NATIONAL NEWS:
Detroit News: Use private money to rebuild nation's infrastructure
The 114th Congress has been criticized for not passing many laws — and praised for that in some quarters. And it’s true that in quantitative terms, its productivity has been low.
Washington Post: AP: G-20 faces gap between gains in developed economies vs. slowing growth in emerging nations
WASHINGTON — Something unfamiliar will be in the background as world leaders hold a summit in Russia starting Thursday: economic growth throughout the developed world.
Washington Post: AP: Computer-operated car developed by Carnegie Mellon University takes Pa. congressman for a ride
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania congressman caught a cutting-edge ride to the airport on Wednesday.
Washington Post: AP: Vice President Joe Biden to make transportation announcement at Port of Baltimore
BALTIMORE — Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the Port of Baltimore to make a transportation announcement.
New York Times: How Tech Remakes Space, Food and Urgency
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/how-tech-remakes-space-food-and-urgency/
We usually think about technology changing our world in terms of things it touches directly. Shelves of records and CDs disappear into Apple’s iTunes. Goods are advertised on the Internet and in a few years hundreds of newspapers close.
Bloomberg: U.S. May Require Stronger Tank Cars for Hazmat and Crude
Rail tank cars, which are moving an increasing volume of crude oil and other hazardous materials, may have to be stronger and better able to withstand a crash, U.S. regulators said
STATE NEWS:
Transportation Issues Daily: Transportation Planning Today is About More Than Just Mobility
Long gone are the days of planning and building transportation facilities without regard to the impacts on people’s health, and their environment. And long gone are the days when transportation and health experts work in separate worlds, never sharing their expertise.
Greater Greater Washington: Poor bike/ped links push Metro commuters to park-and-rides
Metro planners are looking at how people use the system's park-and-ride lots. While they help people at the region's edges access transit, many commuters in closer-in areas drive very short distances to Metro stations because good pedestrian and bike connections don't exist.
StreetsBlog: Crowd-Funding a New Public Space in Portland
http://streetsblog.net/2013/09/04/crowd-funding-a-new-public-space-in-portland/
The state of Oregon is testing a new type of public-private partnership in Portland, where advocates and electeds want to transform a parcel of land into a new park and greenway.
Transportation Nation: Why the New Bay Bridge Cost $6.4 Billion
http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/transportation-nation/2013/sep/04/brief-history-64-billion-bay-bridge/
Driving across the $6.4 billion Bay Bridge Driving across the $6.4 billion Bay Bridge (Isabel Angell)
In 1996, the California Department of Transportation announced the state would spend seven years and just over $1 billion to replace the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. But the bridge that opened this week costs several times that amount -- and took ten years longer than originally projected. So...what happened?
New York Times: In Bloomberg’s City of Bike Lanes, Data Show, Cabs Gain a Little Speed
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, builder of bike lanes and champion of congestion pricing, has seldom been cast as a friend to the automobile.
Baltimore Sun: O'Malley to announce $1.5 billion for Baltimore-area transportation projects
Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to announce $1.5 billion in new state funding for the Baltimore Red Line and more than a dozen other transportation projects in the area Wednesday, officials said, outlining for the first time how the state's gas tax increase will be tapped to improve local infrastructure and mass transit here.
Washington Post: Metro seeks long-term fix, considers possible shutdown of Red Line for water problems
Every three weeks, Metro sends a crew into a massive, dark tunnel about 13 stories below the Red Line’s Medical Center stop to scoop out buckets of water and mud that leak onto the tracks.
Washington Post: AP: US transit chief to announce ‘green’ grants during tour of upstate NY bus plant
ENDICOTT, N.Y. — The Obama administration’s top transit official will be at a bus manufacturing plant in upstate New York to announce the latest round of federal grants to boost the production of fuel cell buses for the public transit industry.
Chicago Tribune: Public transit task force begins in wake of Metra scandal
A task force appointed to reform the Chicago area's troubled mass transit network and transform it into a "world-class system" embarked Tuesday on what members called a daunting task aimed at ending turf wars and finding qualified people.
Progressive Railroading: BNSF budgets $240 million for Texas capital projects
Major projects in Texas are another key component of BNSF Railway Co.'s record $4.3 billion capital spending budget for 2013.
Railway Track and Structures: California kicks of Rail Safety Month
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) and Amtrak are celebrating the state's Rail Safety Month by reminding the public to watch for trains.
Railway Age: RTA Board OKs Chicagoland strategic plan
Chicagoland's Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Board of Directors, has adopted a 2013 Regional Transit Strategic Plan, charting RTA's investment during the next five years.
Politico Morning Transportation
By Adam Snider | 9/5/13 5:51 AM EDT
Featuring Kathryn A. Wolfe, Scott Wong and Kevin Robillard
DRIVING THE TRANSPO DAY — TIGER V: Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will announce the fifth round of TIGER grants on a conference call this morning. Members of Congress get early word on the projects picked, so a number of the winners have already leaked out. But today we’ll get the full, official list. Congress gave the program $474 million in the latest round — DOT got 568 applications totaling $9 billion. Progressive Railroading rounds up lawmakers leaking six rail projects that will get funding: http://bit.ly/1dRKEag
A notable non-winner: Foxx’s home of Charlotte, N.C., didn’t win funds for an extension of its streetcar. Observer: http://bit.ly/160HPOr
Veep in Baltimore: VP Joe Biden will swing by the Port of Baltimore on Monday to make a “major transportation announcement” — with today’s TIGER unveiling, MT is pretty darn sure he’ll be speaking about the port’s $10 million grant the Sun reported earlier this week: http://bit.ly/1a8mO5d
SYRIA FALLOUT — Wheels greased for CR: What promises to be an all-consuming debate over a military strike on Syria may have greased the wheels for keeping the government’s doors open past Sept. 30. House leaders indicated Wednesday that they plan to move a stopgap spending bill once Congress comes back into session. And some aides said the squeezing of the Syria authorization into an already packed September legislative calendar makes it more likely that lawmakers will approve a short-term CR without trying to pass individual standalone pieces, like the already troubled transportation spending bill. Scott and Kathryn have the story: http://politico.pro/15Ek9eq
More transport implications: As if the upcoming spending and debt limit battles weren’t enough, the Syria debate will make it even harder to get members to devote time to the upcoming water and Amtrak bills. But T&I Chairman Bill Shuster isn’t worried, saying he’s already secured floor time in “early October” for the WRRDA bill that will be unveiled and marked up this month. But all the high-profile issues could make it tough for other matters: “Those issues you mention are going to take up a good deal of floor time,” he said when MT asked about the busy agenda.
OH HEY, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY, THURSDAY? Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes and automobiles. On this day 239 years ago, the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia — you might not have heard of the body’s president, Peyton Randolph, but some of the delegates are more familiar: Patrick Henry, George Washington, John Adams and John Jay. Please be in touch: asnider@politico.com. And follow on Twitter: @AdamKSnider and @POLITICOPro.
“I've been driving a mid-sized car... The price of gas keeps on rising …” http://bit.ly/1cIsPqc
BE AN EDUCATION PRO — We're excited to announce that POLITICO Pro Education, the newest Pro policy area, will officially debut Wednesday, Sept. 18, with original reporting, breaking news and insight into education policy. Subscribers will also receive exclusive early-bird editions of Morning Education. Interested in access to Pro Education? Email info@politicopro.com or call (703) 341-4600.
DISTRACTED DRIVING GRANTS HARD TO GET: Only seven states and Guam qualified for a grant program designed to reward states with distracted driving laws. There were 38 applications — that’s a success rate south of 25 percent — and the criteria will only get tougher for the next year. Jonathan Adkins of the Governors Highway Safety Association told MT that the current round was supposed to be the “easy” one to qualify for and that the group expects “far fewer” to qualify for the FY 2014 round due to stricter rules. “Our expectation for FY 2013 was that if a state had a primary texting law, they would qualify. That obviously didn’t happen,” Adkins said. The problem: NHTSA’s interpretation of language governing such seemingly-simple terms like “driving” and “texting.”
A language problem: MT got its hands on a copy of a document NHTSA sent to states explaining why most were ineligible for the federal money. About half of the 38 applicants were turned back because their state law didn’t specify that drivers can’t text while the car is stationary — driving is defined in federal law as piloting a vehicle, even “while temporarily stationary.” Several other states were rejected because their laws are specific to phones and other devices like tablets weren’t included. States also faced problems over “texting” and didn’t have laws that were specific enough to meet the federal definition. There was a also a problem with exemptions for school bus drivers and doctors — some state laws didn’t specify that the exemption from the texting ban is only for contacting emergency services. Check out the explainer NHTSA sent to states: http://politico.pro/17A4lOo. And GHSA has a breakdown of how much each state got — if anything — from the distracted driving and other safety grants: http://bit.ly/15ZxiD8
FEINBERG’S FOXX’S FIXER: Secretary Foxx may be a recent addition to the Beltway’s power arc, but his selection of Sarah Feinberg as his chief of staff means he’ll have a top flight lieutenant who understands what makes Washington tick. Among other jobs, Feinberg has held a string of White House postings and has a deep connection to Rahm Emanuel. Before leaving for the private sector, she worked for the administration since before it began — including a time on President Barack Obama’s transition team, and as special assistant to the president and senior adviser to Emanuel when he was White House chief of staff. The Facebook spokeswoman has no transportation bona fides to speak of, but her administration experience should serve her well at DOT. The chief of staff needs a strong hand inside the agency as well as connections that can help solve problems outside the department. Kathryn takes it away for Pros: http://politico.pro/15wyLxp
LOOK, CHAIRMAN — NO HANDS! House committee leaders usually have a driver on staff to shuttle them between Hill votes, fundraisers and speeches, but T&I Chairman Shuster let the technology take the wheel on Wednesday. After riding over 30 miles in a driverless car developed by GM and Carnegie Mellon University, Shuster said the experience — his first in an autonomous vehicle — was “incredible.” “I’ve got to tell you: At first I was a little nervous getting in,” Shuster said after the ride, but he “very quickly became very comfortable and confident that the technology in the car could perform.” The technology could be a game-changer for a transportation field that’s seen few major advances in recent decades, but it also brings policy questions like how roads will need to be built and who’s to blame when an accident inevitably occurs. Next year’s highway and transit bill is a good chance to start addressing those issues — but bill or no bill, driverless cars are a reality. “It’s the future of transportation and it’s here,” Shuster said. Your host has more in his Pro story: http://politico.pro/14sBQy8
PRECHECKS AND BALANCES: The TSA hopes to have its PreCheck program in place at 60 more airports by the end of the year, more than double the 40 currently offering the speedier security checks. A full list of airports with PreCheck lanes is at the bottom of the TSA release: http://1.usa.gov/19jqbFa
HOSPITALIZED: The chairman of the Pennsylvania House’s transportation panel, Rep. Dick Hess, is in the hospital in critical but stable condition after complications from leg surgery. Anonymous sources told the Tribune-Democrat that it was a stroke: http://bit.ly/18ECj1t
CHALLENGING STAGE: The DOT IG has released its list of the agency’s seven “top management challenges.” The full report isn’t out yet — it and DOT’s reply will be rolled into the department’s annual financial report — but we at least have a list of the challenges, which you can check out right here: http://1.usa.gov/13f0CEq
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)
- APTA, Operation Lifesaver sign new MOU, vow to continue working together. http://bit.ly/14lvHcn
- DOE to spend around $45 million on dozens of transportation technology projects. Full list: http://1.usa.gov/15Yuoyj
- Sierra Club Foundation partners with vehicle donation program CARSTM. Release: http://bit.ly/18sfIX5
- A look at two vastly different kinds of Metro parking — end of the line and mid-system. PlanItMetro: http://bit.ly/17zzQrS
- Interesting idea: Turn old phone-booths into EV chargers. Atlantic Cities: http://bit.ly/13e46Ha
- Capital Bikeshare saw its 5 millionth ride in August. http://bit.ly/19j3GQK
- Flight simulator technicians at United Airlines voted for Teamsters representation. http://bit.ly/15Fjzgl
THE DAY AHEAD: 8 a.m. — NHTSA holds a meeting of the National Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council. 901 New York Ave. NW.
8:30 a.m. — The National Research Council and the World Economic Forum's Risk Response Network hold a workshop titled “Building Resilience to Catastrophic Risks through Public-Private Partnerships.” National Academy of Sciences, Auditorium, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW.
11 a.m. — The Journal of Commerce holds a webcast on port productivity, focusing on performance at 600 marine terminals and 400 global ports. Online.
11:30 a.m. — The Washington Space Business Roundtable holds a discussion on Orbital Science's commercial space activities, including commercial resupply services to the International Space Station. University Club, 1135 16th St. NW.
THE COUNTDOWN: DOT funding and passenger rail policy both run out in 26 days. Surface transportation policy is up in 391 days and FAA policy in 756 days. The mid-term elections are in 425 days.
CABOOSE — Cop, bike and baseball: This great 1922 black-and-white shot features a D.C. policeman with his Henderson #1 motorcycle in front of the “Washington American League Base Ball Club.” Shorpy: http://bit.ly/15UU6nh
Politico Pro: Syria’s squeeze may hasten budget deal
By Scott Wong and Kathryn A. Wolfe | 9/4/13 4:41 PM EDT
What promises to be an all-consuming debate over a military strike on Syria may have greased the wheels for keeping the government’s doors open past Sept. 30.
House leaders indicated Wednesday that they plan to move a stopgap spending bill once Congress comes back into session. And some aides said the squeezing of the Syria authorization into an already packed September legislative calendar makes it more likely that lawmakers will approve a short-term continuing resolution without trying to pass individual standalone pieces, like the already troubled transportation spending bill.
“The leadership and White House thrive on deadlines,” said a Senate Republican aide. “You can’t give them a better situation to get something done than a short deadline and a major distraction. They love this.”
The calendar is “all going to be compressed,” added a Senate Democratic aide. “By the time you finish Syria, you have to quickly turn around and do the CR. That’s a good thing for [House Speaker John] Boehner because he doesn’t want it sitting out there for too long.”
Without going quite that far, House Appropriations spokeswoman Jennifer Hing confirmed Wednesday that appropriators will tee up a CR sometime this month, though the timing isn’t set. It’s not clear how long the CR would extend, but Hing said Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) prefers “as short as possible.”
The House had already planned to be in session for only nine days this month, leaving little time to take up any appropriations bills or a CR before funding runs out Sept. 30. Expected House and Senate votes next week to authorize an attack on Syria leave even fewer days in the congressional calendar to debate and pass a spending bill.
On the other hand, Congress’s focus on the proposed military action may offer leaders an opening to strike an accord on the CR and make progress on a way to raise the debt ceiling. The government will bump up against its borrowing limit in mid-October.
Boehner has clashed with tea party factions in his party that have threatened to shut down the government unless Obama’s health care law is gutted. But the fresh fight over possible war in Syria has eclipsed that spending skirmish, at least temporarily.
Still, some observers caution that the two parties aren’t suddenly seeing eye to eye on fiscal matters.
“[Syria] gives leadership a little space to negotiate behind the scenes, but the issues are still intractable and I don’t see any give on either side,” said Jim Manley, a Hill veteran who served as a top adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “In the end, both parties will continue to be at loggerheads.”
Obama wants to halt the sequester, the across-the-board budget cuts that kicked in earlier this year. He also wants a clean hike to the $16.7 trillion debt limit. Boehner, on the other hand, is pushing for a debt increase to be tied to deeper spending cuts.
The implosion of the THUD bill just before the August recess was a prime example of the difficulties facing appropriators as they try to stick to regular order this year.
Both chambers have thus far failed in spectacular fashion to move a THUD bill.
In the House, the leadership yanked the bill just hours before the chamber was set to start voting on amendments. Many blamed the last-minute shuffle on disagreements among Republicans about the bill’s spending levels, though Boehner later claimed he had the votes to move the bill.
Meanwhile, some of the same funding decisions split Republicans in the Senate, where Democrats failed to win cloture on their bill and had to pull it from the calendar.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told POLITICO it’s unlikely the Senate will jump from Syria to more appropriations votes, noting the partisan standoff before recess that stalled the THUD bill.
“Although we’re ready to call some other [appropriations bills], it may not make that much sense unless [Republicans are] going to agree to it,” said Durbin, an appropriator. “My guess is we’ll be doing other things on the calendar until we reach something like an agreement on the budget.”
Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.
Politico Pro: Feinberg poised to be Foxx’s problem-solver
By Kathryn A. Wolfe | 9/4/13 5:58 PM EDT
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx may be a recent addition to the Beltway’s power arc, but his selection of Sarah Feinberg as his chief of staff means he’ll have a top flight lieutenant who understands what makes Washington tick.
Among other jobs, Feinberg has held a string of White House postings and has a deep connection to Rahm Emanuel. Before leaving for the private sector, she worked for the administration since before it began — including a time on President Barack Obama’s transition team, and as special assistant to the president and senior adviser to Emanuel when he was White House chief of staff.
The Facebook spokeswoman has no transportation bona fides to speak of, but her administration experience should serve her well at DOT. The chief of staff needs a strong hand inside the agency as well as connections that can help solve problems outside the department.
Feinberg is due to start the job in mid-month, Foxx told DOT staff last week.
“Sarah is incredibly smart, very responsive, politically savvy, and she just is always absolutely great to work with,” said one source who has known Feinberg for years.
The source said Feinberg’s experience is important because of the way the Cabinet-level agencies have to work together. Their chiefs of staff meet at the White House once a week to hash out issues and often end up fixing problems.
“They have the ability to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, 911, we have an emergency and it involves your department, we need to work this out,’” the source said. “She’s going to understand how to work the levers at the White House and with the other departments to help Secretary Foxx get his agenda going.”
Feinberg also understands how to deal with the press and is steeped in politics, having started her political career dealing with the Fourth Estate. She served as communications director for the House Democratic Caucus and press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, before her most recent job as Facebook’s Washington, D.C.-based director of policy communications.
She also did a turn on Capitol Hill as press secretary to former Sen. Tom Daschle when he was minority leader.
DOT’s public affairs staff wouldn’t make Feinberg available for an interview. But one source who worked with Feinberg at the White House, who’s now a lobbyist, said Emanuel relied heavily on Feinberg for policy, politics and messaging, and brought Feinberg along with him virtually every time he moved around — from the DCCC to the White House.
“As Rahm’s stature and influence grew, she was always the first person seated behind him,” the source said. “Once she hit the White House she was no longer watching, she was much more engaging.”
The source said that in essence, if something was important to Emanuel, Feinberg had a hand in it. While people at first responded to her because of Emanuel’s influence, the source said, it didn’t take long for her to develop her own power center based on her own abilities.
“Rahm adores her and there’s a reason why she followed him from the DCCC to caucus to White House, and not many people did,” the source said. He added that’s because “she is incredibly savvy at distilling complex issues into the bottom line assessment of — what does this mean for the average American, and how do we present it that way.”
According to people familiar with her work for Emanuel, Feinberg was front and center of the White House’s strategic communication efforts on everything ranging from the H1N1 virus to mining disasters in West Virginia.
Emanuel praised her in a statement to POLITICO.
”From working with Sarah on the Hill and in the White House, I know she is a dedicated public servant and talented, shrewd strategist, and I congratulate her on this new role,” he said. “Under Ray LaHood and now under Anthony Foxx, DOT is a place of innovation and progress, and Sarah will do great work in furthering this mission.”
When Feinberg left the administration, she served as director of communications and business strategy at Bloomberg LP before landing at Facebook.
It’s unclear what lured Feinberg back into public service after she made a break for the private sector, but one source said it may be a case of “Hotel California rules” — as in, “you can check out any time you like but you can never really leave.”
“And I think she’s one of the top people on that list who’s left,” the source said.
Politico Pro: Look, chairman — no hands!
By Adam Snider | 9/4/13 4:28 PM EDT
House committee leaders usually have a driver on staff to shuttle them between Hill votes, fundraisers and speeches, but Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster let the technology take the wheel Wednesday.
After a 30-mile ride in a driver-less car developed by GM and Carnegie Mellon University, Shuster (R-Pa.) said the experience — his first in an autonomous vehicle — was “incredible.”
“I’ve got to tell you: At first I was a little nervous getting in,” Shuster said after the ride between a Pittsburgh suburb and the city’s airport. But Shuster said he “very quickly became very comfortable and confident that the technology in the car could perform.”
The car — an outfitted 2011 Cadillac SRX — maneuvered through local four-lane roads that were “fairly heavily congested,” Shuster said. It went through “smart” traffic lights that sense when a car is approaching, then onto Interstate 79, where it slowed for a construction zone and passed more sluggish cars while still obeying the speed limit.
An engineer on the project sat behind the wheel in case of trouble, but Shuster said the person touched the steering wheel, accelerator or brakes for only a few “minor tweaks.” Shuster added that “for all intents and purposes, it was completely autonomous.”
Driver-less cars — which use cameras, radar, computers and other technology to automatically steer, accelerate and brake a vehicle without human interaction — are a potential game-changer for a transportation world that’s seen few major advances in recent decades.
“It’s the future of transportation and it’s here,” Shuster said.
The technology has come a long way in a few years. The chairman recalled seeing an autonomous vehicle in 2007 that was so “packed” with equipment that “you couldn’t get anyone in it” — even though it was a spacious SUV.
“Today we had four passengers comfortably. … It was a car that can be used by everyday Americans,” Shuster said.
The new technology brings safety, quality of life and other benefits, advocates say — but also raises concerns for policy-makers tasked with ensuring a safe, efficient and effective road network.
Shuster acknowledges the policy problems. “We have to start to figure out how to embrace this technology because it’s coming,” he said.
Shuster — who often drives between Washington, D.C., and his southwestern Pennsylvania district — pointed to his home state, where PennDOT has partnered with Carnegie Mellon to look at how roads could change with the popularization of autonomous cars.
“Because autonomous vehicles will be able to travel more closely together, maybe six-lane roads with 14-foot-wide lanes and 30-foot medians are no longer needed,” PennDOT Secretary Barry Schoch, who was on the ride with Shuster, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review earlier this year.
Accidents also pose another problem for lawmakers: Who’s to blame when the first driver-less car plows into a vehicle and kills several people? “There’s things like that that have to be dealt with,” Shuster said.
The Transportation Committee faces a 2014 deadline for a major surface transportation bill that would be the place to address any lingering issues over driver-less car technology, though it remains to be seen how extensive any such language would be.
NATIONAL NEWS:
Detroit News: Use private money to rebuild nation's infrastructure
The 114th Congress has been criticized for not passing many laws — and praised for that in some quarters. And it’s true that in quantitative terms, its productivity has been low.