Transportation Reauthorization - Greater Greater Washington

Senate to the rescue

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 08:41:00 EDT

The Senate has restored transportation funding to the tune of $500 million for highways and $100 million for transit that the House cut. (WAMU)

Comment

Less for transportation

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:49:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The House has cut funding for transit, New Starts, and highway safety, backing off of funding promises made when the latest transportation bill was passed. And it doesn't look like the Senate will fix it. (Streetsblog)

Comment

A bad MAP

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 08:22:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The new federal transportation law, MAP-21, contains standards that add hundreds of miles of roads to the National Highway System and will force Portland and other cities to build local roads more like highways. (BikePortland)

Comment

Obama endorses transit and bike lanes (May 27, 2008)

Ryan is not for transit

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 08:28:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Paul Ryan voted to massively cut transportation, especially transit like Wisconsin high-speed rail, though he supported an auto industry bailout and Alaska's "bridge to nowhere". (The Transport Politic, Transportation Nation)

Comment

Silver Line could get cheaper money

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 11:19:00 EDT

by David Alpert

The TIFIA loan program, expanded in the latest transportation bill, could help cut the cost for the Silver Line, and reduce the burden on Toll Road commuters. It's complicated, though. (Bacon's Rebellion)

Comment

Transpo bill looks even worse

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:49:00 EDT

by David Alpert

The changes to bike-ped funding are worse than some thought: states can use their money for anything else at all, and the law forcing cyclists to ride on a sidepath on federal roads stayed in, though with exceptions. (Streetsblog)

Comment

Get ready to fight in the states

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 08:37:00 EDT

by David Alpert

The transportation bill had some defeats but also some successes; more importantly, advocates need to gear up to fight for good transportation in state legislatures and state DOTs. (Streetsblog)

Comment

Safety rules a waste?

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:35:00 EDT

by David Alpert

The federal transportation bill includes new safety rules for transit agencies, but are they unnecessary and ultimately a burdensome mandate on agencies besides WMATA which don't have safety problems right now? (Second Ave Sagas)

Comment

Should the FTA regulate urban transit agencies? (Oct 29, 2010)
House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
Federal transportation bill clings to the status quo (Jul 3, 2012)
Oberstar to release transportation outline on Wednesday (Jun 15, 2009)
Oppose a House transportation bill so bad it "defies belief" (Feb 9, 2012)

Federal transportation bill clings to the status quo

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:15:00 EDT

by Dan Malouff

Congress passed a major transportation bill last week, authorizing more than $100 billion in spending for highways, transit, and other modes over the next 2 years. The bill changes a number of rules and shifts the ways in which money is distributed, in an effort to preserve highway funding.

Photo by Talk Radio News Service on Flickr.

The bill generally maintains the status quo of federal transportation spending, but attempts to stretch the amount of money available for highways. Transit gets the same amount of money as before, which is not nearly enough for the projects states want to build.

Bicycle and pedestrian programs got consolidated into a single, smaller program, half of which state governments control directly. States uninterested in building sidewalks and bike trails can spend the money on more roads instead.

The bill makes $54.6 billion available per year for the next 2 years. About 80% of funding will go to highways, and about 20% will go to transit. Both the overall funding level and the 80/20 split are comparable to existing allocations.

The gas tax will remain at 18.3¢ per gallon, as it has since 1993 when gas was $1.07. Since this won't produce enough revenue to maintain current spending, almost $20 billion in federal general fund money will be infused into the transportation fund.

Highways

As in every previous federal transportation authorization, the bulk of spending authority goes to highways. Most of the money will be automatically distributed to state Departments of Transportation, which will have the authority to determine spending on roads within their borders.

Little about this system will change, except that a little bit more money is available for highways due to cuts to other modes.

One thing that may change is the make-up of the fleet of cars and trucks using the highways. This bill eliminates the so-called "gas guzzler tax," which raised a small amount of money but provided a disincentive to buying the least efficient cars and SUVs.

Another change is that more funding, up to $1 billion per year, is being directed to the TIFIA program, which offers loans to states and localities for major capital projects, instead of direct grants. TIFIA loan details are more favorable than private market deals, so this is a good option for large projects that don't get grants. Meanwhile, by expanding a program that requires participants to pay it back, the feds stretch limited dollars further.

Transit

At one stage of negotiations, Republicans in Congress sought to eliminate transit funding altogether. That would have been a disaster. Thankfully, it didn't happen.

Much of the transit money flows to transit providers through automatic formulas, similarly to how highway money flows to state DOTs. The largest pot of non-automatic money is in the New Starts program, which is the major federal source for money to build new rapid transit routes.

New Starts is funded at $1.9 billion per year, which is $50 million per year less than the existing allocation.

For that money, the list of project types that are eligible to receive New Starts grants has been broadened, to include more BRT projects, as well as projects that expand the core capacity of existing transit lines. Also, a special category has been established for "demonstration projects" that are primarily funded with local or private money, and only need a little federal funding.

New Starts is extremely important. Virginia received $900 million from it to help build the Silver Line, and Maryland is counting on it to help fund the Purple Line, Corridor Cities Transitway, and Baltimore Red Line. Expanding the list of eligible uses is good, but it further spreads out an already-diminished pot of money.

The competition for New Starts grants will be fierce, and the supply definitely won't meet the demand.

Tax-exempt benefits for transit riders will continue to be capped at $125/month, while drivers can still get corresponding parking benefits of up to $240/month. This is a blatant subsidy for driving over transit use, and is extremely unfortunate.

Some positive news is that there are two new transit programs established in the bill.

The first is a safety program that will institute nationwide safety standards for railcars, and require large transit agencies to establish safety plans. This is a direct outgrowth of WMATA's problems in recent years, especially the June 2009 Metrorail crash.

The second new program will offer planning grants to help communities plan and build Transit Oriented Developments around transit stations, which is a nice win for smart growth.

Bike/ped

Bicycle and pedestrian funding was a major target for attack, and a major point of contention. Many rural and conservative congresspeople don't understand the importance of these modes to urban transportation, and view them as unnecessary luxuries.

At several points throughout the negotiation process, it looked like dedicated bike/ped funding might be eliminated entirely. With the final adopted bill, it was reduced from about $1 billion annually to about $700 million annually. That's too bad, but the fact that any survived at all is good news.

Of that $700 million, half will be distributed via automatic formula to Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) for use on bike/ped projects. Previously all of this money had been distributed to states, so sending it to metropolitan areas is an interesting change, and could be seen as an experiment in funneling money directly to metropolitan areas instead of through states.

Unfortunately, the other half of the $700 million in bike/ped money will go to state DOTs, who will have the option of either using it for bike/ped projects, or flipping it into their highway funds and using it for road projects. If all the states do this, it will decrease the total amount of federal bike/ped funding to just $350 million.

Although it is not strictly a dedicated bike/ped fund, another pot of money that is often used for bike/ped projects is the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program (CMAQ). Capital Bikeshare has largely been funded via CMAQ, so it is a significant program.

The good news is that CMAQ funding levels appear to be level. The bad news is that the list of eligible project types that can use CMAQ funds has been broadened to include a larger variety of road projects.

Environmental issues

Republicans in Congress had wanted to include in the bill funding for the Keystone Pipeline, which would have transported crude oil from Canada to refineries in the US. Democrats opposed it, and the fight was one of the most widely-reported sticking points in the negotiations.

Funding for the pipeline was not included, which was the major Republican concession agreed upon, in response to Democrat concessions regarding bike/ped and transit funding.

However, another aspect of the bill may have even more important and widespread effects.

A rarely-reported provision aimed at streamlining project delivery will eliminate the requirement for federal environmental review for a wide range of projects, including those within existing right-of-way, those that are below certain cost thresholds, and those that replace damaged infrastructure.

Excluding those projects will undoubtedly save millions of dollars, and months or even years of project planning. But it will also eliminate a key step in project review, and reduce the ability of localities to object to undesirable projects imposed on them by states. It is definitely a mixed blessing.

Summary

Just about everyone in the transportation policy world agrees that the current federal funding system isn't working. Costs keep rising, and with the gas tax flat, spending power keeps dropping. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees about what to do.

Some want to find more sustainable revenue sources, and use them to build multimodal 21st century infrastructure. Others want to eliminate multimodal programs and focus on spending limited money on what they see as the most important priority, highways.

This bill is a compromise. It puts off the larger questions of our country's long term needs, and takes a slight regressive lean, in order to continue for 2 more years the overall status quo of an 18.3¢ tax going to an 80/20 highway/transit split.

Cross-posted at BeyondDC.

6 comments

GOP transportation bill's new direction is the same old one (Jul 11, 2011)
Stimulus draft released; $30B for highways vs. $10B for transit (Jan 15, 2009)
All states are "donees" when it comes to highways (Oct 13, 2011)
LaHood vows to avert federal transportation bankruptcy (Jun 4, 2009)
Oberstar bill includes more money for transit, complete streets (Jun 18, 2009)

Bill adds oversight for Metro

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 08:28:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The new transportation bill also adds federal oversight of transit agencies, including Metro. The bill will allow the FTA to set standards for rail cars and safety training, though states retain the main authority. (Examiner)

Comment

Should the FTA regulate urban transit agencies? (Oct 29, 2010)
Rogoff: Federal oversight mustn't push riders onto highways (Apr 21, 2010)
Can oversight help transit safety without hurting transit? (Nov 16, 2009)
Senators threaten WMATA takeover; NTSB holding hearing on June crash (Feb 23, 2010)
Tri-State Oversight finds safety lapses on track right-of-way (Jan 7, 2010)

Verdict: Transpo bill pretty terrible

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 08:28:00 EDT

by David Alpert

The transportation bill "compromise" has many awful provisions, including letting states spend their tiny bit of bike-ped money on things like left-turn lanes if they only sit on it long enough, keeps transit funding low, and commuter benefits unequal, and deletes a bipartisan Complete Streets provision. (Streetsblog)

Comment

House GOP would wipe out local control over bike/ped funds (Jun 8, 2012)
House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
House transportation bill is "a march of horribles" (Jan 30, 2012)
Oberstar bill includes more money for transit, complete streets (Jun 18, 2009)

Agreement on transpo bill

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 08:38:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

Congress has reached a deal for transportation funding through September 2014. About half of local bike/ped funding survived, but states can still "opt out" of their share. The House also voted down incentives to deal with distracted driving. (Streetsblog)

Comment

House GOP would wipe out local control over bike/ped funds (Jun 8, 2012)
House transportation bill is "a march of horribles" (Jan 30, 2012)
House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
When will Oberstar's transportation bill drop? Place your bets now (Jun 10, 2009)
Oberstar bill includes more money for transit, complete streets (Jun 18, 2009)

Will Boxer cave?

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 08:43:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Bicycle groups are worried Barbara Boxer will give in to House negotiators on Safe Routes to School and letting cities spend federal money for bike-ped projects. The groups have taken out ads in SF. (The Hill, Streetsblog)

Comment

Bipartisanship brings zilch for bike-ped in Senate outline (Jul 20, 2011)
Senate committee backs infrastructure, but not bike lanes (Jan 27, 2011)
Boxer to ask for $50 billion more for highways (Feb 3, 2009)
House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
Virginia needs a tea party to overthrow Agenda 639 (Apr 16, 2012)

House rejects transportation extremism

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 08:45:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Maybe Democrats and Republicans aren't so far apart on transportation after all. A tea party-supported resolution to cut transportation spending failed 323 to 82, exposing divisions in the GOP. (Streetsblog)

Comment

GOP transportation bill's new direction is the same old one (Jul 11, 2011)
House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
House GOP would wipe out local control over bike/ped funds (Jun 8, 2012)
House transportation bill is "a march of horribles" (Jan 30, 2012)
House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)

House GOP would wipe out local control over bike/ped funds

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 11:08:00 EDT

by Tanya Snyder

The House GOP couldn't pass a transportation bill of their own, so now they want to undo one of the major bi-partisan achievements in the Senate transportation bill.

Image from Elvert Barnes via the Ped-Bike Information Center.

As part of its counter-offer to the Senate in conference committee negotiations over the transportation bill, the House appears to be proposing the elimination of the Cardin-Cochran amendment, which would allow local jurisdictions to control funds for bike/ped projects.

The House proposal, sent to the Senate yesterday, would would effectively block access to bike/ped funding for many towns, cities, and regions located in states where the department of transportation places a low priority on street safety.

Politico Pro reported that House conferees confirmed that the first part of its counter to the Senate offer would "retain the Transportation Enhancements program's overall structure but would let states opt out." Transportation Enhancements is one of the principal funding mechanisms for bike/ped projects. Neither Politico nor Streetsblog has seen a copy of the couter-offer, so it's unclear exactly how the proposal is framed.

Initially, under the Senate's MAP-21 bill, TE was subsumed under a subset of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program called "Additional Activities," which states could opt out of entirely. But thanks to a bi-partisan amendment crafted by Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran and Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, decision-making authority for those funds was devolved from states to local governments, which tend to place a higher priority on active transportation programs.

The House proposal appears to erase that progress.

"By allowing states to opt out of Additional Activities funding, the House counter-offer would prevent local governments from accessing funds for small-scale, local transportation projects," said Mary Lauran Hall, communications coordinator for America Bikes. "It pits state control against local control. We've heard from mayors and local elected officials across the country that they want funding for these projects. It doesn't make sense to take away the tiny portion of transportation dollars that trickle to local governments."

The House is expected to complete its counter-offer over the next few days.

Cross-posted at Streetsblog Capitol Hill.

13 comments

House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
Bipartisanship brings zilch for bike-ped in Senate outline (Jul 20, 2011)
House transportation bill is "a march of horribles" (Jan 30, 2012)
House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
Virginia needs a tea party to overthrow Agenda 639 (Apr 16, 2012)

Time running out on transpo bill

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:11:00 EDT

by David Alpert

As the transportation trust fund approaches bankruptcy, Senate leaders are trying to get a transportation bill the House might consider, which could mean giving up ped/bike funding or environmental protections. Stakeholders are urging Congress to get it together and pass a bill. (Streetsblog)

Comment

All not well with transpo bill

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:33:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

House Republicans might scuttle chances for a bipartisan transportation bill, especially the important Cardin-Cochran Amendment giving more localities control over their transportation spending. (Streetsblog, T4A)

Comment

House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
When will Oberstar's transportation bill drop? Place your bets now (Jun 10, 2009)
Oberstar to release transportation outline on Wednesday (Jun 15, 2009)
House passes Amtrak bill (for real this time) (Jun 11, 2008)

Don't bike on me?

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:47:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The Tea Party is trying to kill Transportation Enhancements funding, which funds many bicycle and pedestrian projects, in the transportation bill's conference committee. Republicans also don't want to allow local transit agencies to spend capital money on operation in times of high unemployment. (Streetsblog)

Comment

GOP transportation bill's new direction is the same old one (Jul 11, 2011)
Bipartisanship brings zilch for bike-ped in Senate outline (Jul 20, 2011)
Fairfax greasing the chain (Oct 8, 2009)
House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
Virginia holding up transit funds over Metro board seat (Sep 29, 2011)

And...

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:15:00 EDT

by David Edmondson

A Prince William mixed-use proposal failed to draw a single bid, so it's back to the drawing board. (WBJ) ... Frequent biking can lead to problems "down there" for men and women, depending on handlebar configuration. (Medical Daily, Xavier) ... The GOP may be willing to part with the Keystone Pipeline in the transportation bill. (The Hill)

Comment

VDOT was supposed to install signal where pedestrian killed (Oct 17, 2010)
12 ways our region could reform bicycling laws (Jan 22, 2010)
What is "mixed use"? (Apr 9, 2010)
Is a Metro extension to Woodbridge a good idea? (Sep 20, 2011)
The zombie outer beltway returns (Aug 5, 2011)

A little goes a long way

Wed, 02 May 2012 08:55:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

A pilot program in the last transportation law showed small investments in bike and pedestrian facilities can have a huge impact. But will Congress recognize this success? (Streetsblog)

Comment

Kabuki transportation bill

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:19:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The House passed a transportation bill that amounts to a "kabuki dance," because as soon as it reaches the Senate it will be replaced with the Senate's already-passed bill. (Post)

Comment

Virginia needs a tea party to overthrow Agenda 639

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:16:00 EDT

by David Alpert

It's time for Virginia residents to storm the harbor of their state capitol and throw the tea overboard. Last week, Governor Bob McDonnell signed a transportation bill that massively expands the hand of government and overrides local decisions about how communities should grow and change. How's that for big government?

The Gadsden flag, from Wikipedia.

SB 639 has an unprecedented, frightening provision that lets the Commonwealth Transportation Board, appointed by the governor, override a city or county's own plans. Localities will have to include transportation projects the state wants, no matter what the local residents of that area think.

It's astounding to see this from a supposedly conservative governor and state legislature. One of the most commonsense principles of current conservative movements is smaller government.

The national, and Virginia, Tea Party holds as a fundamental principle that "Governing should be done at the most local level possible where it can be held accountable." Individual counties and cities ought to be able to decide how they want to grow, or not grow. Loudoun, Charlottesville, and Roanoke should make these desicisions instead of the state government in Richmond.

Tea Party groups have been alarmed about "Agenda 21," which they say is a United Nations plan to undermine property rights. There's no UN conspiracy (though planners shouldn't be too quick to dismiss the underlying fears), but Virginia has a very real assault on liberty happening today. Call it Agenda 639.

Agenda 639, or Senate Bill 639 as passed into law, forces each county to match local transportation plans to dictates from the Commonwealth Transportation Board. If a locality doesn't want a particular transportation project, too bad. If VDOT spends money on the project anyway and a county rejects it, they have to reimburse VDOT, even if the county never wanted the project in the first place.

That's not all. Virginia has for many years used a formula to allocate transportation money to the various counties and cities. That gave local levels of government more say over their transportation. Agenda 639/SB 639 moves hundreds of millions of dollars out of the formula, giving the CTB unprecedented control of how it's spent. The governor in Richmond will now have more power to spend tax money than local leaders. That's the opposite of "the most local level possible."

If Virginia's small-government conservatives aren't alarmed at this, they should be.

One of the debates on the national transportation bill is to what extent the federal government should mandate that states and localities spend money on specific types of projects, even if those are projects, like paving sidewalks, that many people support to improve safety and economic development of an area.

The House transportation bill simply eliminates these set-asides. This has led many people in cities where people walk and bike in large numbers to worry that their state departments of transportation would refuse to fund such projects.

A bipartisan amendment from Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) found a common sense and small government approach to this issue: let local communities, or regional metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), choose how to spend the money themselves.

This is the right strategy for both liberals and conservatives. There's little enthusiasm for making more transportation decisions in Washington. Even in Washington, we'd rather make the transportation decisions at 55 M Street, SE (the District Department of Transportation headquarters) than inside 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE (the US Department of Transportation), 2 blocks away.

Look at the saga over streetcar tracks on the 11th Street bridge. Federal regulations made it impossible for DC to put tracks on a bridge, a project local voters supported and would have paid for with local money. Too many transportation projects are too expensive and take too long because of federal rules.

Let's get rid of many of these federal rules and give the power to "the most local level [of government] possible." Transferring federal power to big state governments isn't enough to advance liberty. Give the power to local counties and cities.

With this bill on his record, Bob McDonnell might well turn out to be Virginia's most big-government governor ever. Let Northern Virginia decide what Northern Virginia wants, let Hampton Roads choose what's best for Hampton Roads, and let the Appalachian west set its own course.

110 comments

Is there a tea party urbanism? (Feb 9, 2011)
McDonnell still pushing WMATA takeover, vote Thursday (Oct 5, 2010)
"My way or the highway" bill awaits VA governor's decision (Apr 4, 2012)
Virginia Senate kills bad anti-livability, WMATA board bills (Feb 22, 2011)
McDonnell trying again to take WMATA seat from NoVA (Mar 31, 2011)

No bill puts safety at risk

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:49:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

House Republicans blocking a long term transportation bill could be putting Metro safety upgrades at risk, as these efforts depend on federal support. (WAMU)

Comment

Extended play

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:19:00 EDT

by David Edmondson

Congress approved a 90 day extension of transportation funding, ensuring the gas tax and road construction funds will not end this weekend. The House never took up the Senate transportation bill. (The Hill)

Comment

House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
Oberstar bill includes more money for transit, complete streets (Jun 18, 2009)
Stimulus compromise won't cut transit (Feb 7, 2009)
Transportation in Congress roundup: Leaders agree on extension, GOP would kill Amtrak, & Obama proposal (Sep 12, 2011)

Senate wants NPS to ban bikes

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:29:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The Senate's transportation bill keeps a nasty provision forcing the National Park Service to arbitrarily ban cyclists from roads when a path within 100 yards is present, regardless of the usability of the path. (John S. Allen)

Comment

DDOT defines Met Branch Trail options to the north (Nov 15, 2010)
The Yards waterfront park squeezes bikes to the edge (Feb 4, 2008)
14th Street bridge area needs a good bicycle connection (Mar 13, 2012)
NPS: Recreation in our park would get in the way of traffic (Sep 28, 2009)
Bikes at National Harbor: Better too little, too late than never? (Jul 1, 2009)

Transportation bill gridlocked

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:29:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

House Republicans voted down a motion to pass the Senate's transportation bill. They want a 3- month extension on the current bill, which runs out March 31, but Democrats don't agree. (Post, Transportation Nation)

Comment

House GOP against transpo bill because Dems voted for it

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 11:22:00 EDT

by David Alpert

The House won't take up the transportation bill that the Senate passed with bipartisan support. An analyst says that's because Democrats are for it, and House Republicans apparently are against any policy Democrats support, no matter what it is. (Streetsblog)

Comment

House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
House transportation bill is "a march of horribles" (Jan 30, 2012)
When will Oberstar's transportation bill drop? Place your bets now (Jun 10, 2009)
Roll call vote on Amtrak (Jun 12, 2008)

Senate passes transportation bill

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:24:00 EDT

by David Edmondson

The Senate passed a 2-year transportation bill with strong bipartisan support and plaudits from many quarters. It would also restore transit tax benefits to $230/month, as last year. Leaders are urging the House to take up the Senate version. (Streetsblog, Examiner, The Hill)

Comment

House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
House passes Amtrak bill (for real this time) (Jun 11, 2008)
House passes Amtrak pre-bill rule (Jun 11, 2008)
When will Oberstar's transportation bill drop? Place your bets now (Jun 10, 2009)
Oppose a House transportation bill so bad it "defies belief" (Feb 9, 2012)

Lack of funding causes delays, uncertainty

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:24:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The lack of a transportation funding bill could be holding up large projects like the Purple Line because of uncertainty of when and how much federal funding will be available. (WAMU)

Comment

Senate moves on transpo, House will follow

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:58:00 EDT

by David Alpert

A Senate deal on the transportation bill lets it move forward. A bunch of Keystone XL and other unrelated amendments failed, while germane amendments are up for votes Tuesday. Meanwhile, the House will work from the Senate bill, abandoning its own failed bill. (Streetsblog, Huffington Post)

Comment

Transportation bill going nowhere fast

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:37:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

Experts believe a new transportation funding bill is unlikely this year, but that Congress will probably avoid a shutdown by passing extensions, possibly through 2014. (Streetsblog)

Comment

When will Oberstar's transportation bill drop? Place your bets now (Jun 10, 2009)
House transportation bill is "a march of horribles" (Jan 30, 2012)
STAA tuned: Transportation bill leaves funding question hanging (Jun 23, 2009)
House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
Oberstar to release transportation outline on Wednesday (Jun 15, 2009)

No cloture, no Mica

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:39:00 EDT

by David Alpert

The Senate failed to reach cloture on its transportation bill because Republicans wanted to force it to be more like the House bill. Meanwhile, House leaders have pushed John Mica aside and given control of the House's bill to ~~Bud~~ Bill Shuster, who has a more extreme view. (Streetsblog)

Comment

Transpo bill moves right

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:39:00 EDT

by David Alpert

The House GOP has cut the transportation bill to 18 months, but have made it even more conservative, says Steve LaTourette (R-OH), who opposed the original bill. John Mica blames transit riders. (Transportation Nation, Streetsblog)

Comment

House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
STAA tuned: Transportation bill leaves funding question hanging (Jun 23, 2009)
GOP transportation bill's new direction is the same old one (Jul 11, 2011)
Oberstar bill includes more money for transit, complete streets (Jun 18, 2009)

Reauthorization on video

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 08:47:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Jay Mallin has created a video about the transportation reauthorization fight, and the clear message from House Republicans: Don't walk, bike or ride transit, just get a car.

Comment

Weekend video: 11,000 strong bike to work (May 22, 2011)
How pedestrians "interfere with traffic" (Feb 28, 2011)
Weekend video: Bring it down, pull the bar, put it on (May 21, 2011)
House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)

House transpo bill still flawed

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:23:00 EDT

by David Edmondson

Despite changes to the House transportation reauthorization bill, it remains terribly flawed. Transit funding may have returned, but transportation enhancements are still cut, funding is still too low, and environmental protections still suffer. (Streetsblog)

Comment

House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
House transportation bill is "a march of horribles" (Jan 30, 2012)
Oberstar bill includes more money for transit, complete streets (Jun 18, 2009)
When will Oberstar's transportation bill drop? Place your bets now (Jun 10, 2009)

House transpo bill getting changes

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:56:00 EDT

by David Edmondson

The terrible House transportation reauthorization has been put on hold by Speaker Boehner pending changes, like shortening the term from five years and restoring transit funding paid for by the gas tax. (The Hill)

Comment

House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet (Feb 23, 2012)
Oppose a House transportation bill so bad it "defies belief" (Feb 9, 2012)
House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
House transportation bill is "a march of horribles" (Jan 30, 2012)
When will Oberstar's transportation bill drop? Place your bets now (Jun 10, 2009)

House bill delayed, but transit, walking, biking aren't safe yet

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:35:00 EDT

by Ben Goldman

Congress is in recess, and the House's atrocious transportation bill has been dismembered and delayed, but if you want to preserve funding for transit and active transportation, don't let your guard down yet. There's still plenty to watch out for as the House and Senate attempt to reauthorize federal transportation programs.

Photo by jcolman on Flickr.

There are some stark differences between the House and Senate bills. But what is scariest may be their similarities.

When two companion pieces of legislation pass their respective chambers, a conference committee combines them. The committee is made up of members of both the House and the Senate, and it is their job to resolve differences between the two bills. (Most recently, a conference committee forged a compromise on extending payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance.)

Committee members are limited in that for each provision, they must choose either one chamber's version or the other's—they generally do not have the power to come up with something new on the spot. Furthermore, if the two bills agree on something, the conference committee can't alter that provision.

There are already large chunks of the House and Senate bill that are the same. Both eliminate dedicated bike-ped funding, for instance. The House bill admittedly goes much further than the Senate's, but if the two bills were to be conferenced right now, Safe Routes to School, Transportation Enhancements and Recreational Trails would all be history.

The committee would then have to choose how to weaken those programs: eliminate them altogether, like the House bill, or keep them eligible under Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program but let states opt out of them. Another critical choice: fund CMAQ from the Highway Trust Fund, as in the Senate bill, or fund it from the the smoke-and-mirrors "alternative transportation account" envisioned in the House bill.

"We have to keep the bike-ped programs alive in the Senate to be able to fight for them in conference," David Burwell, director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment, told Streetsblog. "That's why Senate Amendments 1549 [Cardin/Cochran, making CMAQ city-friendly] and 1661 [Klobuchar, protecting Rec. Trails] are so important to the bicycling community. If they don't get added to the bill, the fight is over in conference."

There are other amendments pending in the Senate that would add some language already adopted by the House. The House's Keystone XL pipeline proposal has already passed as part of H.R. 3408, the "drill" part of "drill and drive." If a Keystone XL pipeline amendment succeeds in the Senate, it cannot be removed by the conference committee.

Both chambers have to vote on the committee's end product, the conference report, before they send it to the president. If the committee doesn't think it can reach a compromise that will pass both chambers, we're headed for an extension. If it passes both but President Obama vetoes it, as he has promised to do with the House bill, we're headed for an extension.

Cross-posted at Streetsblog Capitol Hill.

5 comments

House GOP moves to decimate transit funding (Feb 2, 2012)
Stimulus compromise won't cut transit (Feb 7, 2009)
Oberstar bill includes more money for transit, complete streets (Jun 18, 2009)
Bipartisanship brings zilch for bike-ped in Senate outline (Jul 20, 2011)
House transportation bill is "a march of horribles" (Jan 30, 2012)