Infrastructure in the News: March 3, 2015
BAF IN THE NEWS
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Infrastructure (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpzvaqypav8
All three co-chairs are featured in the segment.
City Lab: John Oliver's Solution to America's Infrastructure Crisis
Oliver points to a rash of recent infrastructure failures—a water main break at UCLA, a fatal pothole in Oakland, a Pittsburgh bridge so precarious it needs a deck underneath it to catch falling debris—but argues that the real dangers are far more insidious. The nation's dams are 52 years old on average, and 70,000 bridges "need to be replaced or repaired in a very dramatic way," according to Ray LaHood, the former U.S. Transportation Secretary. Of course, it's too often only when infrastructure fails in a dramatic way that people pay attention, and by then it's too little, too late.
Deadline: John Oliver Sexes Up ’60 Minutes’ Report On Nation’s Crumbling Infrastructure With Ed Norton And Steve Buscemi
More accurately, CBS News’ 60 Minutes warned of the coming disaster — Oliver’s show mostly rehashed a 60 Minutes report that aired November 23, featuring Steve Kroft, with Ed Rendell in Philadelphia and in a helicopter in Pittsburgh, adding some Oliver snark — and a trailer for a faux action movie, Infrastructure, starring Ed Norton and Steve Buscemi.
Press Herald: Our View: Highway fund needs sure way to raise money
http://www.pressherald.com/2015/03/03/our-view-highway-fund-needs-sure-way-to-raise-money/
To counteract that, Ray LaHood, a former U.S. transportation secretary and Republican member of Congress, is calling for the gas tax to be increased 10 cents and indexed to inflation. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it would takean increase of 10 to 15 cents to meet current obligations.
NATIONAL NEWS
The Hill: On infrastructure, we can't wait any longer
Our nation has a huge deficit of infrastructure investment, and it shows. With crumbling roads and collapsing bridges, the American Society of Engineers gave the United States a D+ on its "2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure." There will be an estimated investment need of $3.6 trillion by 2020 which, right now, is a tab that will be left for future generations to pick up.
STATE NEWS
AP: Report: Brooklyn Bridge Repairs $100 Million Over Budget
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/02/us/ap-us-brooklyn-bridge-repairs.html
NEW YORK — Records show that repair work on the Brooklyn Bridge is $100 million over budget and the completion date has been pushed back again.
WNYC: Advocates Push for Tougher Penalties for Drivers Who Kill
http://www.wnyc.org/story/advocates-push-tougher-penalties-drivers-who-kill/
Street safety advocates say there should be stiffer penalties for drivers who cause the deaths of others.
New York Times: Safety Advocates Want Harsher Penalties for New York’s Drivers
After Allison Liao, 3, was killed by a car in Queens, the man who was behind the wheel, Ahmad Abu-Zayedeh, was not charged. But last month, his driver’s license was revoked by the state, after a long campaign by the girl’s parents, Amy Tam-Liao and Hsi-Pei Liao.
AP: Boston commuter rail system operator fined over snow delays
BOSTON — The company that operates the state’s commuter rail system has been fined more than $434,000 after nearly two-thirds of the trains were late or canceled during the heavy snowfalls that pounded the region last month, transit officials said Monday.
Washington Post: Some Metro board members want to refocus search for new system chief
Days after Metro’s search for a new general manager took an odd turn, with the three finalists for the job withdrawing from consideration, some members of the transit authority’s board of directors said Monday the setback could be a blessing in disguise.
Washington Post: Public transit on the ropes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2015/03/03/public-transit-on-the-ropes/
It has been a brutal few months for local supporters of public transit, and it may get worse before it gets better.
Washington Post: ‘Unsubstantiated’ child neglect finding for free-range parents
The Maryland parents investigated for letting their young children walk home by themselves from a park were found responsible for “unsubstantiated” child neglect in a decision that has not fully resolved their clash with authorities over questions of parenting and children’s safety.
Next City: Austin Housing Debate Pits Traffic Concerns Against Equitable Development
http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/austin-affordable-housing-equitable-development
Like many cities with rising housing costs, Austin is aspiring to make sure low-income residents aren’t forced out by high rents. But arguments of the NIMBY variety have crept into the decision about where exactly to build new affordable housing in the Texas city.
Oregonian: Oregon bill would fine bicyclists $250 for not wearing reflective clothing: Commuting roundup
http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/index.ssf/2015/03/oregon_bill_would_fine_bicycli.html
Hello, road warriors.
Here's a look at what's "out there" about traffic, transit and transportation in Oregon and around the globe (no matter what the clock says, it's always the evening commute somewhere):
Uptown Messenger: Owen Courreges: What will the Rampart tourist trolley cost New Orleans in public transportation?
Transit for the poor? What a curious thought.
Although in theory a primary purpose of transit is to provide necessary transportation for those too poor to afford a reliable vehicle, the reality is that the poor are generally the ones who are shortchanged.
Nanaimo Commons: Huntsville Alabama $70m downtown mixed use development calls for "road diet"
http://nanaimocommons.blogspot.com/2015/03/huntsville-alabama-70m-downtown-mixed.html?spref=fb
The project will include 230 apartments, a 150-room hotel, multiple restaurants and stores, professional office space and a six-level parking deck. Huntsville Chief Planner said the city needs to put Williams Street on a "road diet" so people who live, work and shop at CityCentre won't have to walk across four lanes of traffic to get to the park. CityCentre will initially cover more than six acres. More atHuntsville OKs $70M downtown mixed-use development next to Big Spring Park
POLITICO MORNING TRANSPORTATION
By Heather Caygle | 3/3/15 5:46 AM EST
With help from Kevin Robillard and Kathryn A. Wolfe
HOUSE ACTION ON RAIL TODAY: The bipartisan Amtrak reauthorization approved unanimously by the T&I Committee will see House floor action today. Lawmakers will vote on the bill in addition to a handful of amendments (more details here: http://1.usa.gov/1ExRLA7). But that might be the most we hear about a passenger rail reauthorization for a while since it’s not at the top of the Senate priority list. In addition to bipartisan support, the legislation also has the backing of the White House and major rail groups (read OneRail Coalition’s letter: http://politico.pro/1K9C8Dv). While the White House issued a statement in support of the bill, the administration did ding the legislation for its lack of “adequate rail safety provisions.”
MT Exclusive: Heritage Action pushes ‘no’ vote— One group who’s not so happy with the rail bill? Heritage Action. The conservative group opposes the rail reauthorization and plans to count the bill as a “key vote” on its legislative scorecard.
HUERTA ON THE HILL: FAA Administrator Michael Huerta will be on the Hill this morning to talk shop with lawmakers on the House Transportation Committee. As T&I moves to the public portion of its work on the FAA bill, Huerta will be laying out his agency’s priorities before the aviation subcommittee. MT caught up with Rep. Rick Larsen, ranking member on the aviation panel, to chat about his top two priorities going into this morning’s hearing: aircraft certification and drones (plus a bonus third topic).
“[One of] the two main things I will talk to Huerta about are reforms on certification, how we can make certifying components and products more consistent nationwide,” Larsen said. “The second has to do with unmanned aerial vehicles and the rule that they’ve proposed, the response they’ve received and what they think the next steps will be for that and when.”
And the bonus: Air traffic control reform will of course come up, but not just privatization specifically. “Privatization is one way of doing it. Are there other elements of reform that [the FAA would] be willing to entertain if everybody can agree on what needs to be reformed?” Larsen said. “Right now, I would argue there’s not a consistent problem among the stakeholders that they’re all trying to solve. Everybody has their own problem they’re trying to solve.”
Great, now let’s talk timelines: “I think when a bill does break, it breaks pretty quickly. ... We are trying to work expeditiously not knowing when the Senate will bring something up or what the Senate would do with a bill we send over there,” he told MT. “In this circumstance, it seems that we’re focused on surface and we’re focused on aviation but we don’t see a lot of focus on aviation from the Senate currently.”
Over on the Senate side: Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune has already announced plans for a drone hearing this month, but now we know a little more about his timeline for the FAA bill. “We’ll probably mark up spring, second quarter and try and get floor time in the summer, for sure before this Sept. 30 deadline,” he told MT. “We’ll have the FAA administrator and folks in, we’ll have some hearings April-ish.”
-Speaking of FAA reauthorization issues, a new poll released this morning by Airlines for America shows significant opposition to increasing the Passenger Facility Charge. Pros get more: http://politico.pro/1BBhiHO
FOXX TALKS BUDGET TODAY: Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will also be on the Hill today, testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee on his department’s fiscal 2016 budget request. The DOT chief was on the Hill Monday to meet with Sen. Deb Fischer, chairwoman of the Commerce subcommittee that oversees transportation. “The secretary and I are always pretty straightforward with each other,” Fischer told MT about the Monday meeting. “We talked about trying to streamline the environmental issues and process that is out there so we don’t have a lot of duplication in that process.”
And the Highway Trust Fund? “We both know that there’s issues out there that we’re going to have to work on to see if we can get a majority to fund roads long term,” Fishcer said. Her office also posted this photo: http://bit.ly/18GiOgE
TOO COOL FOR TUESDAY. Good morning and thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports. Your MT host is still having a hard time walking down stairs after a weekend training session with a former Marine. Squats are hard, y’all.
Got any good scoops, tips, complaints or transportation trivia? Hit me up at hcaygle@politico.com or send a tweet: @heatherscope. And don’t forget to follow @Morning_Transpo and @POLITICOPro.
“And now these days when I drive through a small town, I turn my stereo up and roll my windows down…” http://bit.ly/1tPGoAU
** A Message from Americans for Fair Skies: Qatar and United Arab Emirates are shredding the Open Skies agreements they signed by subsidizing their airlines with over $40 billion. Therefore, the U.S. aviation industry isn’t competing against companies — it is competing against Sheiks and Crown Princes. We must restore fairness to our Open Skies. Learn more at http://www.FairSkies.org. **
NELSON, THUNE CALL OUT FAA ON CYBERSECURITY: Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune and ranking member Bill Nelson want answers from the FAA after a GAO report highlighted cybersecurity weaknesses in the air traffic control system. “These vulnerabilities have potential to compromise the safety and efficiency of the national airspace system, which the traveling public relies on each and every day,” Thune and Nelson wrote to Huerta. The duo request that the FAA provide “a full accounting” of the status of 17 GAO recommendations to make the agency’s information systems more secure. Read the letter: http://politico.pro/1GdbUgJ and the GAO report: http://1.usa.gov/1zTiCkJ
MARKEY, BLUMENTHAL MOVE RECALL BILL: Sens. Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal are introducing a bill aimed at keeping potentially dangerous recalled cars off the road. The bill would demand DMVs send recall notices along with registration reminders, and will typically require vehicle owners to fix their recalled cars before registering with some exceptions. Only 65 percent of recalled cars actually get fixed within 18 months of a recall, according to estimates, leaving more than 30 million cars on the road with unaddressed recall issues. Bill text: http://1.usa.gov/1BzOjnB
Related recall reads: Takata plans to double airbag replacements over next six months. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1vUZIgO; And five families affected by the GM ignition switch recall have rejected offers from the automaker’s victim compensation fund. More from the Detroit News: http://bit.ly/1vUFOmn
DERAILED CRUDE TRAIN HAD HIGH LEVELS OF GAS: The Wall Street Journal reports: “The crude oil aboard the train that derailed and exploded two weeks ago in West Virginia contained so much combustible gas that it would have been barred from rail transport under safety regulations set to go into effect next month. Tests performed on the oil before the train left North Dakota showed it contained a high level of volatile gases, according to a lab report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.” Full story: http://on.wsj.com/1M3XOyr
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
-Ports are getting creative as cargo piles up. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1N9Hcae
-California lawmakers send letter to FRA, PHMSA over concerns with possible revisions to oil train rule: http://politico.pro/1DyUWTP
-John Oliver tries to make the infrastructure funding crisis sexy. Gawker: http://bit.ly/1Earjxx
-“More thoughts needed on wide use of drones.” The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1Nb1P5D
-Guess who’s getting into the publishing business. Uber. Wired: http://wrd.cm/1AxtiEO
-New D.C. mayor considers killing plans for streetcar expansion. WAMU: http://bit.ly/1GIWWMW
-Georgia lawmakers consider doing away with tax break on jet fuel. The AP:http://abcn.ws/1wE7H2K (h/t Bob King)
-CBO report: Public spending on transportation and water projects since 1956.http://1.usa.gov/1FP0Anl
-An update on the California high-speed rail project: http://bit.ly/1Dz0uOd
THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy expires in 89 days. DOT appropriations run out and the FAA reauthorization expires in 211 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 616 days.
THE DAY AHEAD:
9:00 a.m. — Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee on DOT’s fiscal 2016 budget request. 253 Russell Building.
9:30 a.m. — FAA Administrator Michael Huerta testifies before the House Transportation Aviation Subcommittee. 2167 Rayburn House Office Building.
9:30 a.m. — The Brookings Institution holds a discussion on "Fueling the Marine Shipping Industry: A Promising New Market for LNG?"
11:00 a.m. — Various local and regional chambers of commerce will hold a telebriefing on the Highway Trust Fund. The telebriefing is in addition to the release of a letter signed by 250 chambers of commerce CEOs urging Congress to fix the infrastructure funding crisis.
2:00 p.m. — Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will hold a conference call with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti on local hiring rules.
5:30 p.m. — ACI-NA presents House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster with its congressional leadership award. Capitol Hill Club.
Same time tomorrow? Great!
** A Message from Americans for Fair Skies: The airlines of the UAE and Qatar are merely an arm of their government monarchies and they have no obligation or expectation to make a profit. They are not commercially viable enterprises without government subsidies. The new Emirates Airways route between Dubai and Dallas with an A380, the biggest and most expensive airplane to fly in the world, operated on average with only 38% of the airplane full, resulting in an enormous loss and stealing capacity from U.S. airlines. The only reason that flight can exist and the airline remains in business is because it doesn’t need to make a profit. It is subsidized by the government and the monarchy it serves. These airlines shift losses off the books and take direct injections of government cash. And that is expressly prohibited in Open Skies and is putting U.S. aviation jobs at tremendous risk. Learn more at http://www.FairSkies.org. **
POLITICO Pro Whiteboard: JetBlue pilots open contract negotiations
3/2/15 1:18 PM EST
JetBlue pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) have requested to open contract negotiations with company management under the Railway Labor Act.
The talks will be JetBlue’s first labor negotiations. The pilots are the only unionized employees in the company’s workforce. They joined ALPA in April 2014.
The negotiations are scheduled to begin on March 31 in New York.
— Marianne LeVine
To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/go/?wbid=49255
POLITICO Pro Transportation Whiteboard: Markey, Blumenthal introduce recall legislation
3/2/15 4:48 PM EST
Two Democratic senators are introducing legislation requiring state DMVs to notify vehicle owners about recalls, in an effort to keep recalled cars off the road.
The legislation will demand DMVs send recall notices along with registration reminders, and will typically require vehicle owners to fix their recalled cars before registering with some exceptions.
"This legislation represents the three R’s of automotive safety: recall, repair, register,” Sen. Ed Markey said in a statement. "We need to inform all vehicle owners of open safety recalls and ensure repairs get made quickly so our roads are kept safe. The RECALL Act will help prevent any more avoidable deaths from unrepaired recalls. I thank Senator [Richard] Blumenthal for his partnership on this legislation and look forward to continuing to work with Chairman Thune and our colleagues to enact strong auto safety legislation to protect American families."
The legislation matches a suggestion made by Honda North America executive vice president Rick Schostek at a December hearing on the Takata airbag recalls. Only sixty-five percent of recalled cars actually get fixed within 18 months of a recall, according to estimates, leaving more than 30 million cars on the road with unaddressed recall issues.
Honda, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Center for Auto Safety, Consumer Federation of America and the Trauma Foundation all support the legislation.
— Kevin Robillard
To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/go/?wbid=49288
POLITICO Pro Whiteboard: Hoffa to USTR: negotiate Mexican trucking issue
3/2/15 6:01 PM EST
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa called on United States Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman to reopen negotiations on Mexican cross-border trucking as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership discussions.
In a letter dated February 24, Hoffa raised concerns about the safety of Mexico-domiciled trucks. He called on USTR to provide advice and technical assistance to the Department of Transportation, which in January said it would open the border to trucks domiciled in Mexico later this year. Hoffa also questioned the effectiveness of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)’s pilot program, used to evaluate whether Mexico-domiciled vehicles could operate safely in the United States.
The pilot program was part of NAFTA’s cross-border long-haul trucking provisions, which allowed Mexican trucks to cross the border and make deliveries within the United States.
— Marianne LeVine
To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/go/?wbid=49294
POLITICO Pro Transportation Whiteboard: House Rules moves Amtrak rule forward
3/2/15 9:57 PM EST
The Rules Committee adopted a structured rule for floor consideration of a rail bill tomorrow, after Rep. John Mica abandoned his quest to press for an Amtrak privatization amendment.
An amendment by Mica was made in order, but it’s a far cry from the privatization language in earlier drafts — rather it would require a study on high speed passenger rail in the Northeast Corridor. But during the markup, Mica said he wasn’t done — he’d just “try to do that responsibly in conference.”
Several other amendments were made in order, including one by Rep. Julia Brownley requiring states to develop an action plan with solutions to grade crossing safety issues.
— Kathryn A. Wolfe
To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/go/?wbid=49300
POLITICO Pro Transportation Whiteboard: Airline lobby out with PFC polling
3/3/15 12:01 AM EST
A majority of people oppose doubling Passenger Facility Charges and indexing them to inflation, according to new polling data put out by Airlines for America.
The Tarrance Group poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters, finding 82 percent oppose doubling the $4.50 PFC cap and indexing it to inflation.
The poll also recorded 65 percent of respondents as viewing the PFC as a “tax” as opposed to a “fee.” And some 89 percent said presented with the choice between airport facilities or roads and bridges, 89 percent favored investing in roads and bridges.
— Kathryn A. Wolfe
To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/go/?wbid=49301
BAF IN THE NEWS
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Infrastructure (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpzvaqypav8
All three co-chairs are featured in the segment.