Ray LaHood « InfrastructureUSA: Citizen Dialogue About Civil Infrastructure

Posts Tagged ‘Ray LaHood’

Congratulations to FRA on a Sensible Decision

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Two months ago we reported on the railroad industry’s reaction to the FRA’s directive setting forth the terms of the so-called “Stakeholder Agreements.” Those are the agreements between state authorities and Class I railroads that will govern the shared-use freight-passenger rail service in rail corridors receiving federal aid under the Administration’s high-speed rail (HSR) program. The FRA directive stunned and angered railroad executives by what they regarded as unreasonable demands, and burdensome requirements…We are happy to report that reason and good sense have prevailed. In a press conference on August 20, FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo announced that the agency has withdrawn the controversial directive.

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Tags: C. Kenneth Orski, Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, FRA, Freight, Innovation Briefs, Innovation Newsbriefs, Joseph Szabo, Ken Orski, Ray LaHood
Posted in Funding, High Speed Rail, Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Rail, Sustainability, Tax, The Infra Blog, Transit

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Transit Report: National State of Good Repair Assessment

Monday, July 26th, 2010

FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION
Roughly one-third of the nation’s transit assets (weighted by replacement value) are in either marginal or poor condition, implying that these assets are near or have already exceeded their expected useful life.

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Tags: Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, FTA, National SGR Assessment, Rail Modernization Study, Ray LaHood, SGR, State of Good Repair
Posted in Buses, Funding, Infra Views, National, Public Transportation, Rail, Transit, Urban Planning

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New Political Realities May Sidetrack the Transportation Reauthorization

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Over the past eight months the U.S. Department of Transportation has been conducting a series of “listening sessions” around the country to solicit new ideas from stakeholders and interested citizens for the next multi-year surface transportation bill…The latest listening session took place amid growing speculation by political analysts that the Democrats may lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November. This speculation has been reinforced by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs who commented on last Sunday’s “Meet the Press” and again at his regular press briefing the following day, that “there are enough seats in play that could cause Republicans to gain control.”

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Tags: C. Kenneth Orski, Department of Transportation, Innovation Briefs, Innovation Newsbriefs, Ken Orski, Ray LaHood, Reauthorization, US DOT
Posted in Bipartisan, Democrat, Highway, Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Policy, Republican, Roads, The Infra Blog, Transit, Urban Planning

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Transportation TV: 10,000 Recovery Projects Underway

Monday, June 28th, 2010

President Obama holds a news conference to break ground on the 10,000th Recovery highway project. We’ll take you to Ohio, for the big event. This week also marks the first anniversary of the tragic METRO Rail crash near the nation’s Capitol. Several U.S. Senators held a news conference calling for tough, federal regulation of the nation’s transit systems. We’ll also tell you about a memorial service held to remember the nine victims who died in last year when the two METRO trains collided. And several members of Congress took a ride with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood this week, down Pennsylvania Avenue.

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Tags: AASHTO, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, D.C., METRO Rail, Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation, Tony Dorsey, Transportation TV, Washington
Posted in Funding, Highway, Local, National, Roads, Show Us Your Infra, Transit, Urban Planning

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Rail Transit Expansion Reconsidered — Commentary

Monday, May 24th, 2010

…fiscal realities can do wonders to bring federal officials down to earth. The Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund is barely solvent. The U.S. DOT budget will grow by only one percent in 2011. With commendable consistency and fairness, the Administration seems to have decided to apply the same investment standard to transit as it has preached and laid down for highways: Forget about massive capacity expansion; focus on getting the most out of the assets already in place by maintaining them in a state of good repair. To critics of the DOT’s new posture— and there will be some—a good answer could be: It’s just a different way of looking at what it means to be pro-transit.

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Tags: C. Kenneth Orski, Department of Transportation, Innovation Newsbriefs, Ken Orski, Peter Rogoff, Ray LaHood, USDOT
Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Policy, Rail, Recovery, Roads, Smart Growth, The Infra Blog, Transit

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U.S. DOT’s Strategic Plan Creates Controversy With Its Emphasis on “Livability”

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

The Administration’s desire to impose its own vision of how Americans should live and travel represents a stubborn and in the end futile gesture. The gesture is futile for, as generations of political appointees before them have discovered, policies that do not resonate with the majority of Americans seldom survive after their authors have left office.

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Tags: AASHTO, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Brookings Institution, C. Kenneth Orski, Congress, Department of Transportation, Innovation Newsbrief, Interagency Partnership Agreement, Ken Orski, Liveability, Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation, US DOT
Posted in Congestion, Environment, Equity, Funding, Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Policy, Public Opinion, Public Transportation, Recovery, Smart Growth, Sustainability, The Infra Blog, Transit, Urban Planning

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The Road To Livability: How State Departments of Transportation are Using Road Investments to Improve Community Livability

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF STATE HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS
Soon, members of Congress will be asked to decide “What makes a ‘livable’ community?” Since the U.S. Department of Transportation is making livability a top priority for future transportation funding, this is an important concept to define. While some would suggest livability means a life without cars, this definition really doesn’t work for the millions of Americans who have chosen the lifestyle that an automobile affords…If enhancing livability is the objective of transportation legislation or regulation, then it must work for those who live in rural Montana just as much as it would for those in downtown Portland. Equating livability only to riding transit, walking and biking, limits its relevance and excludes a wide range of improvements and community needs.

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Tags: AASHTO, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Department of Transportation, John Horseley, Livability, Ray LaHood
Posted in Bipartisan, Competitiveness, Congestion, Environment, Equity, Highway, Infra Views, Land Use, Local, National, Policy, Public Opinion, Public Parks & Recreation, Public Transportation, Recovery, Roads, Smart Growth, Transit, Urban Planning

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The Federal Surface Transportation Program Gets a New Lease on Life

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

The HIRE Act (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, H.R. 2847, P.L 111-147), signed by the President on March 18, has placed the federal surface transportation program on a firm footing and taken the pressure off the lawmakers and the White House to come up with a more permanent solution — at least for a while.

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Tags: AASHTO, Highway Trust Fund, HIRE, HIRE Act, Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, Innovation Briefs, Innovation Newsbriefs, Kenneth Orski, Ray LaHood
Posted in Funding, Highway, Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Policy, Roads, The Infra Blog, Transit

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US Senate Action Fuels Infra Expenditures

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

“With $15 billion of investments, it unleashes tens of billions of dollars more in infrastructure – to build the infrastructure for the future in terms of how it unleashes funds from the highway trust fund.”
-Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Speaker

“One proven way to create good jobs in America is to build and maintain transportation infrastructure. By also authorizing the Highway Trust Fund through the end of 2010, this bill guarantees that states will be able to continue doing just that.”
-Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation

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Tags: AASHTO, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Barbara Boxer, CA, California, Chris Dodd, Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors, Connecticut, CT, HIRE, HIRE Act, Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment, House of Representatives, Leslie Blakey, Nancy Pelosi, Ray LaHood, SAFETEA-LU, Secretary of Transportation, Senate, Speaker
Posted in Bipartisan, Competitiveness, Congestion, Economic Stimulus, Employment, Funding, Highway, Jobs, National, Policy, Public Transportation, Recovery, Roads, Smart Growth, The Infra Blog, Transit

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