John Kerry: Infrastructure and Clean Energy Can Bring Congress Together

High-speed rail corridors with greatest potential are identified in a new study by RPA/America, and John Kerry says that infrastructure and clean energy can bring Congress together. More on this in this Infrastructure in the News.

National News

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Considers Rules to Spur Freight-Rail Competition
The Surface Transportation Board announced it would hold a hearing in May to study possible changes designed to spur competition, and it asked railroads to weigh in. The rules under consideration would be designed to make it easier for shippers to challenge rates and to gain access to competing railroads on segments currently served by a single rail company.

Regional Plan Association: High-Speed Rail in America
A new study released today by RPA/America 2050 identifies the high-speed rail corridors with the greatest potential to attract ridership in each of the nation's megaregions. Corridors connecting populous regions with large job centers, rail transit networks, and existing air markets scored best. The study also recommends that the federal government adopt a quantitative approach to evaluating future investment in high-speed rail.

Transportation for America: California needs smart station planning to maximize high-speed rail’s benefits
High-speed rail investment has the potential to yield great economic and environmental rewards for California, but only if communities make smart decisions about land-use and growth at and around new stations.

The Hill: Kerry warns partisan fighting threatens U.S. global economic standing
He urged colleagues to invest the hundreds of billions to repair the nation’s decaying transportation infrastructure and build a renewable-energy technology sector.

AltTransport: John Kerry Says Infrastructure And Clean Energy Can Unite Congress After Tucson Shooting
He added that while building and investing in America has always been a bi-partisan issue, currently “partisan paralysis” has kept us from rebuilding the infrastructure investment made through the years from politicians on both sides of the line.

Progressive Railroading: Railroads and the tax code: Short lines, transit agencies welcome tax benefit extensions
Short-line and transit agency officials let out a sigh of relief last month when President Obama signed the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010, which extended the short-line tax credit for 2010 and 2011, as well as two public transportation tax provisions.

Progressive Railroading: Social media: Transit agencies connect with riders in new ways
On one hand, agencies use social media tools 2 quickly reach passengers. Agencies also receive feedback on service proposals and projects ... directly relay messages 2 passengers rather than going through conventional media outlets ... obtain info from passengers who notice an issue B4 agency officials are aware of it.

State News

Washington Post: Hit the brakes
ON PAPER, California appears a promising venue for high-speed passenger trains like the ones that streak across Japan and Western Europe. It's got a string of urban centers from Sacramento to San Diego and lots of flat real estate in between. In 2008, its voters approved a $9.95 billion bond issue to pay about a quarter of the total projected $43 billion cost of a statewide high-speed system. Events since then, however, suggest that this grand plan is still a bit half-baked.

FavStocks: California needs smart station planning to maximize high-speed rail's benefits
High-speed rail investment has the potential to yield great economic and environmental rewards for California, but only if communities make smart decisions about land-use and growth at and around new stations.

LA Curbed: Mayor Villaraigosa, CRA Head Essel Speak Out Against Plan to Shut Redevelopment Agencies
What can Brown do for you? If you're the CRA, he can take your money and shut you down. Under Gov. Jerry Brown's new budget, all 425 state redevelopment agencies, including Los Angeles' Community Redevelopment Agency, would shut down July 1st. Stating billions of dollars in property tax revenues are lost to subsidize redevelopment, Brown's budget looks to shift that revenue to schools, counties, and core city services.

Mobilizing the Region: Albany 2011: 4 Laws to Improve the Safety and Efficiency of NY's Roads
Budget. Budget. Budget. Reading the papers, one might think the budget is the only thing on Albany’s plate this year — and TSTC will be in the ring to fight for the funding needed for MTA projects beyond 2011 (which are unfunded) and keep NY’s transportation infrastructure in a state of good repair. But Tri-State will also be urging lawmakers to take simple legislative steps that can vastly improve the safety and flow of traffic on our roads.

Reuters: Prioritize three U.S. high speed rail corridors: study
The Washington to New York corridor ranked first, based on factors such as the density of population, the "knowledge" workforces, which are more inclined to travel, and links to mass transit. This corridor had the top "score" of 20.15, followed by Boston to New York with a 19.87 score.

New York Times: Report: Fla. Has Federal Cash for High-Speed Rail but Lacks Ridership
Although it has received nearly $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail grants, Florida's tri-city rail project may not be the best use for that money, a new report from an urban planning group has found.

Sunshine News: Senators Hail High-Speed Rail as Job Creator
On Tuesday, during a meeting of the Commerce and Tourism Committee, Florida senators lauded the prospect of creating as many as 48,000 jobs directly and indirectly related to the construction of the Tampa-Orlando phase of the state's high-speed rail project.

Tampa Bay Online: State official: Taxpayers won't be on hook for high-speed rail
A top state official gave the strongest assurances to date that Florida taxpayers would not be responsible for any high-speed rail cost overruns or revenue shortfalls.

WESH Orlando: Nelson Urges State To Embrace High-Speed Rail
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., has a big disagreement with Gov. Rick Scott when it comes to a planned high-speed rail project.

Cleveland: Gov. John Kasich successful in halting $400 million, high-speed rail project
Newly sworn-in Gov. John Kasich wasn't shy about his distaste for plans to spend $400 million on high-speed rail development in Ohio.

Citybizlist Pittsburgh: PennDOT Awards $24.7M for Local Smart Transportation Projects
"Smart Transportation" projects in 41 communities across the state will get a boost from $24.7 million in funding under the second round of the Pennsylvania Community Transportation Initiative grants.