Eno Transportation Weekly

March 8, 2019 – This week, professionals in transit, micromobility, carsharing, and ride-hailing gathered together in Chicago for the Fifth Annual Shared Mobility Summit hosted by the Shared Use Mobility Center (SUMC). Preceding the Summit, SUMC (in conjunction with the Federal Transit Administration) hosted a daylong workshop on the newly funded Mobility on Demand (MOD) On-Ramp Program.

Tuesday, March 12 – House Transportation and Infrastructure – Subcommittee on Aviation – subcommittee hearing entitled “Looking Forward: Aviation 2050” (witness list here) – 10:00 a.m., HVC-210 The Capitol.

March 1, 2019 – A House hearing on infrastructure and climate change this week explored the need for federal funding of resilient infrastructure as well as finding the right blend of market-based incentives.

February 9, 2019 – The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the 116thCongress formally kicked off its work yesterday with a marathon seven-hour hearing entitled “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investing in Our Nation’s Infrastructure Cannot Wait.”

January 18, 2019 – Transportation infrastructure is at risk from severe weather events compounded by climate change, according to the Transportation chapter of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report.

January 11, 2019 – Next week, the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider a $12.1 billion package of emergency disaster relief appropriation (H.R. 268).

December 7, 2018 – The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has issued a new update of its periodic report, “Critical Issues in Transportation.”

October 5, 2018 – 4:30 p.m. – President Trump has signed the new Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill (H.R.

July 19, 2018 – Transportation infrastructure was largely absent from a FEMA report on how it can better prepare for natural disasters following a record-breaking 2017 hurricane and wildfire season.

Wednesday, July 18 – House Transportation and Infrastructure – Subcommittee on  Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management – subcommittee hearing on recovery from natural disasters of 2017 and preparedness for the 2018 hurricane season (witness list to be posted here) – 10:00 a.m., 2167 Rayburn.

May 18, 2018 – Planning for and building resilient infrastructure can minimize life-cycle costs if changes in technology, security threats, and transportation/land use patterns are all taken into account in the larger context of climate change and population shifts.

Eno was on site at the East Coast Kickoff event, which featured leaders from federal, state, and local governments, labor organizations, and private companies.

December 1, 2017 – As of press time (5:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon), official Washington was still waiting for the final revisions to the tax reform bill in the Senate to be released by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

President Donald Trump has proclaimed November “Critical Infrastructure and Resilience Month.” He is right to recognize the key role that infrastructure plays in assuring the nation’s health, security and prosperity. However, much of our critical infrastructure—especially transportation systems in coastal areas—is anything but resilient. We can change that by facing up to climate threats and designing our infrastructure accordingly.

March 17, 2017 – Earlier this month, the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative released its Ocean Action Agenda, an interactive digital report detailing actions the Trump Administration and Congress can take to improve federal management of the United States’ oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes.

July 27, 2016 – Last week’s ETW looked at the transportation policies outlined in the 2016 Republican platform and in a July 1 draft version of the 2016 Democratic platform.

February 10, 2016 – The most prominently hyped part of President Obama’s final budget (at least where transportation and infrastructure is concerned) is a massive plan to increase the U.S. Department of Transportation Highway Trust Fund’s spending on surface transportation by $303 billion over 10 years, above and beyond the levels called for in the just-enacted FAST Act. This spending, the “21st Century Clean Transportation Initiative,” would be paid for by a new fee/tax on crude oil of $10.25 per barrel, indexed to inflation, to be phased in over five years – but even that would not be enough money to pay for the whole thing, so the budget also proposes the Administration’s old standby of “proceeds from pro-business tax reform” to supplement the proceeds of the crude oil charge.

BY PATRICK D.

The United States is increasingly a metropolitan nation, with more of the population concentrating in urban areas. The largest of these regions contribute disproportionately to our national economy, serving as centers of innovation and activity that create jobs opportunities, and economic benefits nationwide.