The House of Representatives approved the transportation bill conference report this afternoon by a vote of 373 to 52. [UPDATE 4:00 PM: The Senate has also approved the bill, 74-19.] This is a bill that’s been called “a death blow to mass transit” by the Amalgamated Transit Union, “a step backwards for America’s transportation system” […]

NOTE: The facts are even worse than they seemed when I wrote this article. States can flex TA money, not just to CMAQ, but to anything they want. See “The Awful Truth About the Transpo Bill’s Bike/Ped Loophole,” for more. In the transportation bill agreed to yesterday by Barbara Boxer, John Mica, and other Congressional […]

Transportation for America, the big-tent coalition for transportation reform, tends to be careful about the statements it puts out. Its folks are diplomatic, since they work with both sides on the Hill and a wide variety of coalition members. Yesterday, as details of the conference report were leaking out, they wanted to read the whole […]

UPDATED 1:45 PM PST Sen. Barbara Boxer just issued the following statement. It confirms that “half of the funds for bike paths and pedestrian walkways [will be allocated] directly to local entities,” as spelled out in the Cardin-Cochran amendment. It appears that the “opt-out” provision for states only applies to the half that they control, […]

Here’s the latest transpo bill news that has filtered through the tight little seams in the armor around the conference committee. First of all, the House voted last night on the two motions to instruct we mentioned last week: Rep. Diane Black’s criminally bad idea to cancel out important incentives for states to enact distracted […]

This is sorta hard to watch. Above is Toronto Mayor Rob Ford very publicly failing in his goal to lose 50 pounds, and falling off the scale and injuring his ankle to boot. Ford began the Cut the Waist charity challenge at a formidable 330 pounds. According to Atlantic Cities, he quickly dropped 20 pounds, […]

With conference negotiations occurring in a black box, transportation advocates on all sides are anxiously awaiting word of the final deal. Rumors abound that Democrats have been willing to negotiate away local control over bike/ped funding as a bargaining chip to get other concessions from Republicans. We don’t know if this is true or not, […]

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood just announced the 47 transportation projects in 34 states (and DC) that will receive a total of almost $500 million from the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) program. It’s the fourth round of TIGER grants, bringing the total up to over $3 billion for innovative transportation projects. Houston received $15 […]

Rep. James Lankford, a Tea Party Republican representing Oklahoma City, probably wasn’t responsible for any of the 118 pedestrian deaths in his district between 2001 to 2010. And it’s unlikely Rep. Steve Southerland of Panama City, Florida was behind the wheel when any of the 164 people were killed while walking in his district during […]

UPDATE 3 PM: The text of the MTI doesn’t mention forcing a vote on the Senate bill. The House is about to vote on a motion to instruct, sponsored by Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN). It’s a non-binding command to the House members of the conference committee to finish their work by June 22 — this Friday. […]