Last month we conducted an informal survey among colleagues in the transportation community about the outlook for the federal surface transportation program in the year(s) ahead…One comment from a veteran transportation insider summed up concisely the collective mindset: “There will be nothing ‘transformational’ about the future program,” he opined.
View this complete post...Posts Tagged ‘James Oberstar’
A Fresh Look at the Prospects for Transportation in the New Congress
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act–Transportation and Infrastructure Implementation
Thursday, September 9th, 2010UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Of the $64.1 billion provided for transportation and infrastructure programs under the Recovery Act, Federal, State, and local agencies administering programs within the Committee’s jurisdiction have announced 19,754 transportation and other infrastructure projects totaling $62.8 billion, as of August 13, 2010. This amount represents 98 percent of the total available funds. Within this total, Federal agencies, States, and their local partners have obligated $51.9 billion for 19,488 projects, representing 81 percent of the available funds.
Guest on The Infra Blog: Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN), Chairman, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Monday, June 7th, 2010Congressman James Oberstar represents Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. Now in his 17th term, he is the longest serving member of Congress in Minnesota history. In the 34 years he has served in Congress, Jim has become known as the body’s leading expert on transportation policy. From 1989 through 1995, he chaired the Subcommittee on Aviation, passing important legislation that has led to better maintenance and safer aircraft. Later, as the ranking democrat of the full Transportation Committee, he worked in a bipartisan manner to take the Highway Trust Fund off budget to ensure that gas taxes are used to fix roads and bridges and not to make the budget deficit look smaller. In January 2007, Jim was elected chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He is also the first member of Congress to have served both as a committee’s administrator and its chairman.
View this complete post...Innovative Financing Is No Substitute for New Funding
Monday, April 19th, 2010Hoping to sustain interest in the Committee’s efforts to enact a new multi-year transportation bill during this session of Congress, Reps. James Oberstar (D-MN) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR), leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, convened a hearing on April 14 to explore innovative ways of financing highway and transit investments. But while the hearing provided a useful survey of available financing tools and programs, it produced no new answers to the key question that has bedeviled transportation advocates for many months and remains as the chief obstacle to moving the legislation forward— the question of how to pay for the proposed multi-year surface transportation program.
View this complete post...Healthy, Equitable Transportation Policy: Recommendations and Research
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010POLICYLINK
In St. Louis, MO, major cuts in bus service this spring left workers, students, disabled people, and elderly residents stranded and feeling bereft. Stuart and Dianne Falk, who are both in wheelchairs, told CNN they no longer would be able to get to the gym or the downtown theater company where they volunteer. “To be saddled, to be imprisoned, that is what it is going to feeling like,” Stuart Falk said…
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