Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Transportation Policy

Senate’s New DOT Spending Bill Eases One Transit Funding Barrier

By Elana Schor | Aug 11, 2009 | 3 Comments

An artist’s rendering of the proposed multi-modal Columbia River Crossing, with light rail and a bike path beneath the bridge. (Photo: Oregonian) During the lengthy process of pursuing a "New Starts" funding agreement with the U.S. DOT, local transit officials are often at the mercy of cost-benefit calculations that have failed to keep pace with […]

SF’s Transit-Only Lane Network is An Incomplete Vision

By Michael Rhodes | Aug 10, 2009 | 9 Comments

Cars block a bus’ progress on Market Street near Kearny, several blocks east of where Market’s transit-only lanes end. Photo: Michael Rhodes When transit-only lanes were first striped in San Francisco in the 1970s, they were meant to be a bold enactment of the city’s brand new Transit First policy. But like the policy, the […]

Portland’s Transport Research Guru Headed to Obama Administration

By Elana Schor | Aug 5, 2009 | No Comments

The U.S. DOT is expected to announce today that it has tapped Robert Bertini, a Portland State University professor who headed Oregon’s state-wide transport research effort, as the No. 2 at the Research and Innovative Technology Administration — the government’s home for stats on all things transportation. Robert Bertini (Photo: Oregonian) Bertini’s hiring is an […]

Senate Panel Backs $1.2B for High-Speed Rail, $1.2B Extra for Highways

By Elana Schor | Jul 29, 2009 | No Comments

The Senate panel in charge of transportation spending has just released its version of the budget bill that passed the House last week, giving less to high-speed rail and more to highways than the lower chamber of Congress. The Senate’s transportation bill, shepherded by senior appropriator Patty Murray (D-WA), provides $1.2 billion for the Obama […]

How Soon Will Cutting Transportation Emissions Save Money?

By Elana Schor | Jul 28, 2009 | No Comments

(Photo: Moving Cooler) Anyone who kept tabs on the House’s climate change bill last month recalls much acrimonious ado about the plan’s impact on average American pocketbooks. The GOP tossed out cost estimates that turned out to be manipulated, while nonpartisan projections showed the bill actually saving money for low-income families. But the unfortunate truth […]

Peak Fuel Report Offers Sober Assessment of San Francisco’s Energy Future

By Michael Rhodes | Jul 23, 2009 | 30 Comments

Somewhere amid the budget drama of the last several weeks, a peak oil and natural gas report (PDF) Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi called "a really big deal" got lost in the shuffle. So, when the Peak Oil Preparedness Task Force showed up before the Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee today, neither the committee’s […]

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