Transportation Spending

LA Mayor Villaraigosa an ambitious new plan to speed up new rail projects throughout the city, and to complete it all within 10 years instead of the previously proposed 30.

The Senate transportation spending bill, signed last week, contains a provision requiring Amtrak to allow guns on its trains or lose its funding.

Planners from Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno met this week to discuss plans for high-speed rail between their cities, since they've been left off the map of potential corridors to be funded by the stimulus package.

A federal pro-privatization transit rule, which prevents local transit agencies from competing with private bus services on providing service to special events, could see an end in Washington State with this year's transportation spending bill.

The Obama administration has begun awarding grants of millions to transit agencies across the country for everything from bus upgrades to photovoltaic canopies and agency building upgrades. Check out the breakdown by agency here.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has selected finalists in its 2009 America's Transportation Awards competition. Projects range from lane-widening in Delaware to HOT lanes in Miami.

Edward Glaeser continues his series on cost-benefit analysis of high-speed rail in the US, imagining a mythical route between Dallas and Houston.

Speaking today at the Center for National Policy in D.C., Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood touted the success of the ARRA stimulus package and answered questions on transportation bill reauthorization and other topics.

Transit advocates may be louder than highway backers for the first time in discussions about the next authorization bill, but highway supporters warn less highway funding means less gasoline taxes.

That's how many projects the Obama administration claims to have launched with the stimulus money, countering detractors who argued that the funding couldn't be spent fast enough to have an impact.

Despite some states using stimulus money to fund sprawl-inducing projects, Colorado seems to be avoiding projects that encourage exurban growth, according to this review.

As business slows down, road construction contractors are slashing their prices. They're offering lower bids to states across the country for road work, leading many transportation officials to foresee more work able to be funded by the stimulus.

This article provides a general breakdown of how state governments plan to use the first installment of transportation spending money from the stimulus. The leeway states have in how to spend has sparked debates among legislators.

In a recent interview with newspaper columnists, President Barack Obama spent some time discussing the idea of a national infrastructure bank and the chances of one taking shape.

Thousands of transportation projects across the country are being temporarily halted or canceled completely due to lack of funding. More than 40 states have been forced to cut back on transportation projects.

Stimulus packages are nothing more than an "economic sugar rush", according to columnist David Brooks. He argues that the country needs to create a larger-scale transportation-based infrastructure project to really bail out the economy.

A feasibility study released last week shows that a 141 mile transit system could be built on existing right-of-ways in the Triangle for $1 billion, a fraction of the proposed budget for transit in the region through 2035.

Although it is a public transit success, Metrolink was cobbled together with old freight rail lines. It was a relatively cheap and quick way of providing rail service, but its drawbacks have become obvious.

New funds have already been allocated to public transit agencies, but unexpected increases in ridership have called for even more. The funds come as part of a new energy bill intended to reduce foreign oil dependence.