Obama Praises HSR, Criticizes Sprawl

Posted on by Andrew Smith
Barack Obama
Photo by Transplanted Mountaineer

Today in Flordia, President Obama said this about transportation:

It’s imagining new transportation systems. I’d like to see high speed rail where it can be constructed. I would like for us to invest in mass transit because potentially that’s energy efficient. And I think people are a lot more open now to thinking regionally…

The days where we’re just building sprawl forever, those days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody… recognizes that’s not a smart way to design communities. So we should be using this money to help spur this sort of innovative thinking when it comes to transportation.

That will make a big difference.

Good stuff! Except, the last time I loved something Obama said, it was “[W]e will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s”. Now the stimulus doesn’t contain all that much transit as a portion of the overall bill, about 1%, but transit could see money more in future budgets.

Via Transport for America.

Senate Approves Stimulus Plan

Posted on by Andrew Smith
United States Capitol Building
Photo by gawnesco

The Senate has approved their version of the stimulus plan in a 61-37 vote. All Democrats and three Republicans – Senator Arlen Specter, of Pennsylvania, and Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine – voted yes, with the remaining Republicans present voting no. Judd Gregg (R-NH) was not present for the vote, and a winner in Minnesota Senate race between Al Frankin and Norm Coleman has not yet been seated.

Because the Constitution requires that both Houses of Congress pass the same bill, the next step is for the Conference Committee to meet and resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions. Senator Specter has stated that he wants most of the what was in the Senate version to come back from Conference, which could mean the bill will look more like the Senate version in the end. Both Houses have to vote a final time before the bill can be sent to the President to sign into law, and without a 60-seat majority in the Senate, the Democrats will need at least two Republican votes to end debate and avoid a filibuster.

Friday the Transport Politic had a nice chart showing the differences between the House and Senate bills on Amtrak and transit, and I’ve reproduced it here.

Program Passed House Bill Proposed Senate Bill
Grants to Amtrak $800 m $850 m
Grants to States for Rail $300 m $250 m
High-Speed Rail 0 $2 b
Total Rail $1.1 b $3.1 b
Transit Formula Funds $7.5 b $8.4 b
Fixed Guideway Modernization $2 b 0
New Starts $2.5 b 0
Total Transit $12 b $8.4 b
Discretionary Grants 0 $5.5 b

I wonder how transit will fare in the “discretionary grant” programs. It’d be the first chance to see Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in action and find out if he’s just another road warrior. Personally, I’d rather see Congress fund New Starts – which give cash to local transit projects – than High Speed Rail. Which would you rather see?

Update: Here’s a comparison of the timelines and levels of spending and tax cuts between the two versions of the bill.

Another Obama Camp Video

Posted on by Andrew Smith

This one starts off talking about transit and high speed rail.

In the video is Nancy Sutley, the “Chair-designee for the White House Council on Environmental Quality”. The statement is pretty generic, but I am becoming more and more encouraged as time goes on. Even if the stimulus doesn’t do a lot for transit, the administration as other ways of making their positions known.

Tipping Point

Posted on by Andrew Smith

A month or so ago, I couldn’t help but feel that our nation was approaching a sort of transportation tipping point, where the momentum was finally moving in the direction of re-envisioning person transportation from meaning just cars and airplanes. It was hard not to, with most transit measures passing nationwide, and the California High Speed Rail Proposition passing as well. I was worried a bit, though, with the House passing a $14 billion bailout that our leaders weren’t necessarily paying attention. The Senate seems to be set to stall the bill, but probably not because they feel the changing winds.
Continue reading “Tipping Point”

Op-ed: High Speed Rail – Seattle to Portland

Posted on by Guest Contributor

by MIKE SKEHAN

Our economy is in shambles, infrastructure rotting away, global warming hanging over our heads and $5 or $10 a gallon gasoline not far off again. Sounds pretty gloomy, but soon, Congress will enact a stimulus-funding package to bootstrap our economy out of the doldrums.  The question is:  What do we do with the money?

It has to be for “projects ready to go”, and will likely be for only a 2 year period. Why not spend a large chunk of Washington State’s share of the pie on working towards high-speed rail, along the I-5 corridor, between Bellingham and Portland?

Continue reading “Op-ed: High Speed Rail – Seattle to Portland”

Amtrak Cascades – SEA-PDX Part One

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

I’d like to first say that I’m thrilled that Prop 1 passed by a comfortable margin. I’m also very pleased that the California High Speed Rail passed. It’s been covered already by various folks here on what should be done next locally, however I will be taking it a step further by going into detail what needs to be done to the Amtrak Cascades to make it a viable alternative to the shuttle airlines, Greyhound, and driving. Part one of this series will cover what is being done currently, how the Cascades is funded, and what projects are being done to increase the frequency of the trains.

In order for Amtrak Cascades to be competitive to this market, the trains need to achieve a 3 hour travel time between Seattle and Portland. Washington State DOT has a long-range plan which will bring SEA-PDX travel time to 2 hours and 30 minutes but not until at least 2020 if funding holds up. Before we get to ahead of ourselves, let’s look at the projects being worked on now which will increase the frequency and on-time performance of the Amtrak Cascades.
More below the fold.
Continue reading “Amtrak Cascades – SEA-PDX Part One”

A Mandate

Posted on by Ben Schiendelman

We’ve been talking about change all year.

Not just a change from the politics of fear – a change from believing the only way is the highway. A change from pumping money into our airlines when there is an alternative.

This is a new beginning. In California, high speed rail will become a reality. I’ve ridden trains at 200mph – they’re talking about as high as 225. Here, all three counties seem to be passing Proposition 1. This was unthinkable a year ago. We were worried about having just enough votes in King County to overcome opposition in both Pierce and Snohomish.

Not so this time. Everyone wants solutions, and Sound Transit is perfectly poised to offer them.

Assuming both of these measures survive the next day… I want Amtrak Cascades local option funding next.

U.S. Transit Measures + Cali HSR Prop 1A

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

Currently, Most of the transit measures that was out for rail, buses, etc are passing except for a few.

California High Speed Rail – 50.6% Yes – 49.4% No with 30% reporting in

Sound Transit Prop 1 – King County 61.9% Yes – 38.1% No – Snohomish County 55.4% Yes – 44.5% No. Pierce County 50.82% Yes – 49.18% No.

I-985 – 39.6% Yes – 60.6% No

New Mexico Transit (Including RailRunner) – Winner

Kansas City Light Rail -Defeated

Honolulu Elevated Commuter Rail – 53.0% Yes – 47.0% No

St. Louis Metrolink Tax – 48.0% No – 52.0% Yes

LA MTA Sales Tax – 64.5% Yes – 35.5% No

Sacramento Streetcar – Passing per SF Gate

BART – Passing per SF Gate

$700 Billion…

Posted on by Ben Schiendelman

…I’m just sayin’.

These are the high speed rail corridors the USDOT has identified in their overall plan. If your rail line is on one of those green lines, and we ever pass an Amtrak funding bill with grant money for high speed rail, you can get those grants. Note that Amtrak Cascades is one of those corridors.

Given that the California project is $40 billion (although that’s not all of those lines), I’d say we could get most of this done for $700 billion. This could be our new Apollo project  – it would create jobs all over the country, we’d probably end up building at least one new railcar company (as well as helping the ones we have), and you can bet this would spur more renewable energy development.

While we need a New New Deal for infrastructure, we don’t really have the money. Especially not if we’re giving it to banks.