(Source: AASHTO)

On September 8, ten states shared the national spotlight, as AAA, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced the top ten finalists in the2009 America’s Transportation Awards competition.

(Source: NPR’s Talk of the Nation)

This evening I was listening to an interesting piece (click here to listen to the audio) on NPR’s Talk of the Nation hosted by Neal Conan.  The program’s guest was Chris Steiner, author of this book: $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better, who says our lives would be a lot happier and healthier if gas prices rose into the double digits.

Image Courtesy: NPR

Last year, gas prices soared over four dollars a gallon and Americans responded by driving a hundred billion fewer miles than the year before. Right now, at $2.50 a gallon or so, things seem back to normal. But writer Christopher Steiner argues that’s a delusion. He thinks we need to prepare for life at six, 10, even 20 dollars a gallon, prices which will change a lot more than our driving habits. They will transform what we eat, where we live, and how we view the world. And while there will be losers, he believes the airline industry will largely disappear, for example, for the most part, he asserts our lives will be better.

The following excerpt from his book paints a scary (and also good) picture:  Many people, quite understandably, don’t consider the implications of expensive gasoline so grand. The fact remains that the price of oil will inevitably rise, however. Two simple factors are responsible: first, we’re running out of oil (albeit slowly) and second, world demand will continue to rise for decades. We use six barrels of oil for every one we find. Half of the world’s petroleum comes from 3% of its oil fields — and those fields are old. The average age of the world’s 14 largest oil fields: 50 years, the exact age when most fields’ productions start an irreversible ebb. On the demand side, consider this: There are 1 billion people on the globe living what would be considered an American-style life, including ourselves. By 2040, that number will triple. The world’s burgeoning middle class will demand oil and it will get oil. Steady price increases are academic. Economics 101: Supply down, Demand up = higher prices.

The changes to our society will begin at $6 per gallon and continue on from there, affecting things far beyond the kinds of cars we drive and how often we drive them. America’s obesity rate will fall. Mass transit will spread across the country. Plane graveyards will overflow. We’ll lose the option to cheaply travel by plane, but high-speed train networks will slowly snake state to state. Disneyworld will lock its gates, Las Vegas’ strip will shrink to half its size. Our air will be cleaner. Cities like Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee will revive at $12 per gallon, their streets rife with commerce, people and stores. The exurbs of America, where we’ve poured so much of our wealth during the last several decades, will atrophy, destroying the equity of those who held fast. Wal-Mart will go bankrupt at $14 per gallon and manufacturing jobs will return to the U.S. en masse. When gas reaches $16 per gallon, Michael Pollan will get the food world he lobbies for in The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

Recently, NY Times has also reviewed Mr. Steiner’s work.  Writing about this NY Times review on his blog, Mr. Steiner says ” The Times neither praised the book nor panned it. The review proceeded as cautious and as neutral as would seem possible, with a bit of skepticism tossed in. It was reviewed in the Business Section, however, not in Styles or Books, so that may explain the stern pragmatism of the reviewer.”

Here is an excerpt from NY Times review:  “The book’s arguments are sometimes overstated in hyperbolic prose. In the chapter about the end of the airline industry as we know it, it says that some companies will be “permanently torpedoed” by high gas prices. It warns that a “giant herd of people” will lose their jobs. And it says that our grandchildren will “undoubtedly gawp in awe” when we recount our childhood trips to Disneyland. Well, that’s something to look forward to in our old age.”

If you are one of  those people who have already read his book, let us know what do you think.  Worth a buy??

Click here to read the entire transcript from this interview.

(Source: New York Times)

The Senate voted on Wednesday to allow Amtrak passengers to carry unloaded and locked handguns in checked baggage, even though Amtrak officials had raised concerns that the proposal could present “numerous challenges.”

Amtrak used to allow passengers to check licensed guns, but ended the practice after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

The provision, which was introduced by Senator Roger Wicker, Republican, as an amendment to a housing and transportation spending bill, is the latest in a string of Senate votes aimed at expanding gun rights. It passed 68-30, with a group of 27 Democrats and one independent, mostly from states where gun rights are widely supported, joining all 40 Republicans in voting for the measure.

The Senate has already approved separate provisions this year that would allow properly permitted gun owners to carry in national parks and would loosen gun laws in Washington. Additionally, a July proposal that would have allowed permitted gun owners in one state to carry concealed weapons in another fell just two votes short in the Senate.

Under the Wicker amendment, Amtrak would lose the funds earmarked for it in the must-pass spending bill if it did not comply with the new regulations. In a statement released after the amendment passed, Mr. Wicker stressed that the guidelines laid out in the provision — which would also insist that a passenger notify Amtrak that he or she is transporting a handgun and that only that passenger could unlock the secure container holding the gun — are roughly the same ones used by airline passengers.

“Americans should not have their Second Amendment rights restricted for any reason, particularly if they choose to travel on America’s federally subsidized rail line,” Mr. Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said in the statement.

Click here to read the entire article.

Thursday, September 17, 2009 – ISSN 1529-1057

AVIATION

1) FAA Approves Honeywell Airplane Safety Software

Link to article in The Arizona Republic:

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/09/16/20090916biz-honeywell0917.html

2) Wrong Frequency Contributed to Hudson River Air Disaster

Link to article in the Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/09/17/2009-09-17_another_goof_in_the_hudson_river_air_disaster.html

3) All On Board to Shape EU Air Traffic Management

Link to article on EurActiv:

http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/board-shape-eu-air-traffic-management/article-185463

CAMERAS

4) Do Speed Cameras Make Roads Safer?

Link to story and audio from NPR’s Talk of the Nation:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112886619&ft=1&f=1003

ELECTRONIC TOLLING

5) New York E-ZPass Customer Service Workers Wary of Pay Change; From Hourly to per Call

Link to article in the Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/09/17/2009-09-17_ezpass_crew_uneasy_over_pay_change.html#ixzz0RP33SusP

OTHER

6) Balfour Beatty to Buy Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 Million

Link to Bloomberg News article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aY7Z0PCeCZ3s

7) Taxi Tidbits and Techno-Tales

Link to column in The New York Times:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/taxi-tidbits-and-techno-tales/

RAILROADS

8) How the Railroads Took Control of Time

Link to article in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/nyregion/17rooms.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

ROADWAYS

9) US Senate Sticks with Stimulus Signs

Link to blog in The Wall Street Journal:

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/09/16/senate-sticks-with-stimulus-signs/

10) ‘Intelligent’ Signs Help to Time Your Drive in South Carolina

Link to story and video on WIS-TV:

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11146115

11) Road Weather Resource Identification (RWRI) Tool Version 3.0 Now Available

Link to further information from FHWA:

http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/resources/news/news_detail.asp?ID=580

SAFETY / SECURITY

12) Illinois Secretary of State Compiles ‘In Case of Emergency’ Database

Plans to use it to contact relatives of those injured in auto crashes.

Link to article in the Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-emergency-contactsep16,0,7288655.story

TELEMATICS

13) Toyota Uses Roadside Sensors to Warn Drivers

Link to article from Automotive News:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10352233-48.html

TRANSIT

14) Bus Smartcard Scheme Rolled Out in Wales

Link to BBC News story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8258542.stm

15) Audio Ads on Chicago Buses Touting Olympic Bid Anger Citizens

Link to story on WMAQ-TV:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/City-Politicizing-Public-Transportation-With-Olympic-Support-Ads-58650762.html

TRAVELER INFORMATION / TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

16) Michigan DOT Hires Navteq to Collect Real-Time Traffic Data for 2,000 Miles of Roads

Link to article in Crain’s Detroit Business:

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20090916/FREE/909169990

17) What News Web Sites are Missing: Useful, Real-Time Municipal Traffic and Transit Reports

Link to article in OJR: The Online Journalism Review:

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/kathlynclore/200909/1778/

News Releases

1) Dubai RTA Launches Virtual Transport Portal

2) Scania Takes Eco-driving to a New Level with Its Latest Digital Performance Coaching Technology

3) Alliance to Facilitate Development of Two-Way Satellite Data Solutions for Improved Tracking, Messaging and Emergency Communications

4) FAA Announces New Efforts to Respond to Safety Concerns

5) FAA Launches New Accident Prevention Office

6) Traveller Information Services Association Announces Specifications and Guidelines Published

7) Denver Area Drivers Can Expect a Mountain of New Traffic Information from SpeedInfo Sensors Installed on Key Routes

8) Airbiquity’s aqLink Software Modem Selected by Denso Corporation

Upcoming Events

Webcast: Southeast Road Safety Audit Forum – September 21

http://groups.google.com/group/tcnl/web/se-road-safety-audit-forum?hl=en

Today in Transportation History

1939 **70^th anniversary** – The British aircraft carrier, HMS Courageous, was sunk by a German U-boat, the first UK warship lost in World War II.

http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/aircraft_carriers/hms_courageous_50.htm

======================================================================

The Transportation Communications Newsletter is published electronically Monday through Friday.

To subscribe send an e-mail to: TCNL-subscribe@googlegroups.com

TCN archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

Questions, comments about the TCN? Please write the editor, Bernie Wagenblast at i95berniew@aol.com.

© 2009 Bernie Wagenblast

(Source: Washington Post)

Today the Washington Post had an interesting article about the burgeoning bike scene in Los Angeles, California.   It was a surprise to learn that there is such a good environment for biking in a city that has been known for its congested traffic and notorious drivers.   Here are some extracts from Amanda Abrams’ special report to the Washington Post:

I should’ve been warned by the reaction of my sister, a 12-year L.A. resident and non-cyclist, when I told her I was planning to spend a few days riding around the city while visiting her. “No way,” she had said incredulously. “The cars here are insane. You have no idea.”

Ah, but I did have some ideas. In spite of its reputation as the country’s car mecca, I’d heard that L.A. was home to a burgeoning bike scene. And as a dedicated bicycle commuter in Washington, I figured “if they can do it, I can do it.”

Despite all the talk of L.A. being a sprawl of neighborhoods connected by freeways, and Angelenos’ perverse pride in living in a place where “no one walks,” it is, in fact, a genuine city. Close inspection of my road map showed an endless grid of quiet residential streets leading to bigger arterial roads, some of which, according to a Los Angeles Department of Transportation bike map, had bike lanes. Bingo. From there, it was no sweat to outline a variety of routes that could get me around the city without harm to life or limb.

(Source: Transportation Research Board E-Newsletter)

TRB News

2010 TRB 89th Annual Meeting: Meeting Registration and Hotel Reservations Now Open

The registration and hotel reservations processes are now open for the TRB 89th Annual Meeting, January 10-14, 2010. Registration is required for all Annual Meeting attendees, including those who register to attend any workshop or take advantage of services provided onsite such as the Employment Opportunities room. [More]

TRB Webinar: Asphalt Emulsions: Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Applications

TRB will conduct a web briefing or “Webinar” on Tuesday October 13, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT that will explore the ability of asphalt emulsion technology to provide a low-temperature, low-energy, and volatile organic compound-free solution for constructing, maintaining, and rehabilitating pavement. Participants must register at least 24 hours in advance of the start of the Webinar, space is limited, and there is a fee for non-TRB Sponsor employees. [More]

2009 Transportation Policy and Finance Summit

Washington, D.C.
TRB is cosponsoring the 2009 Transportation Policy and Finance Summit on December 13-15, 2009, in Washington, D.C. The summit is designed to explore potential solutions to the transportation funding challenges faced by all levels of government and the private sector. [More]

Safety and Mobility of Vulnerable Road Users: Pedestrians, Motorcyclists, and Bicyclists
Jerusalem, Israel

TRB is cosponsoring conference on Safety and Mobility of Vulnerable Road Users: Pedestrians, Motorcyclists, and Bicyclists on May 30 – June 2, 2010, in Jerusalem, Israel. The conference will explore scientific information, best practices, and policies from different countries designed to improve the safety of vulnerable road users.  Interested individuals or groups are encouraged to submit abstracts to be considered for presentation at the conference by October 31, 2009. [More]

Transit IDEA Project Proposal Solicitation
TRB’s Transit IDEA (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis) Program has issued a request for proposals for start-up funding for promising, but unproven, innovations in transit. The Federal Transit Administration sponsors the Transit IDEA Program, which promotes innovation beyond the scope of traditional research programs in the area of transit. The program’s goal is to seek out and support new transportation solutions that are unlikely to be funded through traditional programs. Proposals are encouraged in one of the program’s high-priority focus areas-improving transit safety or security, increasing transit ridership, improving transit capital or operating efficiencies, and protecting the environment or promoting energy independence.  Instructions for preparing IDEA proposals and the proposal submission form are available online. Questions about preparing Transit IDEA proposals should be addressed to Harvey Berlin at HBerlin@nas.edu or (202) 334-2441. To be considered during the current award cycle, proposals must be submitted by October 1, 2009. [More]

Comprehensive Analysis Framework for Safety Investment Decisions
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued a request for proposals to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive analysis framework for safety investment decisions across engineering, education, enforcement, and emergency medical services that are transferable across federal, state, and local governments. Proposals are due October 28, 2009. [More]

Methodologies to Estimate the Economic Impacts of Disruptions to the Goods Movement System
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued a request for proposals to develop and apply one or more conceptual methodologies for identifying and estimating short- and long-term economic impacts due to disruptions to the goods movement system. Proposals are due October 30, 2009. [More]

FY 2010 Airport Cooperative Research Program Synthesis Topics Sought
TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) is soliciting ideas for candidate topics for the fiscal year 2010 ACRP Synthesis Program. The ACRP Synthesis Program initiates approximately seven synthesis studies annually that address concerns of airport operators. A synthesis report is a relatively short document that summarizes existing practice in a specific technical area, typically based on a literature review and a survey of relevant organizations. Potential synthesis topics may be submitted by anyone at any time; however, the closing date for consideration of synthesis topics for FY 2010 is October 30, 2009. [More]

Renewable Energy Guide for Highway Maintenance Facilities
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued a request for proposals to identify best practices for the planning, design, and operation of new and retrofitted highway maintenance facilities that are sustainable and energy efficient over their service lives through the use of energy capture technologies. Proposals are due November 5, 2009. [More]

Recent Publications

Precision Estimates of AASHTO T 242
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 142: Precision Estimates of AASHTO T 242 examines precision estimates for AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) T 242, “Frictional Properties of Paved Surfaces Using a Full-Scale Tire.” [More]

Marine Transportation and Port Operations 2009
TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2100 includes the 2009 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lecture by Geraldine Knatz, which explores the evolution of U.S. seaports and the environmental initiatives enabling them to modernize and expand. This TRR also includes 10 additional papers that examine the impacts of climate change at U.S. ports, container terminal berth planning, the Lean Enterprise for improving seaport operations, performance indicators for roll-on/roll-off terminals, truck turn time at marine terminals, marine container terminal gate congestion modeling, modeling collision risks in port fairways, operational development of U.S. Pacific Coast marine highways, inland waterway transportation performance assessment, and simulation-based network maintenance planning and scheduling for the U.S. inland waterway system. [More]

Protocols for Collecting and Using Traffic Data in Bridge Design
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 132: Protocols for Collecting and Using Traffic Data in Bridge Design explores a set of protocols and methodologies for using available recent truck traffic data to develop and calibrate live load models for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) bridge design. [More]

Procedures Guide for Right-of-Way Cost Estimation and Cost Management
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 625: Procedures Guide for Right-of-Way Cost Estimation and Cost Management explores approaches for developing right-of-way (ROW) cost estimates. The report also examines ways to track and manage ROW cost during all phases of project development, including planning, programming, and preliminary and final design. [More]

Influence of Roadway Surface Discontinuities on Safety

TRB’s Transportation Research Circular E-C134: Influence of Roadway Surface Discontinuities on Safety is designed to help highway engineers evaluate roadway maintenance guidelines and priorities. The report addresses safety issues related to roadway roughness, holes, and bumps; the positive effects of road surface discontinuities; pavement edges; friction variations; water accumulations; surface contaminants; and small and large vehicles. [More]

Safety Data, Analysis, and Evaluation 2009, Volume 2

TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2103 includes 13 papers that explore calibration of the Highway Safety Manual’s accident prediction model for a secondary road network, speed and safety, accident modification functions, elementary units of exposure, identifying crash hot spots, and safety of lane and shoulder width combinations on rural roads. This issue of the TRR also examines the effects of pavement marking retroreflectivity on traffic crash frequency, road data aggregation and sectioning for crash analysis, safety evaluation of curve delineation improvements, microsimulation to study a traffic signal incident reduction function, comparison of simulated freeway safety performance with observed crashes, traffic operation measures in the safety analysis of signalized intersections, and different parameterizations of the varying dispersion parameter as a function of segment length. [More]

Implementable Strategies for Shifting to Direct Usage-Based Charges for Transportation Funding
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 143: Implementable Strategies for Shifting to Direct Usage-Based Charges for Transportation Funding explores ways that direct charges to road users, based on vehicle-miles of travel (VMT), could be implemented within approximately the next 5 years. [More]

Federal Research News

Review of Metropolitan Planning Organizations
The Government Accountability Office has released a report that examines the responsibilities of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and the efforts made by the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide oversight to MPOs to improve transportation planning. [More]

The National Infrastructure Advisory Council Framework for Dealing with Disasters and Related Interdependencies: Final Report and Recommendations
The National Infrastructure Advisory Council has released a report that explores the United States’ ability to respond to and recover from a major disaster that results in a prolonged loss of infrastructure services expanding beyond a local area. Through the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, NIAC provides the President with advice on the security of the 18 critical infrastructure and key resource sectors and their information systems. [More]

University Research News

Horizontal Cracking Mechanism in CRCP
The Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas-Austin has released a report that explores the mechanism of horizontal cracking in continuously reinforced concrete pavement. [More]

Guide to the Economic Value of Texas Ports

The Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas-Austin has released a report that examines the local, regional, and national economic impacts of various Texas seaports. [More]

Evaluation of Smart Video for Transit Event Detection
The National Center for Transit Research at the University of South Florida has released a report that examines commercial video analytics systems used to fight crime and terrorism in transit environments. [More]

SORT Clearinghouse Newsletter: August 2009
The Institute of Transport Studies at Monash University, Australia, has released the latest issue of its bimonthly newsletter that highlights new additions to the Social Research in Transport (SORT) clearinghouse research database. [More]

International Research

The Effect of Milled Rumble Strips Versus Virtual Rumble Strips on Sleepy Drivers: A Driving Simulator Study
The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) has released a report that explores in-vehicle warning systems compared to modified infrastructure elements, such as rumble strips, to determine the most effective way to alert sleepy drivers. The report is written in English. [More]

In The Know

Transportation Biofuels in the United States
The Minnesota Project has released a report that examines the status of major developments in the biofuels industry. [More]

Hearing on Hazardous Materials Safety in the United States
On Thursday, September 10, 2009, the U.S. House of Representative Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing to explore concerns with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s oversight and management of hazardous materials safety in the United States. Additional background about the hearing, submitted testimony of witnesses, and a video are available online. [More]

School Bicycling and Walking Policies: Addressing Policies that Hinder and Implementing Policies that Help
The Safe Routes to School National Partnership has released a tip sheet that explores ways to approach school policies that prohibit walking or bicycling to school. [More]

National Transportation Operations Coalition Newsletter: September 9, 2009
The National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) has released the latest issue of its semi-monthly newsletter that highlights available information and resources designed to help improve management and operation of the nation’s existing transportation system. NTOC is an informal alliance of organizations that are stakeholders in operations, planning, and public safety. Organizations involved in NTOC include the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Federal Transit Administration, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the American Public Transportation Association, and TRB. [More]

Note: TransportGooru considers the TRB e-newsletter one of the most comprehensive sources of transportation research information.  The opinions expressed in reports highlighted in TRB’s Transportation Research E-Newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Transportation Research Board.

(Source: Greenwire @ New York Times)

According to a Center for Public Integrity report released yesterday, there are nearly 1,800 special interest groups lobbying Congress on the transportation bill, ranging from local officials and planning agencies to real estate companies, construction firms and universities. In the first half of this year, the groups employed more than 2,000 lobbyists and spent an estimated total of $45 million on their transportation lobbying.

The road to reforming the nation’s transportation systems looks to be a long and winding one.

Once lawmakers decide when to move forward with the sweeping overhauls they promise, they will need to find a way to pay for it. And once that difficult task is accomplished, the debate will only grow more complicated.

Many in the transportation community agree the next multi-year surface transportation bill needs to significantly boost federal funding for the nation’s roads, rails and bridges. But the consensus soon begins to crumble when the issue turns to how to pay for the overhaul — with lawmakers loath to tell Americans they will need to foot the bill and the rest of the transportation community agreeing that is the only option to pay for it (E&E Daily, Sept. 15).

But even off the Hill, where key players agree massive reform is needed to make the system more performance-based and effective, there is no consensus on exactly what that new system would look like and what those performance goals should be.

Many of the goals discussed at the invitation-only event are conflicting by nature. The usual suspects include the funding ratio for highways and transit systems, and the rate of return that individual states see from taxes they pay to finance the nation’s road and rail work.

Robert Atkinson, who chaired one of two congressionally created blue ribbon panels to examine transportation investment needs, said his panel, the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, did not even broach the subject of where the increased investment should be spent in its report.

According to government estimates, the transportation sector accounts for roughly a third of U.S. carbon emissions, and Democrats have vowed to recast the nation’s roads and rails in a “greener” light.

But many state highway departments that had previously voiced support for the new environmental focus are now worrying that the emissions goals may grow overly ambitious and threaten to deliver another blow to both the economy and their efforts to repair and replace crumbling roads and bridges (Greenwire, Aug. 27)

Congress must also decide whether or not to welcome the private sector into the transportation field by giving firms long-term leases on public roads and bridges, effectively turning public infrastructure into a private product.

Click here to read the entire article.  For those wondering what is in the minds of our lawmakers drafting the reauthorization bill, here is congressman Oberstar’s handwritten scrap-paper version (pulled right from the House T&I Committee website, which has a lot of interesting materials to read on this subject).  Though it is not very detailed, it offers a general sensing of the direction he is taking (e.g., consolidating the existing behemoth (108 programs) into 4 categories to simplify the mgmt. structure, adding Office of Livability & Office of Expedited Project Delivery to the FHWA, etc.)

(Source: Yonah Freemark @ The Transport Politic)

Projects in Georgia, Pennsylvania get millions; Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Baltimore still waiting to hear.

Image Courtesy: Yonah Freemark @ The Transport Politic

One clear demonstration of the United States’ lack of coherent national transportation policy objectives is its approach to funding magnetic levitation train projects. Rather than making a decision about what to fund, the Congress occasionally appropriates a relatively small pot of money, then the DOT distributes cash for planning studies. Nothing ever gets off the ground.  That, at least, is how it has worked since 1999, when the DOT first awarded $12 million in planning funds to seven proposed projects in California, Nevada, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. By 2001, the agency announced it would pick either a line between Baltimore and Washington or one connecting Pittsburgh and its suburbs for almost $1 billion in construction dollars, eventually deciding on the latter. By 2005, however, all funds had been cut off by an uncommitted congress, despite the fact that $62 million had already been distributed; meanwhile, states and municipalities had contributed virtually nothing to the projects. Maglev seemed dead.

The news this month that Atlanta and Pittsburgh have received more planning funds — $14 million for the former and $28 million for the latter — and that other projects funded back in 1999 may once again get appropriations in the coming days seems like a continuation of this destructive cycle. If so, these dollars are nothing more than a waste of money, because there is little chance that funds for actual construction will ever appear. Yet the Congress devoted $90 million maglev two years ago, knowing that actually getting big-budget funds for the projects’ completion from Washington would be almost impossible. Nor has there ever been a concerted effort by either Congress or the Department of Transportation to show why maglev projects should be funded at all.

Click here to read the entire article.