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
Boxer and Mica Release Vague Reassurance of Progress
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Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. John Mica just released this statement: The conferees have moved forward toward a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on a highway reauthorization bill. Both House and Senate conferees will continue to work with a goal of completing a package by next week. From what we’re hearing, whatever deal they’ve reached only applies […]
House to Vote on Firming Up the Conference Deadline
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The House is about to vote on a motion to instruct, sponsored by Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN). It’s a non-binding command to the House members of the conference committee to finish their work by June 22 — this Friday. Walz’s motion rejects the current talk of an extension in case the conference can’t come to an […]
AASHTO Adds Designs to Bikeway Guide, But Not Protected Bike Lanes
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Last week, AASHTO, the national association of state DOTs, published the first update to its bicycle facility design guide in 13 years (available online for $144). Since many transportation engineers take their cues from AASHTO, there was an urgent need to update the 1999 guide, which failed to include many effective design treatments and promoted […]
No More Mr. Nice Guy: Transit Advocates Get Organized
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What do you do if your bus service is cut by a third? If you’re Metropolitan Communities United in St. Louis, you hold a ballot initiative – and win. What if your transit system neglects less affluent areas compared to the wealthy part of town? If you’re the L.A. Bus Riders’ Union, you bring a […]
House Attack on Safe Streets Makes Transpo Bill Ever More Elusive
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We reported last week that the House had proposed allowing states to “opt out” of funding bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements in its counter-offer to the Senate during transportation bill negotiations. The House GOP essentially wants to reject the Cardin-Cochran amendment, which gave local governments control over half the “Additional Activities” funding set aside for […]
House GOP Threatens to Wipe Out Local Control Over Bike/Ped Funding
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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. 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 […]
Transpo Bill Conference Devolves Into Talk of Extensions
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If you were still hoping a real bill could come out of the transportation conference, here’s a bitter pill: House Speaker John Boehner is now talking about a six-month extension of the current law. That extension would expire at the end of the year, along with such a massive bundle of economic initiatives that the […]
Boxer and Inhofe Make Their Offer to the House, Try to Avoid 10th Extension
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The time-and-venue change for Sen. Barbara Boxer’s press conference earlier today was apparently due to the fact that she was taking care of critical business: hand-delivering the Senate’s latest offer to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Chair John Mica (R-FL) wasn’t there to personally receive the document, which EPW Ranking Member James Inhofe joined […]
Stakeholders Beg Conferees to Stop Acting Like Children
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Sen. Barbara Boxer’s noon press conference started out as a bit of a mess. The Senate press gallery announced it was canceled five minutes before it was due to start. Then three minutes later, the EPW committee sent out a notice that the event had changed locations and would start 20 minutes later. Needless to […]
FRA Chief: America Is Driving Less and Congress Needs to Catch Up
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Speaking to reporters earlier today, Federal Railroad Administration chief Joe Szabo said that people are driving less and using transit more — and that those changes are permanent. “America’s travel habits are undergoing rapid change,” he said. It’s a fact, he said (“not opinion — statistically proven”), calling on Congress to show that it understands […]
Tea Party Republicans Take Aim at Bike-Ped Funding in Conference
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Although Senate Republicans had hoped the carefully crafted compromise over the Transportation Enhancements program would stand, some House members are stating their insistence that the program be stripped out entirely in conference. Transportation Enhancements is the primary source of funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects. It comprises less than two percent of total federal transportation […]
Study Predicts “Resilient Walkable” Places Will Lead the Housing Recovery
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This morning, a Minnesota Public Radio host asked me if the exurbs, whose growth rate flattened when the recession hit, are going to come back. Lots of people from far-distant suburbs like Blaine and Farmington called in, saying they like the way of life out there – they like having acres of trees buffering them […]