(Source: Planetizen)

(Source: Transportation for America)

In a telebriefing last week moderated by Transportation for America campaign manager James Corless, a panel of transportation experts from range of backgrounds discussed the transportation infrastructure portion of the stimulus bill and what it means for the future of our transportation system.

The group of panelists – which included Meridian, Mississippi Mayor and rail advocate John Robert Smith, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials President Allen Biehler, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) General Manager and CEO Beverly Scott, and Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Rob Puentes – spoke optimistically about the potential for stimulus dollars to jump start the economy with investments in projects across the country and put a down payment on a balanced, 21st-Century transportation system.

A variety of transportation and infrastructure reporters, including Alex MacGillis of the Washington Postand Michael Cooper of the New York Times, were included in the call, and asked the panelists a number of questions about the logistics of spending the stimulus dollars, the impact it will have on reauthorization, and the how the stimulus compares to previous investments in infrastructure.

Click here to read the entire article and to listen/download this interesting telebriefing in MP3 format.

(Source: TreeHugger)

Image: New York Subway Map by Zero Per Zero

We like talking about promoting public transit here on Treehugger and at Planet Green, noting that cities and countries that get it right can create a very positive image that in turn steers more people towards leaving their car at home. So, I was happy to see Zero Per Zero, a Seoul-based design team, re-thinking railmaps and subway maps. Using bright colours and a big dose of humour, Kim Ji-Kwan and Jin Sol from Hongik University are now in Tokyo to display their work.

The maps come in a small folder with stickers for marking favorite spots, restaurants, appointments, hotel locations, and major attractions. When traveling, the folder can also be used to jot down notes and to hold transit passes, tickets, and more. Made of paper.

Click here to read the entire article, which has a couple of more cool pictures.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Tim O’Toole, who ran the London Underground for six years and oversaw the railway’s multibillion- pound upgrade, plans to step down.

O’Toole, 54, a lawyer from Pittsburgh and former chief executive ofConsolidated Rail Corp., will leave Transport for London in April and return to the U.S., the agency said in an e- mailed statement today. A successor hasn’t been picked.

O’Toole supervised the largest investment since World War II in the 146-year-old railway, the aftermath of terrorist attacks on city trains in 2005 and the collapse of the railway’s biggest contractor, Metronet. The railway, which struggled to keep pace with increasing demand, has improved performance since 2005.

“After six years in London it is time to go home,” O’Toole said in the statement. “I am particularly proud that London Underground employees have achieved record operating results and all-time high levels of customer satisfaction in this past year.”

(Source: Backgrounder, Council on Foreign Relations) 

 

Author:	Robert McMahon, Deputy Editor

Introduction : 

Transportation experts view the call for dramatic federal government action in response to the economic crisis as an opportunity to overhaul the U.S. system of highways, bridges, railways, and mass transit. A series of sobering report cards from the American Society of Civil Engineers documents the inadequacy of this system. President Barack Obama took office pledging to act; his February 2009 stimulus package provides nearly $50 billion for transportation infrastructure. But many experts look beyond the stimulus and call for shifts in longer-term policy that will fundamentally alter the approach to planning and funding infrastructure and bolster U.S. competitiveness, quality of life, and security. In the past, the United States has revamped its transportationinfrastructure to build canals, transcontinental railways, and a federal highway system, in each case helping usher in periods of economic growth.

A State of Disrepair

(Source: Brookings Institution)

(Source: NPR)

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says high-speed rail could be a signature issue for Obama. “I do think this is the transformational issue for this administration when it comes to transportation,” LaHood said. “I think President Obama would like to be known as the high-speed rail president, and I think he can be.”

LaHood has sent Obama a memo outlining a half-dozen rail corridors across the country that could be in line to get some of the high-speed rail mon,ey.

The state that may be furthest along in planning is California, where voters approved a $9 billion bond issue last fall for high speed trains. Quentin Kopp, a former judge who is chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, expects a lot of the federal money to wind up in the California system, which would link the state’s largest cities.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: Agence France-Presse via NationalPost.com)

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: KERA – Publicbroadcasting.net)

Texas boosters of a cross-state high-speed rail project are looking at the Federal Stimulus package. There’s money available that could put the Texas T-Bone on the right track. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies has the story.

The Texas T-Bone is a high speed rail plan that would stretch from San Antonio to Dallas parallel to I-35. But midway – in Temple – the rail would branch off to the east to College Station and over to Houston.

Fickes: We’re talking 180 to 220 mph high speed rail.

Gary Fickes is a Tarrant County Commissioner and the secretary of the Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation.

Fickes: There’s no engineering been done, There’s no environmental been done. Nothing is shovel ready. We’d like to start doing our feasibility studies. Identify right of way. I think primarily that’s what you’re going to see the stimulus dollars on high speed rail go towards.

Texas agricultural interests are viewing the project with suspicion. They see it as gobbling up precious Texas Farmland.

Click here to read the entire article.