Senator Frank Lautenberg, Friend to Transit, Dies at 89

New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, the last World War Two veteran to serve in the body, passed away on Monday. Kate Hinds looks at the record of 'the driving force between some of the country's most transformative transportation policies.'

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June 4, 2013, 5:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg's final tweet was about a proposed train tunnel under the Hudson River," notes Hinds. "It was a fitting coda to a career driving transportation policy -- transforming everything from smoking on airplanes to instituting stricter blood alcohol standards for drivers. On train travel in particular, Lautenberg never flagged, securing $6 billion in federal funding for a transit tunnel under the Hudson River and feuding with Governor Chris Christie almost until the end of his life after Christie pulled the plug on the project." 

“Every transit rider – not just in New Jersey but in America – owes a huge debt of gratitude to the efforts of Senator Frank Lautenberg,” said Peter Rogoff, the head of the Federal Transit Administration, at a transit conference in Philadelphia Monday.

Monday, June 3, 2013 in WNYC: Transportation Nation

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