

In this Q&A, urban planning professor Mitchell Moss explains how budget crises at the federal, state and local levels will affect transit funding in New York City and other places.

Eric Jaffe pushes back on the Republican Study Committee's proposal to cut over $6 billion in rail funding over the next ten years.

Two bus rapid transit projects in Austin that have been delayed for years due to lack of funding have been revived.

The District Department of Transportation recently released detailed plans for the new system, which has been in the making for more than 14 years.

Suggestions of a county seceding from the Atlanta Regional Commission could threaten transportation funding in the region and hurt those towns looking to bow out, according to this column.

AASHTO is pitching a replacement of the current fed excise fuel taxes with sales taxes - initially revenue neutral, but would increase with inflation, unlike stagnant excise taxes last increased in 1993. In 6 years, might raise an extra $43 billion.