Tuesday, December 11, 2:00-4:00pm ET. EPA Webcast for Tribes: Learning from Peers – Tribal Approaches to Reduce GHG Emissions and Address the Changing Climate. Register here.
Wednesday, December 12, 3:00-4:30pm ET. The Innovative DOT. Register here.
Tuesday, December 11, 2:00-3:15pm ET. EPA’s Priorities for Petroleum Brownfields. Register here.
State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have ambitious goals: improve safety, reduce congestion, enhance economic opportunity, improve reliability, preserve system assets, accelerate project delivery, and help to create healthier, more livable neighborhoods, just to name a few. These goals would be challenging even if money were no object, but dwindling conventional federal and state transportation funding makes these goals even harder to achieve.
The Innovative DOT: A handbook of policy and practice, published earlier this year by Smart Growth America and the State Smart Transportation Initiative, lays out 31 tools transportation officials can use as they position their agencies for success in the new economy.
On December 12, from 3:00-4:30 PM EST, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will host a webinar about the report and its recommendations. FHWA is partnering with the Project for Public Spaces and INDUS Corporation to present this free event.
Recently, a 1.5 mile stretch of the Port Richmond Trail broke ground. Once completed, the project will reconstruct and improve 16.3 miles of pedestrian and bicycle trails that are part of a 128-mile regional network of trails throughout the Philadelphia region, with the help of a $23 million TIGER grant from the Department of Transportation.
U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz, a key player in securing the TIGER grant, had this to say about the project:
“Reconnecting northeast Philadelphia communities with the Delaware River matters deeply to the residents of northeast Philadelphia, for both improved recreational opportunities and to build towards greater local economic development efforts.”
On Monday, October 15, federal and state officials from Maryland and the District of Columbia held an event to announce a four-mile portion of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail that will be known as the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens segment and will be funded largely by a 2012 DOT TIGER grant.
The trail is a broader effort to bring development and activity to the Anacostia waterfront, as it connects 60 miles of trails in Maryland and throughout the District. Mayor of D.C. Vincent Gray had this to say about the project:
“This latest segment of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail is an important part of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative’s efforts to create a healthy, green, equitable and prosperous city – goals that go hand-in-hand with my Sustainable DC plan. I’m excited today to unveil the trail’s unique design, which will give the public a window into the host of benefits this new regional trail link will provide to our neighbors in Maryland as well. We look forward to continued collaboration with our regional and federal partners as we move forward with construction and press ahead with our efforts to create a world-class Anacostia Riverfront in our city.”
In anticipation of the upcoming election season, Congress has passed a continuing resolution (CR) to extend federal spending until March 27, 2013.
Leaders in both chambers have pushed for the passage a CR in order to avoid a government shutdown so close to the November election. Funding for the current federal programs, which was scheduled to expire at the end of September, will remain unchanged until March at which point Congress will revisit budget negotiations. The resolution passed the House with overwhelming support on September 13. The Senate deliberated the measure, and eventually passed the resolution, 62-30. President Obama signed the CR late last week.
The Main Street to Main Street Multimodal Connector project, a joint regional project between Arkansas and Tennessee, has recently shifted its funding, with $5.6M more going towards Memphis’ downtown development. The money is being re-allocated from Arkansas’ portion of the project.
The money is being provided by the Department of Transportation through a fourth-round of TIGER grants.
Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) lobbied for the funding, saying “The $5.6 million in funds being redirected to Downtown Memphis will play an important role in revitalizing downtown,” after the change had been approved.
On the afternoon of August 23, Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA., visited Spokane County, WA to tour the construction being done on the U.S.-395 North Spokane Corridor.
This project is ongoing, funded by a DOT TIGER grant and about halfway completed, and has also recently received another $10m TIGER grant to continue construction, totaling $45m in grants thus far.
LaHood also took the opportunity to announce a new national Freight Policy Board, with the hope of double American exports within three years.
On August 29, the Partnership for Sustainable Communities celebrated its third anniversary in Atlanta, GA, with officials from the DOT, EPA, and HUD in attendance.
Speaking about the great help that the Partnership has been to the city of Atlanta, Mayor Kasim Reed said,
“This partnership has allowed us to do the kind of essential projects that invest directly in our neighborhoods, reduce transportation costs for our families, [and] improve affordability for housing.”
A view of the Reedy River from downtown Greenville. Photo courtesy of Walter Ezell.
Greenville, South Carolina’s West Side is growing rapidly, and planners in the city are using a comprehensive plan to make sure that growth creates better neighborhoods for all the area’s residents.
Currently, the West Side is a cluster of low- to moderate-income neighborhoods adjacent to Greenville’s downtown. Planners from the City of Greenville are considering a number of different strategies to better link the West Side with the rest of the city, while still ensuring that current residents can reap the benefits of the growth that will ensue.
“The West Side is adjacent to downtown so it has a lot of potential,” says Greenville planner Wayne Leftwich. “Growth is heading this way, with a lot of interest from potential developers in this area, and we want to make sure that when these things happen, they’re not disconnected from current residents.”
City planners are bringing concerted planning to the West Side’s robust growth, and are working to ensure that new development meets the needs of as many residents as possible. To achieve that goal, planners are developing a comprehensive plan for the West Side and its three main commercial corridors.
“We are thinking about the potential for revitalization and economic development, because the West Side neighborhoods are not as viable as they could be,” Leftwich says. “Our hope for the plan is to look at how we can make connections between the neighborhoods in this area, but also with the rest of the city.”
The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program, provides a unique opportunity for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to invest in road, rail, transit, and port projects that promise to achieve national objectives. Now in its fourth round, the program remains critically underfunded. DOT received 703 applications, totaling $10.2 billion in requests. Out of those, 47 projects were selected to receive a total of close to $500 million.