(Source: Washington Post)

Victor M. Mendez, director of the Arizona Department of Transportation, is Obama’s pick for administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. Mendez worked under former governor Janet Napolitano before she became Obama’s homeland security secretary. In Arizona, Mendez helped implement the state’s multi-billion dollar freeway system and gained extensive experience in transportation funding, technology, infrastructure, research and planning.

Joining Mendez at the Transportation Department will be Peter H. Appel, Obama’s nominee for administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration. A principal with the global management consulting firm of A.T. Kearney, Inc., Appel has over 20 years of experience in transportation and infrastructure projects. He has helped organizations in the railroad, trucking, airline and ocean shipping industries, and he previously served as a top aide at the Federal Aviation Administration and at Amtrak.

Below are the brief Bios of the nominees as shown in Washington Post.

Victor M. Mendez, Nominee for Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation

Victor M. Mendez was a member of former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano’s Cabinet as the Director of the Arizona Department of Transportation. He has extensive experience in transportation including innovations in the areas of funding and financing, technology, infrastructure, research, planning and internal operations. Mendez has served as a past President of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and in 2008 he was selected as Leader of the Year in Public Policy in Transportation by the Arizona Capitol Times. Previously, Mendez was selected as the Deputy State Engineer to lead the implementation of the Phoenix area’s multi-billion dollar freeway system. Mendez earned a Masters of Business Administration degree from Arizona State University and a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. 

Peter H. Appel, Nominee for Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Department of Transportation

Peter H. Appel is a Principal with the global management consulting firm of A.T. Kearney, Inc. He has led business improvement initiatives for clients in the private and public sectors, with a focus on Transportation and Infrastructure. Appel has over 20 years of experience in Transportation, and has supported organizations in the railroad, trucking, airline, and ocean shipping industries with growth strategy, supply chain improvement, post-merger integration, public-private partnerships, and other key business and policy issues. Previously, Appel served as the Special Assistant to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and as Assistant Director for Pricing and Yield Management at Amtrak. Appel earned his bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University in Economics and Computer Science with Highest Honors, and received his Master of Science in Transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Click here to read more.

(Source: Office of Planning, Environment and Realty Federal Highway Administration)

Recent Events

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer Announces Principles for Global Warming Legislation. On February 3, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) announced her intent to move quickly on global warming legislation and issued principles that she would like to see included. These include setting short and long term emissions targets that are certain and enforceable, using a carbon market to fund various efforts to reduce GHG emissions, and ensuring a level global playing field so that countries contribute their fair share to GHG emissions reductions. For more information including a link to Sen. Boxer’s Principles, see the Committee’s press release.

House Subcommittee Receives Testimony on Surface Transportation Energy Reduction.On January 27, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit heard from nationally recognized transportation experts and a panel of industry representatives about ways to reduce energy consumption and promote sustainability in the surface transportation sector.  Video of the proceedings and written testimonies (scroll down) are available on the Subcommittee website.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Holds Meeting on Maritime Transport and the Climate Change Challenge. On February 17, FHWA’s Mike Savonis presented (via videoconference) results from USDOT’s Gulf Coast Study Phase I to an international audience in Geneva.  Additional information and presentations from the three-day event are available on the meeting website.

U.C. Davis Provides Congressional Briefing on Low-Carbon Transportation Policies & Strategies. On January 12, 2009, the University of California at Davis (UC Davis) Institute of Transportation Studies provided a briefing to Congressional staffers on the future of low-carbon transportation. More information about UC Davis climate change activities is available on the UC Davis ITS website. (TransportGooru is proud to share a video of UC Davis’s Dan Sperling Talk about the current Transportation system and its effect on Climate change. See below)

 House Subcommittee Conducts Hearing on Monitoring GHG Emissions.  On February 24, the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Energy and Environment conducted a hearing on how to monitor, report and verify greenhouse gas emissions.  The purpose of the hearing was to determine the federal role in the funding of research and development of monitoring technologies as well as models to support reliable baseline data for GHG emissions.  The subcommittee heard testimony from businesses, government agencies, and localities on procedures and methods that can be used to monitor, report, and verify greenhouse gas emissions.  More information can be found on the Committee’s website at: http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2359

State News

Oregon Governor Introduces VMT Fee Legislation. Following a study on charging a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) fee in place of a state gas tax, the Governor of Oregon introduced legislation that could move the state closer to adopting a per mile road user fee in place of the 24-cent per gallon gas tax. Governor Kulongoski’s Jobs and Transportation Act of 2009 requires the Oregon DOT to develop VMT fee collection technology that could be used to replace the gas tax.  The Act also directs Oregon DOT to further study gas tax alternatives.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Enters First Compliance Period. The ten signatory states to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) began their first compliance period on January 1, 2009 and the period ends in December 2011. At that time the ten Mid-Atlantic and New England states will be required to submit emissions allowances equivalent to their carbon dioxide emissions. For more information on the program, see the Pew Climate Center RGGI website.

Announcements

New Energy and Climate Change Database for Planners.  The American Planning Association has launched a new database of energy and climate change activities in planning.  You can search the database by a variety of criteria such as state, topic, planning tool, timeframe, or geographic scale.  The database includes many examples relating to transportation.  The database website iswww.planning.org/research/energy/database.

Summit on America’s Climate Choices, March 30-31 in Washington, D.C. Congress has tasked the National Academies with setting the stage for national action on climate change. In response, the Academies have launched America’s Climate Choices, a suite of activities that will provide policy advice, based on science, to guide the nation’s response to climate change. Experts representing various levels of government, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and research and academic institutions have been selected to serve on four panels and an overarching committee.    The Summit on America’s Climate Choices provides an opportunity for study participants to interact with major thought leaders and key constituencies to frame the questions and issues that the study will address.  Registration and webcast information are available on the Summit website.  In addition to the summit, NAS is soliciting public input on the questions and content to be considered by the America’s Climate Choices Committee through the America’s Climate Choices website through April 17. 

Reminders

Washington State Department of Transportation Climate Change Weekly Digest, The Washington State DOT has an extensive Climate Change program and the Climate Change Team issues a weekly digest on climate change issues. For more information on WSDOT’s climate change activities see WSDOT’s climate change website. To be put on the email list to receive the weekly digest, please send a note to:StarkS@wsdot.wa.gov.

U.S. DOT Launches Web-Based Clearinghouse of Transportation, Climate Change Resources. The USDOT has launched a new, web-based clearinghouse of information on transportation and climate change. The site provides an introduction to climate change and transportation and related information on greenhouse gas inventories and forecasts, methodologies for analyzing greenhouse gases from transportation, climate change and adaptation, and federal, state and local actions on transportation and climate change. The site also includes a calendar of events and will soon be enhanced to provide an opportunity for users to post and respond to discussions and receive updates by email. To access the site, go to: http://climate.dot.gov. 

Transportation Research Board Starts a New Climate Change website. Transportation Research Board (TRB) has a new website offering information on TRB activities and products addressing transportation and climate change.

(Source: Transportation For America; CNN via Youtube)

As painful transit cuts cripple more and more agencies across the country, major national networks are gradually tuning in to the story and seeing just how bad things are. CNN is the latest to cover the transit cuts phenomenon that’s wreaking havoc on the largest and smallest of our public transportation systems.

In a four-minute segment last week, CNN used Transportation for America’s handy map — which we created to document the 85 communities that are being forced to either cut service, increase fares, or lay off workers due to budget crises at the local and state level — and took an in-depth look at some of the impacts of cutting back public transportation at a time when Americans are riding transit in record numbers.   This peice on transit is part of CNN’s “State of the Union,” in which host and chief national correspondent John King goes outside the Nation’s  to report on the issues affecting communities across the country. 

 

At one stop Wednesday, a handful of developmentally disabled passengers boarded outside a local facility where they work. One told CNN she optimistic “something will get done about it” but said she isn’t sure how she is supposed to get around after Friday.

Kimberly Barge is a staff attorney at Paraquad, the gym where the Falks and other local disabled residents attend classes.

“People are frustrated, angry — almost to the point of hopeless in some cases because there aren’t many other alternatives for the disability community as far as transportation goes,” Barge told CNN.

Jean McPherson boarded the bus with her infant daughter. The 20-year-old is going back to school to get her high school diploma and though short on cash, she says she is now forced to explore buying a used car.

“I might end up losing my job or not being able to take my daughter to day care,” is how she sees the consequence of her bus route being shortened so that it no longer stretches out to her community. “You can’t afford a car; that is why you use public transportation. So a lot of people are going to be in a bad situation.”

 

Click here to read more.

(Source: Associated Press via Yahoo! Finance)

Safety board says fatal accidents were up sharply in 2008 for air taxi, medical, tour flights

WASHINGTON (AP) — There was a spike last year in deaths from crashes of air medical, air taxi and tour flights, federal safety officials said Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said there were 56 so-called on-demand flight accidents in which 66 people were killed in 2008. That’s the highest number of fatalities for such flights in eight years and an increase of 13 deaths over 2007. The on-demand accident rate was 1.52 accidents per 100,000 flight hours, virtually unchanged from the previous year.

The board held a public hearing earlier this year examining the safety practices of the air medical helicopter industry. Fifteen people were killed in four medical helicopter crashes in 2008.

Major U.S. airlines, however, suffered no accident fatalities in 2008 for the second consecutive year despite carrying 753 million passengers on more than 10.8 million flights, the NTSB said. Major airlines experienced 28 accidents last year, the same as 2007.

 Commuter airlines, which typically fly smaller turboprop planes, also didn’t have any accident fatalities despite making 581,000 flights last year, the board said. However, there were seven commuter airline accidents in 2008, up three from the previous year.

There were 495 people killed — one fewer than the previous year — in general aviation accidents in 2008, the board said. General aviation includes private and corporate planes.

Acting NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said the aviation safety record for 2008 was mixed.  Click here to access today’s press release and interesting statistical tables.

(Source: AASHTO)

Photo: Zen Skillicorn@flickr

Washington, DC – “Are we there yet? The perennial question asked by kids on a long car trip is the same one all Americans should be asking about our entire transportation network,” said John Horsley, Executive Director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). “Improving our transportation system must be a top priority for all of us since we are only investing half of what it would take to meet the needs of our nation’s growing population, demand for freight, and aging roads, bridges, and transit.”

 With the expiration date looming for the current federal transportation authorization, AASHTO has today launched a national campaign to build awareness and provide information on the critical needs of our nation’s transportation system.

Click here to explore the campaign.

(Source: Streetsblog & WorldChanging)

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has compiled a 100-page report on the experiment that covers a lot of ground, but basically describes the trial as a roaring success. A few interesting features of this report :

• Overhead is low. Because the mileage tax piggybacks on the existing gas tax collection system, it’s easy and cheap for the state to administer.
• Payment is simple. From the driver’s perspective, the mileage tax differs little from the gas tax, other than the fact that their gas station receipts contain interesting information on miles driven.
• Privacy is protected. The state only gets odometer information, not information about vehicle location.
• Evasion is difficult. Even if you tamper with the GPS receiver, you’re still going to pay the gas tax.
• Phased implementation is possible. Oregon doesn’t foresee a complete changeover to mileage taxes happening until 2040. This is a bit too slow for my taste (I really hope gas stations don’t exist in 2040), but the point is that gas taxes and mileage taxes can happily coexist as the vehicle fleet turns over.

Technically, the system worked. Just as importantly, public acceptance was high. 91% of [self-selected] test participants preferred the system to paying gas taxes.… Before the experiment began, media portrayals of the system were almost uniformly negative — and inaccurate. By the middle of 2006, media coverage ranged from neutral to positive, and were far more accurate. Citizen comment reflected this broader trend. ODOT concludes, “Effective communication can lead to public acceptance.”

Click here to read blogger Adam Stein’s take on this subject at WorldChanging.com.  For those interested here is the final report in PDF form. 

(Source: New York Times)

China wants to raise its annual production capacity to 500,000 hybrid or all-electric cars and buses by the end of 2011, from 2,100 last year, government officials and Chinese auto executives said. By comparison, CSM Worldwide, a consulting firm that does forecasts for automakers, predicts that Japan and South Korea together will be producing 1.1 million hybrid or all-electric light vehicles by then and North America will be making 267,000.

TIANJIN, China — Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that.

Premier Wen Jiabao highlighted the importance of electric cars two years ago with his unlikely choice to become minister of science and technology: Wan Gang, a Shanghai-born former Audi auto engineer in Germany who later became the chief scientist for the Chinese government’s research panel on electric vehicles.

Beyond manufacturing, taxi fleets and local government agencies in 13 Chinese cities are being offered subsidies of up to $8,800 for each hybrid or all-electric vehicle they purchase. The state electricity grid has been ordered to set up electric car charging stations in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.

(Source: TreeHugger); Video: YouTube)

 Yesterday President Obama told Chrysler and GM that it is time to shape up or ship out. He also said he supports a program that would pay people to trade in older cars for newer, more fuel efficient vehicles. Europe has successfully tried this, but could it work here and would it be good for the planet? 

Speaking about a so called “cash for clunkers” program, Obama said:

Here is an analysis from a News portal on what it could mean for consumers.

(Source: Los Angeles Times)

Operators balk at having to comply with a California requirement to install costly nozzles and hoses to capture fumes. The governor calls on the Legislature to delay enforcement by a year.

Battered by competition from cheaper chains such as Thrifty and Arco, the 51-year-old businessman said he was refused credit by banks and equipment lenders. Refitting his eight nozzles and hoses would cost more than $60,000, he said. “Even if I could get the funding, I couldn’t make the payments.”

Single-station owners like Hosmanek aren’t the only ones hurting. David Berri, an Irvine businessman whose family owns 22 stations in Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles counties, said he put a 25% deposit on vapor equipment last year. But his bank has since canceled his credit line. His family has put seven stations up for sale, but so far, there are no buyers.

(Source: SUBCOMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES)

(From L to R): Mr. David Matsuda, Ms. Catherine Ciarlo, Dr. Laurence Rilett, Mr. Steven Winkelman, and Mr. Mike Acott

On Tuesday, March 31, 2009, the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation convened a hearing to address the research agenda required to mitigate the environmental impact of the transportation infrastructure on the environment, with an emphasis on climate change. Witnesses will address the components of such an agenda and possible implementation strategies.

The second hearing explored the R&D agenda required to improve energy efficiency and lessen the environmental impact of the pavements used in our transportation infrastructure.  The focus of today’s hearing was to examine the R&D that is required to help mitigate the impact of our transportation infrastructure on the climate.

The press release from the event outlines the DOT’s efforts.  The Department of Transportation (DOT) funds research on strategies to reduce the impact of the transportation sector on the environment, but the interest in addressing climate change is relatively new. The following research categories would support the reduction of carbon emissions from transportation:

• Forecasting and analytical tools to support state and local global warming studies;
• Tools to assess system performance;
• Travel behavior;
• Demand management;
• Congestion; and
• Energy use in materials.

“We need to think about improving the energy efficiency of our transportation system, not just the cars and trucks on it,” added  Chariman David Wu. “For example, what are the modeling tools that would help communities develop an effective mixed-use transportation system of cars, buses, light rail, trolleys, and bikes like we have in Portland? If we are serious about congestion mitigation and traffic management, what’s required to realize these goals?”

Throughout the 111th Congress the Technology and Innovation Subcommittee will continue its work to decrease the impact of our transportations systems on the environment. In May 2007, the Subcommittee held a hearing to address the regulatory barriers preventing the utilization of green technologies. This hearing resulted in creation of H.R. 5161, the Green Transportation Infrastructure Research and Technology Transfer Act. In June of 2008, the Subcommittee held a hearing to review sustainable, energy-efficient transportation infrastructure.

• Mr. Steven Winkelman
• Mr. Mike Acott
• Mr. David Matsuda
• Ms. Catherine Ciarlo
• Dr. Laurence R. Rilett

The testimony of U.S. Department of Transportation Acting Assistant Secretary for Transportation, Mr. David Wu, is in PDF viewer below and also available for download at the subcommittee website alongside the Chairman’s (David Wu) remarks and other witness testimonies.