Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Highway Expansion

Cuomo Primed to Splurge on Jumbo-Sized Tappan Zee With Extra Lanes

By Noah Kazis | Jan 25, 2012 | 17 Comments

The Cuomo administration’s plan for the new Tappan Zee Bridge, described in yesterday’s draft environmental impact statement, is more than a missed opportunity to provide New Yorkers with faster and greener commutes using transit. It also foreshadows a potential environmental disaster, as the state prepares to spend huge sums on a span that can funnel […]

Ray LaHood Gives Go-Ahead to Portland’s Sprawl-Inducing Mega-Bridge

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 9, 2011 | No Comments

You don’t need to look too hard to find signs that the ground is shifting when it comes to highway construction. Around the country, state DOTs are running out of money. Headlines ask “Are Freeways Doomed?” Overall vehicle miles traveled are down in the Pacific Northwest. But many state and regional transportation agencies continue to […]

What If There Were Tolls on the BQE?

By Noah Kazis | Nov 30, 2011 | 33 Comments

The state Department of Transportation announced yesterday the cancellation of plans to rebuild 5.3 miles of the BQE and the Gowanus Expressway. It wasn’t a new round of freeway revolts that killed these projects but the state’s busted transportation budget. “The economic downturn has affected all areas of government and Transportation is not an exception; […]

Meet the Rick Perry Donor Who Runs Texas DOT

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 11, 2011 | No Comments

Last week Streetsblog looked into the suburban real estate moguls who used their public offices to advance the country’s largest sprawl project — Houston’s third outerbelt, also known as the Grand Parkway. But even with all the cronyism and self-deal propelling this project forward, just a few months ago it looked like the Grand Parkway […]

Texas Sprawl Builders Funneled Taxpayer $ to Highway That Enriched Them

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 2, 2011 | No Comments

If the U.S. had a national transportation policy, this story of corruption and waste never would have happened. But an enduring feature of the current policy predicament is that once federal funding is in the hands of state DOTs, they more or less have a blank check, and the merit of any given transportation project […]

Will Cuomo Scrap Transit on the Tappan Zee and Just Widen the Highway?

By Noah Kazis | Oct 11, 2011 | 9 Comments

For nine years, the state of New York has been studying how to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge. The bridge, which is more than 50 years old, requires ever more expensive repairs to stay structurally sound and was never intended to carry the volume of traffic that pours over it every day. Since 2002, […]

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