BAF IN THE NEWS
New York Daily News: Pothole Patrol: Bloomberg, Rendell and LaHood confront our collapsing roads, bridges, tunnels, etc.
Ray LaHood was vacationing with kids and grandkids in Michigan on Monday and one hopes avoiding potholes, sinkholes, crumbling bridges and highways in need of repaving.
New York Times: Coalition Prods Congress on Transportation Fund
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/us/coalition-prods-congress-on-transportation-fund.html?_r=0
With both the legislative calendar and the Highway Trust Fund nearly exhausted, a broad coalition of business groups and labor unions will push this week to shake Congress from its stasis and approve federal infrastructure spending before transportation projects begin to dry up in August.
The News Journal: Urge Congress to pass the Grow America Act now
The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that funding for transportation programs, like repairing or maintaining roads and bridges, will run out before the summer is over. I am sponsoring a Wilmington City Council resolution that urges Congress to authorize adequate resources for the Federal Highway Trust Fund. Infrastructure investment is vital to our national transportation network and vital to our city.
NATIONAL NEWS
The Take Away: Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs at Stake over Infrastructure Funding
http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/hundreds-thousands-jobs-stake-over-infrastructure-funding/
According to AAA, Americans traveled more over the Fourth of July holiday weekend this year than they have in seven years. You might want to check out the impact of all the potholes and construction debris you may have run over. The hard winter means maintenance is well behind schedule on the U.S. Interstate road system and it may be about to get worse.
Roll Call: Highway Trust Fund Talks, Hearing on Outer Continental Shelf, and ‘Intelligent Compaction’ on Week’s Agenda
This week the biggest event in transportation policy could come from the chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee if they reach agreement on revenue-raising measures to refill the Highway Trust Fund until the end of the year, or at least until after Election Day.
The Hill: White House pushes Congress to revisit Obama transportation plan
The White House pushed lawmakers on Monday to take another look at President Obama’s $302 billion proposal for a new transportation bill as federal infrastructure funding nears a bankruptcy that would stall hundreds of U.S. construction projects.
The Washington Post: Why the Highway Trust Fund is running out of money, in 5 graphs
The economics of building and repairing the nation's highways is relatively simple. You drive a car. You buy gas for that car. A portion of what you pay for the gas is directed to the federal Highway Trust Fund. That money goes (mostly) toward highway work.
STATE NEWS
WAMU: Old Railcars Slow Down Metro Progress
http://www.wnyc.org/story/old-railcars-slow-down-metro-progress/
Metro’s fleet of aging trains — scheduled for replacement over the next several years — continues to bedevil commuters, risking Metro’s message that things actually are getting better halfway through a six-year, $5 billion rebuilding effort.
New York Times: A Taxi Alternative, UberX, Offers Lower Fares
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/nyregion/a-taxi-alternative-uberx-offers-lower-fares.html?_r=0
For years, the smartphone apps storming New York City’s professional driving industries presented an implicit trade-off: For a bit more money, passengers could find a ride more efficiently — and, if they chose, travel on a more opulent set of wheels.
The Indianapolis Republic: Top INDOT staffer at center of ethics investigation eyes new job with state contractor
A top Indiana transportation official under investigation for land sales that benefited his family is considering taking an executive job at an engineering firm that bids for state work.
Streets MN: Strangulation on the Green Line
http://streets.mn/2014/07/07/strangulation-on-the-green-line/
Public officials and planners made a huge mistake when they chose to place the Central Corridor “Green Line” Light Rail Transit (LRT) on University Avenue. Enchanted by federal money and obsessed with dreams of economic development, they forgot the obvious purpose for a light rail train: better mass transit. We must recognize this huge error as well as the lesser shortcomings of the successful Hiawatha “Blue Line.” We must reform our transit planning process. Otherwise we’ll continue to blunder and spoil our prospects for good transit.
Next City: There’s a Car-Sized Hole in Philly’s “Greenest City in America” Plan
http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/philadelphia-car-use-green-city-report
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter pledged in his 2008 inaugural address to focus on making Philadelphia the “Greenest City in America,” but it often seems like the city’s real goal is to become something a good deal less ambitious: Greenest City in America Except for Cars.
POLITICO MORNING TRANSPORTATION
By Adam Snider | 7/8/14 5:44 AM EDT
With help from Kevin Robillard
CAN’T SPELL HIGHWAY TRUST FUND WITHOUT FUN: Be on the lookout for some potential news from the Senate Finance Committee today now that senators are back in town and looking at their options for paying for a Highway Trust Fund stopgap. “I’ll have more to say, certainly, tomorrow morning — everybody is just getting back and looking at the possibilities,” Chairman Ron Wyden said yesterday. Ranking member Orrin Hatch said he expects the panel to reconvene on Thursday to take up a bill. EPW member Ben Cardin is also part of the choir of Senate lawmakers pushing for a patch that runs only through the year — as opposed to into next summer — as a way to force lame duck action on a long-term transportation bill. “It's going to be very short term because we're serious about getting a bill done in this Congress,” the Maryland senator said.
Tick tick tick: There are 24 days until DOT will have to start slowing down and cutting highway payments to states unless Congress acts.
Senate Dems pressing: Sens. Chuck Schumer, Sheldon Whitehouse and Mark Warner held a call with reporters yesterday that included some slights toward the Republican party and a repeated comparison of a HTF insolvency to last year’s government shutdown. “A highway shutdown will have a similar effect on their party as the government shutdown,” Schumer said.
Mississippi stoppage: The state will pull all maintenance projects up for bid in July (http://1.usa.gov/1mtD6Nb) if Congress doesn’t act to shore up the Highway Trust Fund, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx noted in a blog posting calling for action. http://1.usa.gov/1mtCMOD
Graphed: Graphs and charts sure are all the rage nowadays. Check out “Why the Highway Trust Fund is running out of money, in 5 graphs,” on WaPo’s The Fix blog: http://wapo.st/VUaTpP
TWO VIEWS ON THE FUND — States and locals: A “big seven” coalition of groups for state and local officials have written House and Senate leaders asking for a HTF fix, the latest of a slew of recent letters making an urgency case for action. “Federal inaction and short-term extensions create uncertainty at the state and local levels, which hinders transformative transportation investments and prevents our nation’s economy from moving forward,” the groups wrote. It was signed by the leaders of the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Governors Association, the Council of State Governments, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the International City/County Management Association. http://bit.ly/TOns3Z
Conservative groups: A different coalition — including Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform and the Club for Growth — send an “open letter” to Congress on what they’d like to see in a transportation bill. Among the demands: No gas tax hike, reduce federal regulation, give states more power and shift non-road projects from the HTF to the general fund. The groups also warn against lawmakers acting on a bill in the lame duck session and urge that any transport bill be done as a stand-alone and not part of a larger legislative package. Read the letter: http://bit.ly/1zlqNbM
GOOD MORNING, IT’S TUESDAY, JULY 8. Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports, where it’s been exactly ten years since Suzuki and Consumer Reports settled a lawsuit (which had dragged on for eight years) over the Samurai and a review noting its tendency to flip over while making sharp turns. Please drop me a line: asnider@politico.com. There’s more on Twitter: @AdamKSnider and @POLITICOPro.
“Driving around, we party to the sound…” http://bit.ly/VlivkP
FIRST IN MT — A4A’s new website: Airlines for America, one of the biggest and most powerful transportation lobbies in D.C., launches its new website today. The airline group says it “offers a more engaging user experience and highlights the positive connection between airlines, customers, jobs and the economy.” There will also be a blog, “A Better Flight Plan,” designed to “provide a channel to discuss issues of interest to passengers and shippers, airlines and their employees.” There’s also a “new passenger portal” that “explores the anatomy of a flight from planning a trip through baggage claim and customs, and provides travel tips for each step of the process.” http://bit.ly/1jipaqB
ALSO HAPPENING TODAY — Szabo on the go: FRA Administrator Joe Szabo tours the Columbus Castings plant in Ohio’s capital city, which is making undercarriages for new Amtrak long-distance cars. Szabo will also hold a presser to talk about the value of rail spending and the administration’s GROW AMERICA Act proposal that has a dedicated rail fund.
Click it or…die: A new report out today from the Governors Highway Safety Association shows that nearly 1,200 teen drivers died in 2012 because they didn’t use a seat belt. The Allstate Foundation/GHSA report — “Getting It To Click: Connecting Teens and Seat Belt Use” — offers up ways to tell teens to buckle up. More here: http://bit.ly/AoN6rD
I’VE GOT 99 PROBLEMS AND LIRR AIN’T ONE: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says that he’s not responsible for a potential LIRR strike that could spell disaster for Long Island commuters — Congress is. Cuomo said yesterday that “the way law is written, it's actually Congress that can end the strike and impose a settlement one way or the other. So right now it seems that Congress is pivotal to what happens, and from what I read in the newspapers, it's going to depend on what Congress intends to do and what they say they're going to do.” Capital: http://bit.ly/1rJnSap
POWER UP: Kevin has the story: “The TSA is requiring passengers flying to the U.S. from some overseas airports to power up their electronic devices before boarding — or risk having to leave their phones or tablets behind. News reports have suggested the Department of Homeland Security is increasingly worried that terrorists may use Syria as a base to attack U.S.-bound flights, and the Transportation Security Administration’s decision indicates the agency fears terrorists could turn a phone or tablet into an undetectable bomb.” See his full story (http://politico.pro/1oC92PJ) or the TSA release (http://1.usa.gov/1ji0BKz).
U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow: From a statement given to MT: “The U.S. travel community’s default position is that safety and security need to be our top priorities in air travel policy. If our national security apparatus has actionable intelligence on potential threats, then we support near-term measures to mitigate any problems and ensure the uninterrupted functioning of our air travel infrastructure.”
DAILY DOSE OF DRONES: Want to see a fireworks show while debating the merits of drones and the challenges of safely integrating them into the national airspace? Then this video might of an Independence Day fireworks display filmed by a UAV might be for you. Yahoo: http://yhoo.it/1ouE4HB
BAKKEN BASHING: The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the oil industry’s quagmire with Bakken crude and how it hasn’t built up the needed infrastructure to make shipping it safe: “Only one stabilizer, which can remove the most volatile gases before transport, has been built in North Dakota and it hasn't begun operation,” the paper wrote (http://on.wsj.com/1qPresq). And Yankee Magazine looks at the human side of the fatal Lac-Mégantic crash last year (http://bit.ly/1qPrt6J).
Not oil trains, but… A freight derailment in Montana claimed six new fuselages for Boeing planes, posing a tough recovery task. Fox News: http://fxn.ws/1th6Cer
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)
- Uber drops rates in New York City by 20 percent in a direct challenge to the city’s cab industry. Capital: http://bit.ly/TZcQzH
- Vox has a great map of where Amtrak ridership comes from (hint: big cities on the Northeast Corridor). Check it out: http://bit.ly/1vT51Yn
- Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers are cutting short or cancelling the traditional summer assembly slowdown due to high demand. Automotive News: http://bit.ly/1lOQGq9
- The Port Authority hired a law firm that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie worked at after pressure from the scandal-besieged Garden State leader. The Record: http://bit.ly/1ky6EVO
- “The DC region lost 60 miles of bus lanes. It's time to get them back” (with a map). Greater Greater Washington: http://bit.ly/1spOD19
THE COUNTDOWN: There are 24 days until DOT has to slow highway reimbursements to states because Congress hasn’t addressed the Highway Trust Fund. MAP-21 expires and DOT funding runs out in 85 days. FAA policy is up in 450 days. The mid-term elections are in 119 days and the 2016 presidential election is in 854 days.
THE DAY AHEAD: 9 a.m. — FRA Administrator Joseph C. Szabo will tour the Columbus Castings Plant to view the work being done on Amtrak’s long distance car order. 2211 Parsons Avenue, Columbus, Ohio.
9:30 a.m. — Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board holds a meeting, July 7-9. Access Board Conference Room, 1331 F Street NW, Suite 800.
11 a.m. — What Works: Los Angeles. Join POLITICO Magazine for one in our series of national conversations around urban innovation. With special guest Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, we'll look at the rapid reinvention of downtown L.A. — and what it can tell the rest of the country about gentrification, cutting-edge social services and change that works. Studio 60; 1200 Hope St., Los Angeles.
CABOOSE — Race on: From 1906, after a trip from New York to San Francisco and back again: “Percy Megargel and David Fassett on 162nd Street in the Bronx at the end of their 10-month, 11,000-mile trip in a 16-horsepower REO (Ransom E. Olds) touring car.” Shorpy: http://bit.ly/1vUaeiF
Stories from POLITICO Pro
TSA to make U.S.-bound flyers turn on phones
TSA to make U.S.-bound flyers turn on phones back
By Kevin Robillard | 7/7/14 12:32 PM EDT
The TSA is requiring passengers flying to the U.S. from some overseas airports to power up their electronic devices before boarding — or risk having to leave their phones or tablets behind.
News reports have suggested the Department of Homeland Security is increasingly worried that terrorists may use Syria as a base to attack U.S.-bound flights, and the Transportation Security Administration’s decision indicates the agency fears terrorists could turn a phone or tablet into an undetectable bomb.
“As the traveling public knows, all electronic devices are screened by security officers,” the TSA said Sunday. “During the security examination, officers may also ask that owners power up some devices, including cell phones. Powerless devices will not be permitted onboard the aircraft.”
The agency said it would continue to adjust its security measures to ensure that travelers are “guaranteed the highest levels of aviation security conducted as conveniently as possible.”
The rule means passengers traveling to the U.S. from abroad should charge their tablets and phones before arriving at the airport, or they could be forced to abandon their devices before boarding.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday before the TSA’s announcement, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the administration was trying to balance customer convenience and security.
“I believe that we have taken the appropriate measures to deal with the existing situation and not unnecessarily burden the traveling public,” he said, adding: “There remains a terrorist threat.”
Johnson said he was worried about the security threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a Sunni insurgency that now effectively controls much of Iraq and Syria.
The move also comes as the TSA tries to increase flexibility for travelers. It has aggressively expanded its PreCheck program, which allows some travelers to keep their shoes on and their laptops in their bags while going through security screening.back
BAF IN THE NEWS
New York Daily News: Pothole Patrol: Bloomberg, Rendell and LaHood confront our collapsing roads, bridges, tunnels, etc.
Ray LaHood was vacationing with kids and grandkids in Michigan on Monday and one hopes avoiding potholes, sinkholes, crumbling bridges and highways in need of repaving.