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Unleashed TIGER Forges a New Path

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Just three weeks after history-making intercity passenger train grants were announced, the Obama Administration unveiled $1.5 billion in Recovery Act grants under a revolutionary framework in which rail and transit figure prominently.  The program, dubbed Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER), marks the first time that the US Department of Transportation has awarded money across the institutional barriers that have historically held back funding for railroads and transit—and infrastructure that connects these with the rest of the transportation network.

As with the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail “pot,” states’ applications greatly exceeded the available funds—$56 requested for every $1 awarded. Determining what percentage of TIGER funds went to each mode of travel is (happily) difficult since many of the projects benefit multiple modes. Grants benefitting passenger rail (including rail transit) total $574.1 million (about 38% of the total), while those aiding freight rail add up to $408.8 billion (about 27%). Transit improvement ventures (subway, light rail, streetcar and bus) got $699 million (about 47%), with highways getting almost 30%, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure about 10%.

TIGER’s innovative, merit-based funding mechanism should become the mold in which most future federal transportation financing is cut. Including more funding for TIGER or a similar program in the Jobs Bill (currently before the Senate) would be an ideal way for Congress to signal its commitment to meaningful reform that will give Americans better mobility choices. NARP and our partners in the OneRail Coalition [link to come] will continue to sound the call for strong, balanced transportation investments that put rail in its rightful place as a key component in how America moves.

Read on for an overview of how the awards are distributed, or go here for complete descriptions of each funded project.

—Malcolm Kenton

» read more...

Posted by Malcolm Kenton

Tags: congress, department of transportation, federal government, funding, grants, infrastructure, investment, job creation, jobs, light rail, passenger trains, railroads, recovery act, stimulus, streetcar, tiger, transit, transportation,

Flag Stops: Making No Small Plans

Friday, February 26, 2010

Reasons to be hopeful, to be concerned, and to take action.

  • As we have reported, the jobs bill passed by the Senate on Monday contains no investment in 21st-century transportation alternatives like trains. Our partners at Transportation for America are calling on everyone to write Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and ask that he include investment in better transportation in a future jobs package, as more appear to be in the works. Please join us in taking action.

  • While we’re on the subject of taking action, why not take a minute (especially if you live in or near New Orleans) to ask New Orleans Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu to make restoring the New Orleans-Florida Gulf Coast Connector a transportation priority. Click here and scroll down to the middle left of the page.

  • The nascent flow of federal money to intercity passenger rail improvement is jumpstarting rail planning in states that have lagged far behind for decades. One example is West Virginia, where a small group of dedicated NARP members called Friends of the Cardinal is working with influential state legislators to enact a bill that will match $1 billion from the Recovery Act with state funds to put together both a comprehensive rail plan and a high-speed rail plan for the state. The bill, SB 527, is expected to pass the full Senate on Monday, but may face a difficult journey through the House, with the legislative session set to end on March 12. One of the rail advocates working the halls of power in Charleston, long-time NARP member Bonni McKewon, penned an op-ed for the Charleston Gazette. If you live in West Virginia, ask your Delegate in the House to work for swift passage of SB 527. You can also follow Friends of the Cardinal on Twitter.

  • In answering questions after his testimony [PDF] before the Senate Budget Committee this week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proclaimed that “streetcars are coming back to America,” citing Portland, Oregon, as a model for other cities. His comments come as more people are realizing how the world’s most expansive streetcar network, which covered every small and large American city early in this century, was decimated as road-building mania, combined with pressure from oil and rubber interests, made buses the seemingly more economical choice for urban transit. Yet, for a number of reasons, buses don’t attract riders the way streetcars do. More and more cities, with help from Uncle Sam, are looking to join in the American trolley revival.

  • New York State is already home to more train stations (of all types) than any other state, and intercity service on the New York City-Albany-Buffalo trunk line is set to be upgraded [PDF] thanks to the Recovery Act. Yet many are still pushing for brand-new high-speed tracks along this line, including the President of the state Senate. The means that Sen. Malcolm Smith’s wishes are highly appropriate—a state High-Speed Rail Authority, a council to pursue public-private partnerships, and a business council to raise awareness and build support—but more thinking is needed about how to get there. Continuing to improve service by adding more frequencies and shaving an hour or two off NYC-Buffalo travel time, and investing in connecting bus and rail service to bring more communities on-line will prove to be the best way to get to an even faster future.

  • LCL: One of Amtrak’s newest stations is far exceeding projections for passenger boardings and alightings since it opened. * * * The Washington-Lynchburg, Va. extension of the Northeast Regional continues to outpace ridership projections. * * * Another sign that passenger train equipment manufacturing in the US is headed for revival. * * * A Seattle resident has a pleasant Amtrak trip to the Vancouver Olympics, but a not-so-pleasant experience with border security. * * * A new Amtrak site caters to African-American riders and students at historically black colleges.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: amtrak, budget, congress, gulf coast, investment, jobs bill, legislation, new orleans, new york city, passenger trains, rail planning, ray lahood, ridership, senate, sunset limited, take action, transportation, west virginia,

    An Oily Warning

    Friday, June 11, 2010

    As oil keeps billowing into the Gulf of Mexico, the nation’s attention is focused on yet another of the significant consequences of our overdependence on fossil fuels and overreliance on inefficient technologies. While we hope that the gusher can be safely plugged or diverted as quickly as possible, we have to recognize that every crisis presents an opportunity to shift our society onto a course that will minimize the chances of such devastation occurring again. The spill is a wake-up call that what’s at stake when it comes to transportation policy is the quality of our lives, and those of the ecosystems on which we depend.

    Financial Times columnist Philip Stephens says President Obama must use this opportunity “to shape a new conversation about the unavoidable links between oil spills, climate change and sustainable economic growth.” “If the world’s richest nation and biggest oil consumer is not ready to curb the greenhouse emissions that cause global warming,” he cautions, “no one else, least of all China, is going to make the switch to a low carbon economy.”

    As the Senate prepares to take up a major energy and climate change measure, the way for which was paved by yesterday’s vote, we need to remind Senators that the revenue generated by a carbon levy on transportation fuels ought to support the development of the most efficient, Earth-friendly form of motorized transport—passenger trains. Revenues from the transportation system should go towards programs like TIGER that use competitive bidding to steer federal dollars to where they can have the most impact in enhancing the quality, while shrinking the carbon footprint, of the US transportation system—along with direct investment in passenger rail, both through the states and through Amtrak.

    The longer we wait before taking serious steps towards a saner transportation system, the more the economic, social and environmental price tag of the status quo goes up.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: climate change, deepwater horizon, ecosystems, fossil fuels, gulf oil disaster, investment, oil spill, passenger trains, quality of life, tiger, transportation,

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