Are federal AV investigations a first step toward federal regulation? Not necessarily, experts say

“There hasn’t been a lot of concrete regulation. The federal government has been largely permissive, and there are very few regulatory barriers toward [AV] testing and toward Level 2 systems,” said Paul Lewis, vice president of policy and finance at the Eno Center for Transportation. Share

Lawmakers vow action after Ida floods Gulf Coast, Northeast

But the bipartisan bill will be valuable in providing major investments in “future-proofing” infrastructure against climate change and extreme weather such as Ida, according to Jeff Davis, a senior fellow at the Eno Center for Transportation, a Washington think tank. Share

A big bet on Amtrak

That’s “way more than any other” transportation secretary has ever been given, said Jeff Davis of the Eno Center for Transportation. Share

National links: forget yard signs. The latest political statement is… walking?

According to Jeff Davis of the Eno Center, transit money was traded away in exchange for lower highway funding levels, and then again for other unknown items. House Democrats hope to get $10 billion back, but it might be hard to do. Share

Commuter trains have kept rolling. Will all those riders ever return?

“The commuter railroads have been really hammered during the pandemic,” said Robert Puentes, president of the Eno Center for Transportation in Washington. “It’s hard to overstate the transformations that are happening because of this pandemic.” Share

US rail projects take longer, cost more than those in Europe

American rail projects with minimal tunneling take about six months longer to complete than similar non-U.S. projects, while all-underground construction can take nearly a year and a half longer to build than abroad, according to an analysis by the Eno Center for Transportation. Share

Three things the infrastructure plan missed

It does include reauthorization of the HTF and a $118 billion bailout from the Treasury’s general fund to meet the needs of the nation’s highways, bringing the grand total of transfers to the HTF to $271.8 billion since 2008, according to Jeff Davis of the nonpartisan Eno Center for Transportation. Share

DeFazio looks to try again on his progressive transportation agenda

But Jeff Davis of the Eno Center said the Byrd rule will also require that every dime of the committee’s $60 billion be spent by Sept. 30, 2031. Share

The perverse reason it’s easier to build new highways than new subways

“A transit agency is designed to operate transit, not build transit projects,” said Paul Lewis, the Eno Center’s director of policy. “And then once a decade we tell all the staff, ‘Go ahead and build a $3 billion megaproject.’ There’s not necessarily the support or staff in that agency.”Share

Is the self-driving car doomed already?

Jeff Davis, a senior fellow at the Eno Center for Transportation, said there’s both a technology problem and a problem of scale. Share