Posts Tagged ‘Obama Administration’

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The Infra Community Responds to the State of the Union Address

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

“…we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods, and information – from high-speed rail to high-speed internet.”
-President Barack Obama
State of the Union Address, January 25th, 2011

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Posted in Broadband, High Speed Rail, National, Policy, The Infra Blog

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DEEP WATER: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling

Monday, January 10th, 2011

NATIONAL COMMISSION ON THE BP DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL AND OFFSHORE DRILLING
The oil and gas industry needs now to regain that trust, but doing so will require it to take bold action to make clear that business will no longer be conducted as usual in the Gulf. Industry must seize the opportunity to demonstrate that it is fully committed to subjecting its own internal operations to fundamental change and not merely because it is being forced to do so.

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Posted in Accountability, Energy, Environment, Hazardous Waste, Infra Views, National, Policy, Pollution, Private Investment

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A Brief Timeline of HSR Funding

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

April, 2009: The Obama Administration’s vision for high-speed rail (VIDEO) April, 2009: Department of Transportation’s strategic plan for high-speed rail Jan, 2010:  ARRA grants $8 Billion for HSR development October, 2010: Department of Transportation announces additional $2.4 for HSR November, 2010: State governments in Ohio & Wisconsin refuse HSR funds December, 2010: Department of Transportation [...]

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Posted in Bipartisan, Funding, High Speed Rail, National, Rail, The Infra Blog, Transit

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Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization Talks at a Standstill

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

NEW YORK BUILDING CONGRESS
The key federal funding source for highways, bridges and mass transit capital funding expires at the end of the month with no likelihood of a long-term reauthorization. At this point, it seems most likely that Congress will extend existing legislation for one to two years, with funding formulas holding at 2005 levels. As a result, New York State transportation agencies that planned on increased funding in the coming years with a new transportation bill, now face even deeper capital budget deficits, which will further jeopardize critical improvement and expansion projects.

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Posted in Bipartisan, Bridges, Highway, Infra Views, National, Policy, Rail, Roads, Transit

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A rail reality check that President Obama should heed

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Innovation NewsBriefs Vol. 21, No. 28 PRESIDENT OBAMA wants Americans to zip around in high-speed trains, just as many  Japanese, French, and Chinese already do. For him, the goal seems almost as much about  national pride as job creation or energy savings. “There’s no reason that Europe or China should have the fastest trains,” he has said. [...]

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Posted in Democrat, Funding, High Speed Rail, Innovation Newsbriefs, Local, National, Policy, Rail, Republican, The Infra Blog

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Living in Denial

Monday, October 18th, 2010

The reaction of various advocacy groups to President Obama’s recent call for a $50 billion stimulus spending plan for transportation infrastructure was predictable. They applauded the President’s initiative and thought that Congress should promptly approve the spending request…But convincing the next Congress of the need to act, whether to fund the infrastructure “down payment” of $50 billion or to authorize a proposed $500 billion multi-year surface transportation program, will not be easy.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Bipartisan, Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Policy, Recession, Recovery, Tax, The Infra Blog

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AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY & COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS
On Labor Day, President Obama announced a bold plan to renew and expand America’s infrastructure. The plan includes a $50 billion up-front investment connected to a six-year reauthorization of the surface transportation program and the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank to leverage private capital and select projects of regional and national significance. The Department of the Treasury, with the Council of Economic Advisers, has conducted an analysis of the economic effects of transportation infrastructure investment. Our analysis found four key reasons why now is an optimal time to increase our investment in transportation infrastructure…

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Posted in Accountability, Aging Infrastructure, Bipartisan, Competitiveness, Democrat, Equity, Highway, Infra Views, National, Policy, Public Opinion, Recession, Recovery, Roads, Smart Growth, Tax, Transit, Urban Planning

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Obama’s $50 Billion Infrastructure Proposal

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

“Today, the average American household is forced to spend more on transportation each year than food. Our roads, clogged with traffic, cost us $80 billion a year in lost productivity and wasted fuel. Our airports, choked with passengers, cost nearly $10 billion a year in productivity losses from flight delays. And in some cases, our crumbling infrastructure costs American lives. It should not take another collapsing bridge or failing levee to shock us into action.”
-President Barack Obama

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Bipartisan, Democrat, Funding, National, Policy, Recession, Recovery, Republican, Roads, Tax, The Infra Blog

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Breaking the Impasse

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Writing in last week’s Innovation NewsBrief we wondered if the intent behind the White House September 6 proposal to invest an extra $50 billion in transportation infrastructure was primarily a political gesture — to give the economy a short-term pre-election boost — or whether it was a belated but genuine change of heart about the need to act, and act convincingly, on a multi-year surface transportation program. In conversations we held during the past week, we sensed that the transportation community, including senior officials of U.S. DOT, would clearly prefer the $50 billion to be part of a long-term reauthorization effort.

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Posted in Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Policy, Public Opinion, Recession, Recovery, Tax, The Infra Blog

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Another Stimulus Bill or a Down Payment on a Bold New Infrastructure Plan?

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

Marking the beginning of an intensive pre-election campaign, President Obama unveiled what he called “a bold new vision to renew and expand America’s investment in transportation infrastructure”…The plan would: (1) abolish modal “silos” by combining roads, transit, railways, airport development and the air traffic control system (NextGen) in a single consolidated transportation infrastructure investment plan; (2) integrate high-speed rail (HSR) into the surface transportation program thus ensuring a sustained commitment to a national HSR program over the next six years; (3) establish an Infrastructure Bank to fund investments of national and regional significance; (4) streamline the surface transportation program by consolidating the many different programs and use analytical measures of performance to identify and prioritize investments of critical importance to the nation’s economy.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Bipartisan, Competitiveness, Congestion, Democrat, Employment, Equity, Funding, High Speed Rail, Highway, Innovation Newsbriefs, Jobs, National, Policy, Private Investment, Public Transportation, Rail, Recession, Recovery, Tax, The Infra Blog, Transit

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