This week, Eno released an important new paper from UCLA’s Michael Manville about one of the most significant transportation ballot measures in recent years. Los Angeles County voters approved Measure M in November 2016.
March 19, 2019 – The Federal Highway Administration, in a funding notice (N4510.835) dated March 15, formally gave states DOTs $3.2 billion in highway funding from the general fund of the Treasury provided by the omnibus fiscal 2019 appropriations act.
March 8, 2019 – On March 4, the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) issued a formal response to the Federal Railroad Administration’s February 19 notice that it intended to cancel the $929 million grant of fiscal year 2010 appropriations promised by the Obama Administration for the Golden State’s troubled high-speed rail project.
February 22, 2019 – Eno and the Reason Foundation recently gathered 24 leading academics, current and former agency heads, and other experts for a two-day workshop on institutional reform. The goal was to understand the current governance challenges and ways in which the transportation industry may consider ways to rethink it.
February 20, 2019 – Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it will not pay the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) the final $929 million in federal appropriations that was legally committed to the state’s high-speed rail program by the Obama Administration.
February 13, 2019 – The failure of the California high-speed rail project doesn’t necessarily mean the doom of HSR in the U.S. The California project followed seven “worst practices” that other projects could avoid.
February 12, 2019 – Earlier today, new new governor of California, Gavin Newsom (D), told state legislators in his first “State of the State” address that he was backing away from plans to build a high speed rail project that would connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, but that he would finish the segment of the project currently underway in the central part of the state.
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.”
February 8, 2019 – This week, President Trump gave an interview to local journalists where he appeared to say that money for the $11+ billion Hudson River Tunnel has already been “set aside.”
January 31, 2019 – As predicted in ETW, the enactment of the continuing resolution that ended the government shutdown is forcing the Federal Highway Administration to take back $23 billion in highway spending authority from state DOTs.
January 11, 2019 – This week, Virginia governor Ralph Northam announced that he and a bipartisan group of state legislators are proposing legislation to levy tolls across the 325-mile length of Interstate 81 throughout the state in order to pay for $2.2 billion in capacity and safety upgrades to the corridor. But even if the General Assembly agrees to the plan, it will still require multiple permissions (and a loan) from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
January 9, 2018 – Voters across 34 states approved nearly $41 billion in new transportation investments last year, according to Eno’s new issue brief about the 2018 transportation ballot measures.
January 9, 2019 – Yesterday, the Federal Highway Administration issued a notice giving the 50 state DOTs and the District of Columbia an extra $30 billion in obligation authority to start new federal-aid highway projects, but warned them that if a new short-term continuing appropriations resolution is enacted, they will have to take most of that money back for the time being.
December 21, 2018 – At 5:15 p.m. today – the Friday before Christmas – the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that it has determined that California’s state laws requiring minimum meal and rest breaks for truck drivers are preempted by federal hours-of-service laws. The determination by FMCSA came in response to petitions filed by the American Trucking Associations and the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association.
December 21, 2018 – The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has published a new rule to allow State Driver Licensing Agencies to issue a commercial learner’s permit for one year, up from the current 180 days.
December 5, 2018 – While transportation planners often indicate the importance of safety, they must find the tools to measure it to be able to improve upon it, and finding or collecting the necessary data is an important first step.
November 27, 2018 – Voters in Florida approved far more funding for transportation at the ballot box this year than voters in any other state, according to Eno’s ongoing analysis of the 2018 transportation ballot measures.
November 16, 2018 – Yesterday, the California State Auditor released a new report critical of the state’s high-speed rail project.
November 16, 2018 – In both the Missouri and California gas tax ballot measures last week, much of the credit (or blame) goes to the people who determined the precise phrasing of the titles and short summaries of the measures that actually appeared on the ballot.
November 8, 2018 – On Tuesday’s ballot, Colorado voters faced two opposing statewide transportation measures. Both failed by roughly the same margin in this latest attempt to deal with funding challenges as the state’s transportation infrastructure needs fail to keep pace with its growing population.