Recent Streetsblog SF posts about 2009 Transportation Bill

How Can Transit Backers Sway Conservatives? Oberstar Joins the Debate

By Elana Schor | Feb 2, 2010 | No Comments

In the years before partisan warfare became the norm in Washington, transportation tended to unite both ends of the ideological spectrum. Can rationality return to infrastructure policy debates that have become subsumed by culture clashes between cyclists and drivers, urbanists and suburbanites — and, of course, Democrats and Republicans? Highways and transit, side by side […]

LaHood Talks Budget: “Very Bright” Future for Infrastructure Fund

By Elana Schor | Feb 1, 2010 | 1 Comment

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today that he sees "very bright" prospects for congressional approval of the Obama administration’s $4 billion National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance Fund, the new iteration of the long-discussed National Infrastructure Bank proposal. Transportation Secretary LaHood, at left, with the president. (Photo: NYT) "There is a great deal of interest in […]

Transit Riders Launch Grassroots Lobbying Push in Dire Political Climate

By Elana Schor | Jan 27, 2010 | No Comments

Advocates for urban transit riders in 14 metro areas climbed the Hill today to pitch lawmakers face-to-face on the need for extra federal transit operating aid, a grassroots lobbying effort that could face considerable challenges even as Democrats craft a new jobs bill with a focus on infrastructure. Lee Gaddies of Detroit speaks at today’s […]

Obama Administration Working on Its Own Six-Year Transportation Bill

By Elana Schor | Jan 11, 2010 | No Comments

The annual powwow of thousands of transportation workers, planners, and wonks that’s known as the Transportation Research Board (TRB) conference kicked off in the capital yesterday with a candid admission from some senior U.S. DOT officials: reorienting American transport planning to accommodate the overlap with housing and environmental sustainability is proving pretty difficult. U.S. DOT […]

Wall Street Bailout Money For Infrastructure? Maybe Not

By Elana Schor | Dec 8, 2009 | No Comments

President Obama will deliver a speech on job creation this morning in Washington, but one tactic that has won over quite a few Democrats of late — redirecting unspent money from last year’s financial bailout to transportation — may not be as possible as lawmakers had thought. White House economic adviser Larry Summers promised earlier […]

Rendell: National Infrastructure Bank Could Move as Part of New Jobs Bill

By Elana Schor | Dec 7, 2009 | No Comments

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), who is in Washington today continuing his push for a "front-loaded" federal transportation bill, told Streetsblog Capitol Hill that he sees momentum building for a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) to be created as part of the jobs bill now moving forward in Congress. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) (Photo: Post-Gazette) Rendell, […]

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