Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Federal Transportation Bill

The Best and Worst of the New 5-Year Transportation Bill

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 3, 2015 | No Comments

Smart people are wading through the 1,300-page transportation bill that came out of conference committee earlier this week, and we’re starting to get a clearer sense of how it will change federal transportation policy for the next five years. The House voted to pass the bill by an overwhelming margin just moments ago, and President Obama has already […]

5-Year, $300 Billion “FAST Act” Will Extend Transpo Policy Status Quo to 2020

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 2, 2015 | No Comments

They’ve done it. Representatives from the House and Senate have emerged from conference committee with a five-year transportation bill, which is expected to be quickly approved and become first “long-term” bill in more than a decade. The discouragingly-named “FAST Act” is 1,300 pages long, and everyone with a stake in the legislation is still having their policy wonks […]

It’s Time to Stop Pretending That Roads Pay for Themselves

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 25, 2015 | No Comments

If nothing else, the current round of federal transportation legislating should end the myth that highways are a uniquely self-sufficient form of infrastructure paid for by “user fees,” a.k.a. gas taxes and tolls. With all the general tax revenue that goes toward roads in America, car infrastructure has benefited from hefty subsidies for many years. […]

Just How Bad Is the Final House Transportation Bill?

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 5, 2015 | No Comments

Nobody was expecting the GOP-controlled House of Representatives to put together a transportation bill that did much for streets and transit in American cities. And they were right — there’s nothing to get excited about in the bill. But neither is it the total disaster for walking, biking, and transit it could have been. So how does the House bill […]

3 Bright Prospects for a Better Transportation Bill

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 3, 2015 | No Comments

Yesterday we reported on some of the terrible amendments that might get tacked on to the House transportation bill this week. But there are also some good ideas with bipartisan support among the hundreds of amendments submitted by members of the House. Here are three amendments that have the potential to improve transportation policy in the U.S. — should legislators give […]

3 White Elephants That Help Explain America’s Infrastructure Crisis

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 30, 2015 | No Comments

A new report by the Center for American Progress zeros in on an under-appreciated culprit in America’s much ballyhooed infrastructure crisis: All the money we waste on useless roads. CAP highlights three “white elephant projects” that illustrate how billions of dollars in federal infrastructure funds are squandered thanks to a lack of accountability in the transportation funding process. “States receive federal […]

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