In the first ten months of the 2009 economic stimulus package, investments in public transportation created twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways, according to a new analysis by Smart Growth America. With the 2009 stimulus providing three times more money for highways than transit, Congress missed a chance to put more [...]
Transportation for America and Smart Growth America applaud repeal of rules that hampered communities seeking deserving rail and rapid bus projects. In response to Secretary LaHood’s announcement today that funding guidelines for major transit projects will be selected based on livability benefits, including economic development and the environment, James Corless, campaign director of Transportation for America, and Geoff Anderson, president and CEO of Smart Growth America, had the following reactions:
Lessons Learned from Recovery Act Show Superior Job Creation
from Spending on Public Transportation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Smart Growth America, and U.S. PIRG shows that in the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation have created twice as many jobs [...]
A new report released yesterday chronicles how the record public transportation ridership of 2007 and 2008 helped cut carbon dioxide emissions by 37 million tons in 2008 — and more importantly, how increasing transit ridership in the future is an essential strategy for helping us reach our ambitious national goals of cutting emissions and preventing climate change. Read the report (pdf)
During the housing crash it became clear that not all parts of the country were being affected equally — and not even all areas within a metro area were performing the same. In the DC region, foreclosures were rising and home prices were falling rapidly in several exurban counties, while prices were holding mostly steady [...]
Download the full report (1mb pdf)
Within the $787 billion stimulus bill that became law in February, Congress provided states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) with $26.6 billion in flexible funds for transportation projects. Today marks 120 days from the apportionment of the funds to the states.
The 120-day mark is significant because it is the point [...]
If you’ve been around the conversation on growth and development for any amount of time, you’ve undoubtedly heard someone bring up Arlington, Virginia. Arlington is the bit of Virginia just across the Potomac River from the monumental core of Washington, DC that leveraged the arrival of two Metro rail lines in the 60’s and 70’s to renew and revitalize their county into a prosperous, enjoyable and livable community that is a sought-after destination for employers, businesses, residents and visitors.
Photo credit WBZ
Facing staggering budget problems, government agencies everywhere are scrambling for funds. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is no exception—it has an estimated $165 million budget deficit. The MBTA has spoken of raising fares and cutting back services, including bus cuts, Boston subway cuts, and a 50 percent cut in evening [...]
It’s worth taking a look around in your city or small community, and noticing that some of your most beloved neighborhoods were probably built in the era of the streetcar or interurban rail system. Some of the best, most desirable, walkable neighborhoods in cities like Los Angeles, Houston, and Atlanta; where streetcar systems are long [...]
After years of inactivity while gasoline was cheap, leaders are now scrambling to “do something” about the high gas prices that are making life difficult for everyday Americans. The solutions range from short-sighted (drill ANWR) to ultimately ineffective (national speed limit), and most fail to address the core issue that makes gas prices matter so [...]
The picture is the same everywhere you look. You’ve been reading it here, in your newspaper, or watching it on the television nearly nonstop for the last few weeks:
Gas is expensive, driving is down, transit systems are packed.
Here in D.C., people are abandoning their cars and taking Metro in record numbers to save money [...]
MSNBC reported this morning on yesterday’s theme of transit ridership continuing to trend upwards, which is placing a heavy burden on a lot of systems that are running at or near capacity. As they say, transit ridership is at its highest point in 50 years right now. It’s continuing to reach new levels, but it’s [...]
In a society nurtured on cheap gasoline, the high fuel prices are having disparate effects: the end of free pizza deliveries at major franchises, a plunge in the sales of sport-utility vehicles, a steep drop in the price of houses that are far from jobs or mass transit. – Washington Post, June 10, 2008
With more [...]
I’m back from a weeklong vacation, so you probably already saw Paul Krugman’s wonderful column in the New York Times last week that was subsequently posted and emailed all over the place, but it’s worth posting for posterity.
In “Stranded in Suburbia,” Krugman muses on the differences in how high gas prices are devastating our economy [...]
Gas prices are up. People are turning to transit in record numbers these days. But as you probably know, not everyone has access to a decent public transportation system, and many current systems are woefully underfunded or neglected, much like the rest of our national infrastructure.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG) sent us [...]
If once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, and thrice a trend, where are we now? More evidence continues to roll in that the high costs of fuel are pressing more and more Americans towards making lifestyle changes to reduce their consumption. Two stories over the weekend, one in the New York Times and [...]
The situation: Bridges are falling down, traffic congestion is worsening, gains in fuel efficiency are reducing gas tax revenues, worthwhile transit projects are sitting on the shelf, and the Highway Trust Fund — funded by the 18.5 cents a gallon gas tax that is already inadequate for funding transportation investments — is about to run [...]
As you may have read this morning in numerous other outlets, New York City’s plan to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan was defeated last night without reaching a vote on the floor. [NYT] The plan would have charged most cars $8 and trucks $21 to enter traffic-choked Midtown and Lower Manhattan during busy hours on [...]
Dan loves traffic. “It’s about the journey, and this way, the journey takes forever,” he says.
“In 2009, Congress will decide whether to continue to spend billions on highways and roads to generate more traffic. Or whether they’re going more money on trains and buses — that suck the lifebblood right out of traffic.
Help Dan save [...]
Click the video to watch a recent CBS News piece on the growing use of passenger rail
Retailers of scale like Wal-Mart and Target survive on small margins. The rate of profit may be small, but selling a bazillion units of everything adds up to a tidy sum at the end of the day. In the [...]
Highways like these in San Antonio get built with federal highway funds.
President Bush’s proposed budget for the 2009 fiscal year contained an alarming provision for “fixing” the transportation funding crisis. Unfortunately, the solution is akin to putting a band-aid on a gaping wound while also cutting off an arm.
Without getting too deep into the weeds, [...]
The powers that be in Kansas City have been exploring the possibility of a light rail line for a few years now, a step in the right direction for a city with one of the highest numbers of interstate miles per capita of major American cities.
With citizens increasingly concerned about the impact of higher gas [...]
After nearly two years of study and debate, the Congressionally mandated, bipartisan commission charged with predicting our nation’s transportation future emerged last week with it’s collective hair on fire, screaming that our driver-less SUV of a federal policy is headed for a cliff. To which the news media responded with a collective yawn, except for [...]
Joint statement by the Smart Growth America, Reconnecting America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership to the report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission.
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008
Contact: David Goldberg, 202-412-7930
WASHINGTON, DC – The National Surface Transportation Study Commission has provided an invaluable service in marshalling evidence [...]
As we usher out 2007 and look to 2008, here are a few recent victories from the policy front — some of which were finalized in just the last few weeks.
EPA Smart Growth funding restored
There won’t be coal in the EPA Smart Growth office’s stocking this year. Though the program had been threatened with a [...]
As long as local and state leaders in Georgia fail to grasp that Atlanta can’t pave its way out of traffic congestion, Atlanta could be in danger of becoming a case study in what may happen to a city’s business climate when an economic model based largely on growth and continual outward expansion hits the [...]
After just a 20 minute turn from #335, Hiawatha #338 heads back to Chicago with a heavy load of passengers. Photo by David Johnson and NARP
After losing money for the better part of the decade — even with generous government subsidies and protection — airlines returned to profitability over the last couple of years, but [...]
Thousands of people jam a light-rail station near I-485 Saturday afternoon. ©TODD SUMLIN Charlotte Observer Click for the slideshow from the Observer
We noted a few weeks ago that Charlotte voters renewed their committment to transit by an overwhelming margin, nixing the attempt by some anti-government types to scuttle a half-cent tax that funds transit in [...]
Richard Layman beat me to posting this video, but a Bay Area expat living in Beijing named Luke Mines sent us this video about the opening of the new “5″subway line in Beijing and the rise of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) there.
BRT has been implemented in a limited scale in the U.S., but the sytem(s) [...]
I’ve seen this photo in a handful of places this week. It’s an illustration from the city of Munster, Germany, and can be found on the city’s website:
As you may be able to tell, it’s a visual illustration of how much roadway space the same number of travelers take up in individual cars, a bus, [...]
