Trump’s DOT is directing 87 percent of total grant dollars to states that backed the President in the last election.
New USDOT priorities are shifting more funding to roads and highways, with little left over for public transit or multimodal projects, reports Matthew Sage in Streetsblog USA. Sage outlines the $488 million in grants awarded under the DOT’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program, “one of the largest and most flexible tools the agency has to support infrastructure construction nationwide.”
According to Sage, two-thirds and 77 percent of funding for BUILD projects this year are going to roadway projects, many of them aimed at widening roads for drivers. Only four transit projects won funding this year, totaling around $49 million.
The grants also appear politically motivated: “An egregious 83 percent of the announced projects — representing 87 percent of total grant dollars from this cycle — are going to states that backed Trump in the last election,” Sage notes. Only three states — Alaska, Ohio, and Wyoming — received grants for multiple projects.
FULL STORY: Trump Grant Program Pours Money Into Roads, Mostly Ignores Transit Projects
USDOT Pulls Funding from Projects not “Car-Focused” Enough in Connecticut, New Mexico, Illinois
The department is sending letters to local officials rescinding multimodal grants, saying the money will instead be focused on projects that “promote vehicular travel.”
Safe Streets Funding in Jeopardy
The Trump administration is specifically targeting bike infrastructure and other road safety projects in its funding cuts.
USDOT Blocks Federal Funding for Traffic Cameras
Applicants to the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program will not be allowed to use funds for automated traffic enforcement.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
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A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
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Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association