September - 2019

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GOP lawmaker: We're past point of doing separate infrastructure bill

Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) said on Thursday that separate legislation addressing infrastructure in the House will likely not be passed in the near future, citing a lack of leadership on the issue. “We’re already past the point of doing a separate infrastructure bill,” Davis, who is the ranking member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highway and Transit, told The Hill Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. The remarks were made at The Hill’s Future of Mobili

Senate Passes CR Bill To Extend Government Funding

The U.S. Senate passed a Continuing Resolution or CR on September 26 by a vote of 81-16, extend government funding through November 21. That measure – crafted in the House of Representatives and passed by a vote of 301-219 on September 19 – now awaits President Trump’s signature to take effect. “I’m glad the continuing resolution … earned significant bipartisan support across the Capitol and has also earned the green light from the White House,” noted Senate Majority Leader M

FHWA Issues Final Rule Lifting Patented/Proprietary Restrictions

The Federal Highway Administration published a final rule on September 27 to give states more “flexibility and choice” to use proprietary or patented materials on federally funded highway projects. The new rule will take effect on October 28. The agency said in its regulatory filing that the final rule “rescinds the requirements limiting the use of Federal funds in paying for patented or proprietary materials, specifications, or processes specified in project plans and specif

Highway Trust Fund, Infrastructure Investment Focus Of House Budget Hearing

A September 25 hearing held by the House of Representatives Committee on the Budget examined the need for increased across-the-board infrastructure funding – including more money for roads and bridges – while also touching on the need to beef up revenue flows into the Highway Trust Fund and repeal the $7.6 billion rescission in Federal-aid highway contract authority schedule for July 1 next year. Carol Ellinger Haddock, director of the city of Houston’s public works division,

APTA calls on feds to increase commuter rail funding for PTC, other safety efforts

American Public Transportation Association (APTA) officials earlier this week urged Congress to increase support for commuter railroads by authorizing $1 billion in funding for positive train control (PTC) over six years through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) grants program. APTA and commuter railroad executives made their plea during a Sept. 24 hearing before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials. T

The Best and Worst U.S. Places to Live Car-Free

Going car-free is a definite trend. Cars are expensive to own, maintain, and insure. They take a heavy toll on the environment. And not having a car can say something about a person’s identity. But being able to go without a car isn’t just a matter of personal commitment—it depends a lot on where you live. Some cities are denser, have much better transit, and are more walkable and bike-able than others. My colleague Charlotta Mellander and I have developed a Metro Car-Free In

CITY OF TEAGUE OFFICIALLY OPPOSED TO HIGH-SPEED RAILWAY

City of Teague Board of Aldermen issued a Resolution opposing the Texas Central High-Speed Railway proposed rail line as it would bisect Freestone County. It is stated in the Resolution that Texas Central does not have eminent domain authority under current law and eminent domain would be necessary to complete the line. Multiple reasons are listed in the Resolution, including: –The proposed rail line would negatively impact property values, cause delays for emergency vehic

Study: Speeding Caused Over 7,000 Deaths In Texas From 2012-2017

North Texas is a pretty dangerous place to speed on the freeways. A new study from Value Penguin finds Texas highways had almost 7,000 speeding-related traffic deaths between 2012 and 2017. The city of Dallas saw the most in the state with 377 fatalities. The study says Dallas drivers are 50 percent more likely to be in a fatal wreck blamed on speeding than drivers in Fort Worth. And Fort Worth had the third-highest number of fatal wrecks overall. The study also says Fort Wor

Port of Long Beach offers incentives to attract more container cargo

The Port of Long Beach is instituting an incentive program to attract more containerized cargo through its terminals, a year after the Port of Los Angeles launched a similar program. In a memorandum to its Board of Harbor Commissioners, the port’s staff said the Los Angeles incentive program has “resulted in incremental cargo volume shifting from the Port of Long Beach to the Port of Los Angeles.” Members of the Port of Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the pr

Kentucky Pol: Who’ll Ride Trains in 20 Years?

House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth raised eyebrows of transportation advocates this week when he suggested funding high-speed rail was a fool’s errand because new technology such as driverless cars could quickly make the locomotive obsolete. Speaking after Wednesday’s Budget Committee hearing on infrastructure spending, Yarmuth (D–Kentucky) suggested that in 20 years, no one is going to ride in a high-speed train when they’ll be able to “hop in a self-driving car th

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