Pragmatic funding decisions have marked the third and final round of awards in the Administration’s $10 billion High-Speed Rail Program. The awards, announced on May 9, confirmed what critics, including this column, have long maintained: the White House high-speed rail initiative, stripped of its high-blown rhetoric, is in fact a program of modest incremental improvements to existing Amtrak passenger rail services. As such, the initiative represents a small but useful step in restoring more reliable intercity passenger rail service— but it hardly deserves the hype and exaggerated claims that have been used to characterize it. Rather, it is a “victory for incrementalism,” in the words of Scott Thomasson, policy director of the Progressive Policy Institute.
View this complete post...Archive for the ‘Funding’ Category
Pragmatic Funding Decisions Mark the Final Round of Rail Grants
Thursday, May 12th, 2011$2 Billion High-Speed Rail Investment
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011The Department’s Federal Railroad Administration selected 15 states and Amtrak to receive $2.02 billion for 22 high-speed intercity passenger rail projects as part of a nationwide network that will connect 80 percent of Americans to high-speed rail in 25 years.
View this complete post...Access for Value: Financing Transportation Through Land Value Capture
Monday, May 9th, 2011
Accessibility is the ease of reaching valued destinations, such as jobs, shops, schools, entertainment, and recreation. As such, accessibility creates value. Capturing some of this value would allow state and local governments to invest in the operations, maintenance, and in some cases expansion of their transportation networks. Accessibility, as an outcome-oriented metric, can effectively assess transportation’s economic impact, and capturing the value of accessibility would help states and metropolitan areas develop sustainable transportation funding streams.
View this complete post...Skepticism Greets US DOT’s Draft Transportation Bill
Thursday, May 5th, 2011An undated 498-page draft of US DOT’s legislative proposal for surface transportation reauthorization, the “Transportation Opportunities Act,” has been making the rounds in Washington for the past week. Its publication, however, has been largely ignored by the transportation community. What would ordinarily be an eagerly awaited event and the source of much comment, has passed virtually unnoticed…Partly, it is because the DOT draft contains no surprises: it merely restates the proposals already revealed in the President’s FY 2012 Budget request. But more importantly, the draft has been ignored by Washington stakeholders and political observers because it has been judged to lack political savvy and realism.
View this complete post...The Economic Impacts of High Speed Rail: Transforming the Midwest
Monday, May 2nd, 2011
MIDWEST HIGH SPEED RAIL ASSOCIATION
The goal of the study is to provide a candid and impartial assessment of a wide range of investments that will need to be made in railroads, commuter rail and transit to support a HSR hub in downtown Chicago and to help envision the types of land use and development potential that a well-designed, integrated high-speed system could produce for Chicago and its surrounding communities.
Guest on The Infra Blog: Governor Dannel Malloy, Connecticut
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Governor Malloy was Stamford’s longest serving Mayor, serving for 14 years from 1995 to 2009. Under his leadership, Stamford underwent a drastic transformation and became one of the country’s top ten most livable cities, according to Forbes magazine…On November 2, 2010, Dannel P. Malloy was elected the 88th Governor of the State of Connecticut and the first governor to have been elected under the state’s clean elections program.
View this complete post...The Case for Business Investment in High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail
Friday, April 15th, 2011
AMERICAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION
This report focuses on key issues critical to private investors as they consider investments or future expansion into business serving growing passenger rail markets. It highlights national and international trends, the market potential in the U.S. future funding sources, and the need for public support.
Jumpstarting the Transportation Space Race: 2011
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
RECONNECTING AMERICA
Since 2004, regions including Denver, Portland, Salt Lake City, Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Charlotte and the Twin Cities have been planning large transit network expansions that would move forward faster than the one-line-at-a-time production schedule that in the past had been economically and politically feasible. At the same time, smaller regions have been inspired by the benefits that transit can bring to their communities and have proposed their first streetcars, light rail starter lines and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). However these places have to compete with each other for the approximately $1.6 billion annually available in the federal New Starts funding program to build out their multibillion-dollar networks.
Rethinking Federal Investments in Rural Transportation
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
RURAL POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
The Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) offers this Rural Policy Brief as a contribution to the current dialogue regarding the ongoing nature and scope of transportation investment in the United States, specifically the implications of these decisions for our nation’s rural communities and regions. The policy recommendations outlined below reflect a detailed, evidence-based analysis, but also incorporate the accumulated policy and program insights gained in over two decades of RUPRI assessment of the rural differential impacts of public policy.
U.S. Infrastructure: Ignore the Need or Retake the Lead?
Monday, April 11th, 2011AECOM
Aging and decaying U.S. highways, bridges and public works require urgent attention. A growing population is placing increasing demand for improved transportation networks and public services. However, U.S. infrastructure funding continues to fall short as local, state and federal budget deficits constrain necessary investments. The consequences of underinvestment in these vital systems are dire, affecting the United States’ global standing as a leader in economic growth, productivity, competitiveness, capital inflow, job creation, sustainability and lifestyle.
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