(Source: GAO)

 The Department of Transportation received about $48 billion of recovery funds for investments in transportation infrastructure from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. As with other executive agencies, DOT is faced with the challenges of using these funds in ways that will aid economic recovery, making wise funding choices while spending the money quickly, and ensuring accountability for results. GAO will report to Congress bimonthly on how states and localities use the recovery funds received from DOT.

DOT and Congress will also be faced with numerous challenges as they work to reauthorize surface transportation and aviation programs.

Click here to read the HTML version of the entire report.  Or download the PDF file here. 

[ipaper id=13181892]

(Source:  PBS’ Blue Print America)

This afternoon I received a couple of alerts  from PBS’s Blue Print America.  There first report is about the Budgetary Issues facing transit agencies:   

As the economy has slumped, Americans have increasingly turned to mass transit, putting new pressure on transit agencies. In a new report for the “Blueprint America” series, correspondent Rick Karr examines the budgetary issues facing public transit.

Click here to view the video report. 

The second report focused on the subject of how the financial meldown has added to the woes of the transit agencies. The excerpt reads:

Amid the country’s economic crisis, some public transit agencies have found themselves linked to complex financial deals that have since soured. Rick Karr reports in the latest installment for the “Blueprint America” series on infrastructure on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Click here to watch the video report.

(Source: Smart Growth America)

A detailed report titled, “Spending the Stimulus: How Your State Can Put Thousands Back to Work by Jumpstarting a 21st Century Transportation System” published by Smart Growth America (you can find the full report here) illustrates the breadth of investments that a state can make with the STP funds it receives through ARRA, by outlining 20 project types in 5 main categories, and providing an example for each.

The website says “Smart Growth America is launching an immediate, six-month campaign to support our state partners in shaping stimulus spending and state DOT budget decisions. The need and opportunity are clear. States and DOTs, asked to develop lists of “ready to go” projects, have developed lists that consist almost entirely of road and other conventional projects. Without this campaign, the stimulus money will likely fund destructive road expansion projects rather than providing a down payment on a clean, green transportation infrastructure for the 21st Century.

This campaign aims to:

1. Influence how state DOTs and governors spend the substantial amounts of money they receive from the federal government,
2. Hold the state DOTs and governors accountable on the stimulus spending; and
3. Increase the capacity of state advocacy groups for subsequent state, local, and federal campaign work.”

Click here to read the entire article.  Also click here to read a related write-up by our Sarah Goodyear, at Streetsblog.

 Transportgooru encourages readers to Donate to Smart Growth America today and help in furthering its mission and to ensure that the future for America is a bright one. Click the Donate button to proceed.

Attached is the detailed report called Spending the Stimulus published by Smart Growth America:

[ipaper id=13172497]

(Source: Streetsblog)

For our readers living in the greater Washington, DC metro area or planning to move there, the Urban Land Insititute has developed a slick tool that let’s you calcuclate the cost of housing and transportation for a given address/location in the metro region. The ULI website says ” The Terwilliger Housing + Transportation Calculator is a new tool designed to calculate combined housing and transportation costs in the greater Washington, D.C. region.”  

Click here to read a related article on Streetsblog.  Or click here to explore the tool.

(Source: Dr. Gridlock, Washington Post)

This time, it’s for real. The Washington region can now plan on construction of a new Metrorail line through Tysons Corner and out to Reston. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood signed an agreement this morning that means all hurdles have been cleared for the crucial $900 million federal portion of the financing.

A quote that I could attribute to any number of Northern Virginia leaders who are at the U.S. Department of Transportation today: “This is a great day.” The grand signing ceremony in the DOT atrium is more than just a crowded photo op for state and federal officials. It’s a breakthrough for travelers in the Washington region. This will help organize Tysons Corner for the 21st Century. Four stations will be built there. And it will provide a transit line for at least a few more generations of Washington area commuters.

Virginia Gov. Timothy M Kaine said he had never worked on anything so complicated. In his remarks this morning, he noted that the project spanned federal administrations, and praised the work of former transportation secretary Mary Peters during the past year.

Shaking hands after the signing are, board chairman of the Metro Washington Airport Authority H.R. Crawford Honorable, left, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Just behind them, left to right, are former Senator John Warner, Senator Mark Warner, Va. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, and Rep. Frank Wolf. (Gerald Martineau/Post)

(Source: CNN iReport)

The society’s adjustmentsto the changing economic climate has some positive implications for the global climate.  Listen to what the younger generation has to say .. I am sure Kyle is not alone..Refreshing to see more people abandoning the “need a car” attitude and starting to think “Yes, I can do without a car”..Kudos to Kyle for sharing his thoughts and Transportgooru wishes you the very best for your “no car” life..

(Source: APTA via News Channel 8)

WASHINGTON – Taking public transportation could save D.C.-area residents an average of $9,500 a year, according to a new report. 

The American Public Transportation Association study based its report on the average gas price for March 5, 2009 ($1.93), and unreserved parking space rates from 2008 (an average of $143 per month). 

D.C. ranks 8th in the nation for savings for public transit users, the study found. 

“I don’t have a car — I take public transportation everywhere,” said one woman.

“Every day I take the Metro; I take the train; I take the bus — a car around here is really not worth it at all,” said Brandin Dechabert, a commuter.

The savings assumes the household gives up one vehicle, including the cost of insurance. That’s based on an average of 15,000 miles traveled by year.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: USA TODAY)

The number of people riding buses and trains hit a 52-year high in 2008 as skyrocketing gas prices and a faltering economy pushed riders toward less expensive travel. 

 Public transit ridership last year increased 4% to 10.7 billion rides, according to a report released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association.

PUBLIC TRANSIT: Usage rises from 2007

The outlook is gloomy, though. Ridership growth in the fourth quarter slowed as more commuters lost their jobs and budget shortfalls pushed transit systems to reduce service or raise fares.

The number of rides from October through December increased 2% to 2.7 billion compared with the same period a year earlier.

Unemployment reached a 25-year high of 8% in February, the government reported Friday.

The more it rises, the more ridership will shrink, says William Millar, the association’s president.

Click here to read the entire article.

 (Source: Reuters) 

(Source:  PBS Blueprint America)

In a two-part series for Blueprint America on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, correspondent Rick Karr looks at budget disasters on both sides of the ledger for public transit agencies.

 In part one, Karr looks into the growing deficit in what it takes to run day to day operations of buses, subways, and trains — deficits that have prompted more than 60 agencies nationwide to propose fare increases, service cuts, or both, even as more Americans are using transit than at any time in the past 50 years. In part two, Karr looks into a looming crisis on the capital side of transit agencies’ budgets, the result of complex financial deals that the agencies made in the 90s to stretch their meager budgets, but which melted down with the rest of the financial sector — and could leave cash-strapped transit systems owing bankers hundreds of millions of dollars.

The following is a breakdown of Transportation and Infrastructure stimulus funding by state. In total:

• highways and bridges: $26,810,000,000
• transit capital: $6,733,700,000
• fixed-guideway modernization: $742,500,000
• clean water: $3,860,698,173

TOTAL: $38,146,898,173