Special Reports

The last thing the president will do during this hot, lazy recess week is to sign the transportation bill. He'll be surrounded by construction workers, as this bill was always as much about jobs as it was about setting policy, and by college students, since the bill was combined with a provision keeping student loan rates low. You can watch it live on C-SPAN.

David Burwell is the director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was also co-founder and CEO of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and a founding co-chair and president of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a national transportation policy reform coalition. 

The House of Representatives approved the transportation bill conference report this afternoon by a vote of 373 to 52. This is a bill that’s been called “a death blow to mass transit” by the Amalgamated Transit Union, “a step backwards for America's transportation system” by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, “a retreat from the goals of sustainability and economic resiliency” by Reconnecting America, “a substantial capitulation” by Transportation for America, and “bad news for biking and walking” by America Bikes.

In H.R.7 -- the transpo bill so backwards even the House couldn’t pass it -- the roads-only crowd threw transit riders under the bus, as it were, eliminating dedicated funding for transit, which was left to fend for itself off scraps from the general fund.

NOTE: The facts are even worse than they seemed when I wrote this article. States can flex TA money, not just to CMAQ, but to anything they want. See "The Awful Truth About the Transpo Bill's Bike/Ped Loophole," for more.

Transportation for America, the big-tent coalition for transportation reform, tends to be careful about the statements it puts out. Its folks are diplomatic, since they work with both sides on the Hill and a wide variety of coalition members. Yesterday, as details of the conference report were leaking out, they wanted to read the whole bill before weighing in publicly. Now that they've absorbed it all, they've come out swinging.

Sen. Barbara Boxer just issued the statement below. It confirms that “half of the funds for bike paths and pedestrian walkways [will be allocated] directly to local entities,” as spelled out in the Cardin-Cochran amendment. Update: It appears that the “opt-out” provision for states only applies to the half that they control, after local governments have their say. However, that’s still a blow to street safety compared to the Cardin-Cochran provision passed by the Senate, which required states to hold a competitive grant process to distribute their half of the funds.

Updated 4:15 p.m.:

Here's the latest transpo bill news that has filtered through the tight little seams in the armor around the conference committee.