Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about U.S. DOT

White House Budget Includes $530M for Local Sustainability, $1B for HSR

By Elana Schor | Feb 1, 2010 | No Comments

The White House officially unveiled its $3.8 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2011 this morning, seeking $1 billion to continue its high-speed rail investment and $530 million for the transportation leg of the Obama administration’s inter-agency push to promote sustainable planning on the local level. White House budget chief Peter Orszag challenged employees to […]

Obama Taps High-Speed Rail Winners: Florida, California, Illinois and More

By Elana Schor | Jan 28, 2010 | 21 Comments

Click here for a larger version. Image: USDOT In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama hinted at what many in the transportation world have anticipated all week: Florida’s emergence as a winner in the race for a share of the White House’s $8 billion (and growing) high-speed rail fund. But Florida […]

Oakland’s Stimulus Flap: A Shot Across the Bow for Transport Equity?

By Elana Schor | Jan 27, 2010 | 9 Comments

The Obama administration’s warning that the Bay Area has jeopardized federal stimulus funding for its Oakland Airport Connector project — a story Streetsblog San Francisco has been following for months — could have national consequences for other urban transit proposals that risk harming low-income riders, civil rights and transit advocates predicted yesterday. The proposed Oakland […]

U.S. DOT Previews How New Transit Rules Could Define ‘Livability’

By Elana Schor | Jan 21, 2010 | No Comments

When the Obama administration announced an ambitious revamp of transit funding rules to, as the Transportation Secretary put it, "take livability into account," urban planners and transit advocates alike were pleased — but also uncertain. Baltimore’s rail network, with the proposed new Red Line — which could get a boost from the U.S. DOT’s livability […]

LaHood Wants More TIGER Aid in the Congressional Jobs Bill

By Elana Schor | Jan 14, 2010 | No Comments

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made a splash yesterday by announcing that the U.S. DOT would look at the environmental and community-building benefits of transit projects, not just their adherence to a government cost-effectiveness standard. Washington D.C.’s proposed K Street transitway, pictured above, is one of many projects vying for TIGER money. Photo: The City Fix […]

Big Transit News: Bush-Era Rule Tossed, Enviro Benefits on the Table

By Elana Schor | Jan 13, 2010 | 2 Comments

Transportation reformers and members of Congress have long clamored for changes to the federal government’s major transit grant program, otherwise known as "New Starts," and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood answered today with an announcement of sweeping changes in the works. LaHood made his announcement today at the Transportation Research Board conference. (Photo: AP) The first […]

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