The transportation bill known as MAP-21 expires in a little more than a year, but the key interest groups and political players are already staking out their positions. The posturing is compounded by the worsening state of the Highway Trust Fund.
"Even in a Congress that’s not sure it can keep the government running two weeks from now, supporters are already hard at work on the transportation bill that comes due in October 2014," writes Kathryn A. Wolfe. Yet looming over the ad buying, polling, grass-roots letter-writing, and lobbying visits already under way is the Highway Trust Fund’s "worsening structural deficit."
"[New House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.)] still seems to be singing the 'all of the above' gospel when it comes to potential funding solutions for the next bill," notes Wolfe, "but he has struck a more pessimistic tone when it comes to discussions about two things: raising the gas tax and widespread tolling of existing interstates."
"Regardless of what’s done about the revenue question, pushing the next transportation bill across the finish line could be a much more difficult hurdle than it was for the last bill, known as MAP-21," she adds. "That’s largely because of the sheer amount of streamlining and program consolidation that bill contained."
FULL STORY: Business starts early on next transportation bill
Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.
Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?
HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.
EPA Terminates $116 Million in Grants for Reducing Emissions from Construction Materials
C-MORE grants were earmarked for industry trade groups and universities.
BART Closes $35 Million Deficit
Cost control and revenue generation measures prevented service cuts.
The New Parisian Hearse is a Bicycle
Sleek, silent, and sustainable, a green trip to the graveyard has hit the streets of the French capital.
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