House of Representatives

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) is reportedly angling for the top Democratic seat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the House. Had Jim Oberstar survived the election, he would have given up the chair and become the ranking member.

The GOP has named the 22 members of its transition team and it's ready to get to work. Don't expect the work for these lawmakers to include any actual law-making, though. Not till January, anyway.

After yesterday's electoral drubbing, the Obama administration will have to deal with a starkly different Congress when they make their expected push for a multi-year transportation bill early next year. We know that some influential House Republicans, like John Mica, don't necessarily believe that bigger highways will solve America's transportation problems. And we know that some pro-transit voices in Washington originate from the right. But no one expects the GOP ascendancy to make transportation reform any easier.

The outcome of New York's Congressional races on Tuesday may end up determining federal transportation policy for years to come.

Daniel de Zeeuw is the Campaign Coordinator for America Bikes, which advocates for bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the federal transportation bill. Streetsblog asked him to tell our readers about the conversations he's been hearing about the outlook for the transportation bill after the election.

The one-way tolls on the Verrazano Bridge have been a major cause of truck traffic in New York City since they were instituted in 1986. Though numerous efforts to restore two-way tolls have failed over the last two and a half decades, technological progress may finally bring victory within reach. Congressman Jerry Nadler thinks that the MTA's moves toward cashless tolling could make two-way tolls politically feasible, and he's trying to pass the federal legislation necessary to allow them.

It's November 3. The Republicans have won a majority in the House of Representatives.

The critical multi-year transportation bill, which lawmakers have sidelined since last summer as they've quarreled about how to pay for it, looks to be back on the agenda after President Obama's pugnacious Labor Day speech, in which he called on Congress to ramp up investment in transportation. The broad outline of Obama's plan calls for rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads, constructing 4,000 miles of rail, and rehabilitating 150 miles of runway over the next six years.

Maybe you commute by train, or maybe you've switched from driving to biking. But your stuff is still traveling the country by diesel truck.