Tanya Snyder
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Recent Posts
Obama Proposes a “Fix-It-First” Program For Roads
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In last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama launched a “Fix-It-First” program to repair aging infrastructure and put people to work. The president even took an indirect jab at officials who would rather build new than fix existing infrastructure, saying, “I know you want these job-creating projects in your district; I’ve seen all […]
McClatchy Muckrakers Expose Seedy Underbelly of the Highway Bonanza
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The work of a sustainable transportation reporter can be a lonely lot. But it’s a lot less lonely now that two McClatchy reporters, Curtis Tate and Greg Gordon, have taken up the mantle of exposing wasteful road expansion. With their far-reaching and well-researched three-part series, published last Sunday, Tate and Gordon brought stories of highway […]
Gary Toth: TTI Congestion Scores Prove Road Expansion Isn’t the Answer
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In response to our critique of the Texas Transportation Institute’s congestion rankings, which take traffic delays out of context and risk being used to justify road expansions, former New Jersey DOT leader Gary Toth raised this question: What if, instead of getting frustrated with the report, we reframe its interpretation? He does it by pointing out that the […]
Keeping CNN Honest: 10 Ways Anderson Cooper Got the Rail Story Wrong
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Last Friday, CNN’s Anderson Cooper ran a segment about high-speed rail as part of his “Keeping Them Honest” series. Reporter Drew Griffin did an “exposé” of a Vermont rail project that spent .00006 percent of the federal stimulus money on needed track improvements and came in on time and under budget. Scandal! It amounts to […]
How Will the Next Transpo Secretary Build on Ray LaHood’s Legacy?
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He strung it out long enough, but Ray LaHood has finally announced that he’s resigning as Transportation Secretary. Speculation has been rampant for months about who could replace him, and now it kicks into high gear. Matt Yglesias captured the sentiments of many transportation advocates when he tweeted yesterday, “Ray LaHood was a surprisingly good DOT […]
It’s Official: LaHood Is Out
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After a few false alarms, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has finally come out and said it: He’s leaving the administration. In a letter sent to U.S. DOT staff and contractors this morning, he listed the accomplishments of the last four years: We have put safety front and center with the Distracted Driving Initiative and a rule […]
How Mayor Mick Cornett Fought Oklahoma City’s Brain Drain and Weight Gain
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Mick Cornett, Oklahoma City’s Republican mayor, has made it his mission to make his city healthier and less obese, in part by improving its walkability. The city lost a million pounds during his weight-loss campaign — and then they took a freeway out of the middle of downtown and overhauled its built environment. I interviewed Mayor […]
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett: We Have to Build This City For People
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In 2008 Mick Cornett, the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City — ranked as one of the fattest cities in the country — stood in front of the elephants at the zoo and announced he was going on a diet, and taking the rest of the city with him. Oklahoma City lost a million pounds, 37 of which were his. Cornett’s zeal […]
Today’s Transit Dreams May Come True — 78 Years From Now
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By the looks of it, my humble hometown of Washington, DC, is winning the transit space race. The region currently has 45 transit projects either planned or underway — and one that’s stalled. You may have heard of the Silver Line to Dulles Airport, but a new map from Reconnecting America proves that that’s just […]
Federal Transit Administration Grapples With Likely Funding Cuts
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After fighting to maintain reasonable funding levels in the transportation bill – and for the inclusion of dedicated transit funding in the first place – the Federal Transit Administration now finds itself up against almost certain funding cuts that imperil rail and bus expansion projects, as well as the agency’s own staffing. The fiscal cliff deal hasn’t […]
Pro-Bike Republican Tom Petri to Chair Key House Transpo Panel
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The Republican co-chair of the Congressional Bicycling Caucus is getting a leadership position with some real gravitas. Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) was just named the new chair of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee in the House — the epicenter of the chamber’s surface transportation legislation. The list of Republicans who support active transportation is pretty short […]
Today in Foreign Policy: American Interests Demand Walkable Communities
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If you’ve had your head stuck inside street design manuals or engineering guides – if you’ve been thinking at the level of the bulb-out or the bollard – I’ve got a present for you. I wouldn’t have expected to find it in Foreign Policy magazine, but last week, Patrick Doherty of the New America Foundation […]