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Archive for the ‘Policy’ Category

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Rebuilding Green: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Green Economy

Monday, March 14th, 2011
FIGURE 3. What was in the Recovery Act?

The ARRA’s enactment represented a dramatic attempt to resuscitate a U.S. economy in free-fall…Two years later, the Recovery Act’s public investments have not only saved and created millions of jobs, but have also represented an unprecedented down payment on the nation’s emerging green economy. As outlined in this report, Rebuilding Green: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Green Economy, the success of that down payment makes a strong case for additional public investment in the green economy as a centerpiece of a national strategy to solve the continuing unemployment crisis.

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Posted in Employment, Green, Infra Views, National, Policy, Recovery, Sustainability

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The Look and Feel of the New Congress

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

In my 22 years of covering the transportation scene, I cannot recall a time when we’ve been faced with a more unsettled and volatile policy environment. In the past, the trajectory of the federal surface transportation program was fairly predictable: with each reauthorization, the program was expanded in scope and increased in funding. This time it’s different. In the months ahead, Congress is likely to cut discretionary spending and this, I believe, will profoundly alter the scope of the federal role in transportation and the character of the federal transportation program.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Bipartisan, Democrat, Funding, Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Policy, Republican, Roads, The Infra Blog

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Transportation 101: An Introduction to Federal Transportation Policy

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
Transportation 101 Figure 2.3

TRANSPORTATION FOR AMERICA
The next transportation bill must address the many challenges our nation is facing: crippling commutes, rising costs, wasteful spending, lack of options and economic development in our urban, suburban and rural communities. As Congress prepares to debate the next bill, Transportation for America offers this guidebook as a reference to existing policies and programs, their historical background and the issues that numerous stakeholders believe must be addressed this time around.

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Posted in Bipartisan, Economic Stimulus, Funding, Highway, Infra Views, Local, National, Policy, Public Transportation, Roads, Telecommunications

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Guest on The Infra Blog: Hilary O. Shelton, Washington Bureau Director & Senior Vice President for Advocacy, NAACP

Monday, February 28th, 2011
shelton-hilary

Hilary O. Shelton, presently serves as the Director to the NAACP’s Washington Bureau, and is the Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy. The Washington Bureau is the Federal legislative and national public policy division of the over 500,000- member, 2,200-membership unit, national civil rights organization.

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Posted in Buses, Employment, Equity, Guests on The Infra Blog, Jobs, National, Policy, Public Transportation, The Infra Blog, Transit, Urban Planning

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Michigan – Smart Transportation: Save Money and Grow the Economy

Monday, February 28th, 2011
Michigan Transportation

SMART GROWTH AMERICA
Michigan’s budget and economy face significant challenges. These challenges create the opportunity and the imperative to ask if we’re getting everything we can from our spending.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Bridges, Employment, Infra Views, Jobs, Local, Policy, Public Opinion

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From the National Journal Transportation Blog, Week of Feb 28…

Monday, February 28th, 2011

All three governors who rejected the federal HSR grants — Govs. Walker, Kasich and Scott — told Sec. LaHood that their states could badly use that money for more urgent needs of fixing roads, bridges and transit systems and, in the case of Gov. Scott, rebuilding Florida’s ports in anticipation of the Panama Canal expansion. Yet Sec. LaHood turned a deaf ear to those requests, insisting that the stimulus money must be spent on high-speed rail — even though money spent on other modes could have been just as effective in creating jobs.

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Posted in Funding, National, Policy, Rail, The Infra Blog

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Rural Transportation Needs

Friday, February 25th, 2011
Percentage of Rural Roads

THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS
Rural areas face a looming highway capacity crisis in the years ahead unless significant investments are made. But rural areas need substantially different kinds of investments, tools to finance rural transportation projects and policy strategies than urban areas need. For many rural states, adequately funding roads and bridges is still the primary issue, much more than public transit, high speed rail and other transportation solutions that may make more sense in densely populated areas.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Funding, Highway, Infra Views, Jobs, National, Policy, Rail, Roads

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Pathways Out of Poverty for Vulnerable Californians: Policies that Prepare the Workforce for Middle-Skill Infrastructure Jobs

Thursday, February 24th, 2011
Enrollments and Graduates: Infrastructure Courses

POLICYLINK
Infrastructure, so long relegated to the background in the worlds of economic policy, urban revitalization, and workforce development, has recently become the center of much more attention. Due to the federal economic stimulus, the growing interest in the green economy, and crises caused by underinvestment in public works, infrastructure has enjoyed a much higher profile of late.

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Posted in Employment, Equity, Infra Views, National, Policy, Recovery

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From this week’s National Journal Transportation Blog…

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Transportation spending in the foreseeable future, we are told by congressional leaders, will be limited to the tax receipts deposited into the Highway Trust Fund. The President’s Budget submission said the same in so many words when it pledged that funding for surface transportation will be “paid for fully without increasing the deficit.”

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State Transportation Reform: Cut to Invest in Transportation to Deliver the Next Economy

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Table 1: State revenues, by source, used by select states for state-administered highways, 1995–2008

BROOKINGS-ROCKEFELLER PROJECT ON STATE AND METROPOLITAN INNOVATION
A 21st century state transportation strategy that strengthens metropolitan America and is tightly linked to the vital elements of the next economy is critical for our nation to emerge from the rubble of the recession. Yet state transportation systems face two overarching challenges: they are both broke and broken.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Highway, Infra Views, Local, National, Policy, Public Transportation, Recovery, Roads, Transit

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