Transportation Funding

Needed: A Fresh Approach to Funding U.S. Infrastructure
Kenneth Orski, editor and publisher of Innovation NewsBriefs, examines how state governments are beginning to accept more responsibility for transportation funding.

Transportation Funding: Tougher than a Rubik's Cube
There are plenty of opinions but no action on the issue of transportation funding in the United States. What will it take to move the country—and its states, regions, and localities—forward?
A Guide to Department of Transportation Success
As communities are rethinking the dominant paradigms of the last 60 years of transportation planning, traditional funding mechanisms are coming up well short of needs. A new guidebook will help state DOTs sort it all out.
Op-Ed: Transportation Funding is Only One Part of a Fair Budget
A guest column on the Saporta Report offers a reminder of the many critical public needs that compete with transportation funding for state dollars.
Who Will End the Transportation Funding Insanity?
Charles Marohn starts off the year strong by throwing down the gauntlet on the perpetual transportation funding debate.
Energy Taxes Now Flowing to Texas Highway Fund
Thanks to voters, at least $1.2 billion in oil and gas taxes a year that would normally have been directed to the state's Rainy Day Fund is diverted to the highway fund, where it will be used to improve the state's crumbling road infrastructure.

Majority of Americans Favor Funding for Transit Over Funding for Roads
In a poll conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post, Americans were found to prefer allocating transportation funding towards transit expansion rather than road widening.

The New Traffic Forecast: Modest Growth, then Decline
Clark Williams-Derry shares news of what he calls "far and away the most responsible official traffic forecast I’ve seen from any government agency, ever."
Growing Opposition to Toll Road Plans in North Texas
North Texans aren't happy with a planned network of toll roads, claiming that they're taxed and tolled enough already. A series of public hearings is intended to spread more information about the growing network of toll roads.

BART secures $760 Million for 10-mile Extension to San Jose, California
On Wednesday, officials celebrated the final fiscal installment of the $2.3 billion 10-mile BART extension planned to open in 2018.

The Dawn of the Toll Era in Dallas
Some are calling it a political crisis, but no matter the cause of the trend, toll roads are about soon to be a ubiquitous fact of life in North Texas.
Tolls vs. Taxes: Wisconsinites Choose Their Preference
All taxes are not equally disliked—some are more tolerated than others. Jack Craver of The Cap Times examines an academic poll and speaks with policy makers and one advocate about the least objectionable options to pay for roads in Wisconsin.
'Structurally Deficient' Bridges on the Decline—Can States Continue the Trend?
All but nine states have decreased the number of "structurally deficient" bridges since the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse. That improvement, however, is far from permanent. Can the federal government and states maintain their progress?
St. Louis Transportation Wish List: Bike Paths, Streetcars, Sidewalks
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay released a wish list of projects that could be funded by a proposed sales tax to fund transportation projects.
New TxDOT Head Will Focus on Traffic Safety, Alternative Modes
The Texas Transportation Commission's choice to run the Texas Department of Transportation is a former Marine Corps lieutenant general with a progressive take on the state's transportation challenges.
A Transportation Redline that Obama is Required to Keep
If Congress can't agree how to fund the Highway Trust Fund shortfall, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx warned state DOTs that he will be unable to reimburse them for funds already spent. The redline is the $4 billion mark projected to come July.
Grow America Transportation Bill Would Open the Door to Tolling on Interstates
Although its unclear just how much influence the Department of Transportation's surface transportation authorization bill, called GROW AMERICA, will have (if any at all), the bill makes apparent a sea change with regard to tolling of the interstates.
Secretary Foxx Talks Funding (and Possibly Tolling)
A recent article by Yonah Freemark details the policy agenda of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, the former mayor of Charlotte and successor of well-regarded Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood.
Seeking Funding: Light Rail Route from Miami to Miami Beach
Local officials agree that a light rail system from Miami to Miami Beach would work, and they have embarked on a partnership to win the funding to commence a study of a potential $532 million route.
Philadelphia Sending More Money to Street Repair
Following a long winter, the Philadelphia Streets Department is on pace to break records for pothole repair, but that won’t be the only improvement paid for by a proposed 33 percent increase in funding to the Streets Department.
Pagination
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Smith Gee Studio
City of Charlotte
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)