Comments on Federal transportation bill clings to the status quo - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by Ryan

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:43:55 EDT

I think it's incredibly disingenuous to say the "Republicans in Congress sought to eliminate transit funding altogether." That's really not accurate at all. They could have given a huge infusion to the transit trust fund, then eliminated its dedicated funding stream, then made it compete for money. Obviously, this wouldn't have boded well for transit and likely would have dealt a blow for transit funding. But the simplification of this to "Republicans want to cut all transit funding" really isn't fair.

Comment by Mark

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 03:51:44 EDT

Meanwhile, traffic levels have peaked all over the country according to Federal Highway Administration (and State DOT) statistics. Federal highway expansion projects require looking ahead two decades when making traffic projections. It's anyone's guess how much traffic there will be in 2032, but it's likely to be much less as fossil fuels decline. We're past Peak Conventional Oil, Peak Coal (in terms of BTUs in the US), Peak Natural Gas in the US was 1973, shale gas is poised to decline sharply in the coming years (even with "fracking") and therefore transportation will see major contraction. Electric cars are unlikely to be built faster than energy decline, and the fuel sources that run almost all of the electric grid are near or at peak.

We will be doing well to maintain what we already have.

www.peaktraffic.org
Peak Traffic and Transportation Triage

Comment by Michael Lewyn

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:41:36 EDT

Not the bill I would have drafted but better than I would have expected the night after election day 2010.

Comment by Geoffrey Hatchard

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:44:14 EDT

Thanks, Congress. Cities are the economic engines of the economy, but you think we should knee-cap them and pour money into the backwaters of the country.

No other words needed, really. We're a country that cheers ignorance and roots against our own best interests. Pax Americana...

Comment by JimT

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:44:02 EDT

Can you say whether the allocation formula changed? Last spring we heard that the House bill had a formula change that would increase funding for DC and MD by about 35% (but only about 10% for VA). If that formula was adopted, then the cut to the bike-ped share may be largely offset by the larger pie.

Comment by Bossi

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:17:24 EDT

Haven't had a chance to read this write-up, but just wanted to offer that Yonah over at Transport Politic also has this excellent summary:

http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2012/07/01/congress-passes-major-transportation-bill-preserving-the-status-quo/