Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Highway Expansion

State DOT’s Misplaced Priorities: Widening Highways While Bridges Crumble

By Ben Fried | Nov 12, 2009 | 9 Comments

Earlier this week we asked why the state Department of Transportation still thinks it’s a good idea to widen highways in the middle of dense urban neighborhoods. The agency met with stiff resistance Monday when it presented plans for bigger ramps and more lanes where the Major Deegan Expressway passes through a redeveloping neighborhood in […]

State DOT Channels Spirit of Robert Moses in Major Deegan Expansion Plan

By Ben Fried | Nov 10, 2009 | 8 Comments

These are enlightened times for New York City’s local streets. The city is building sidewalk extensions, protected bike lanes, and better busways. But at the state DOT — the agency that controls the vast majority of New York’s federal transportation funding — much of the playbook still comes straight from the Robert Moses era. At […]

New Report: Feds Subsidizing Parking Six Times as Much as Transit

By Elana Schor | Sep 29, 2009 | 8 Comments

Image: Subsidyscope "Subsidy" is a word used quite often in transportation policy-making circles, whether by road acolytes who claim (falsely) that highways are not federally subsidized because of the gas tax or by transit boosters who lament Washington’s unceasing focus on paying for more local asphalt. But the subsidy debate often overlooks the government tax […]

PBS NewsHour Takes on Alabama’s “Zombie Highway” Tonight

By Elana Schor | Aug 6, 2009 | 2 Comments

A stretch of the Birmingham highway that would eventually link up with the Northern Beltline. Photo: WNET.org What is a "zombie highway"? Exactly what the name suggests: a road that won’t die, swallowing government funds and congressional earmarks while posing potential harm to those who live near it. Tonight the Blueprint America segment of PBS’ […]

McCain & Coburn: Let’s Make Roads Safer — by Slashing Safety Money

By Elana Schor | Jul 30, 2009 | 6 Comments

A report released today [PDF] by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), timed to coincide with debate on a $7 billion highway trust fund fix, accuses their fellow lawmakers of "raiding" the fund for transportation "pet projects." Sen. John McCain. Image: City-Data.com What wasteful projects have drawn such scorn from the duo? Not […]

Stim Cash Gone Bad: Feds Fund Houston’s Highway to Nowhere

By Ben Fried | May 8, 2009 | 3 Comments

Robin Holzer. Photo: New York Times. Reuters just wrapped up a two-day "Infrastructure Summit" and published a great collection of stories about the state of transportation policy in the U.S. I especially like this piece, featuring Robin Holzer of the Houston-based Citizens’ Transportation Coalition, who does a great job illustrating some of the major deficiencies […]

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