Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Gas Tax

Lawmakers Cross Party Lines on Transpo Funding as Debate Rages

By Elana Schor | Jul 15, 2009 | 6 Comments

An 18-month extension of existing transportation law cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today, but not before spirited debate on a proposal billed as a compromise with House members who remain strongly opposed to the Senate’s stopgap. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairman of the Senate environment committee (Photo: Politics Now) The "clean" re-upping of […]

GOPers Blast the Newest Dem Star: How Dare He Pay for Transportation!

By Elana Schor | Jun 11, 2009 | 6 Comments

Can Virginia Democrat Creigh Deeds win on a transportation-centric platform? (Photo: Waldoj via Flickr) Democrat Creigh Deeds is the man of the hour for many in the D.C. political establishment, having managed to upset a well-funded ally of the Clintons in the closely watched Virginia gubernatorial race. And now that Deeds is moving on to […]

National Transportation Funding Is Ailing — Is Michigan ‘Patient Zero’?

By Elana Schor | Jun 10, 2009 | 5 Comments

In a sight that could become more commonplace by year’s end, the state of Michigan is being forced to cancel $740 million in road and bridge repairs after its gas tax revenues fell short of the level required to secure matching funds from the federal government. Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) (Photo: Macomb Daily) The matching-funds […]

Boxer: Collect Fees on Driving Through ‘Honor System’

By Ben Fried | May 11, 2009 | 9 Comments

Another must-read from last week’s Reuters Infrastructure Summit: Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who will be responsible for shepherding the next transportation bill through the Senate, says she’s open to a mileage tax and to indexing the gas tax to inflation to generate new revenue. It’s great to hear a legislator in Boxer’s position voice […]

We Need an Ambitious Transpo Bill. So How Are We Going to Pay for It?

By Yonah Freemark | Apr 29, 2009 | 18 Comments

DOT Secretary Ray LaHood testifying in the Senate yesterday. Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing about the future of national surface transportation. This much isn’t in doubt: Current policies need a major overhaul. What to change and, especially, how to pay for it are very much in question. Several […]

What’s Wrong With SAFETEA-LU — and Why the Next Bill Must Be Better

By Yonah Freemark | Apr 27, 2009 | 6 Comments

Editor’s note: This year’s reauthorization of the federal transportation funding bill will be one of the most important opportunities in history for the nation’s advocates of livable streets, sustainable transportation and smart growth. But it’s going to be a complicated process. We’d like to demystify it for you, and to that end we’ll be featuring […]

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