While we hope that Congress passes a global warming bill with a hard cap on emissions (cap-and-trade) to limit our overall emissions and incentivize even more reductions, people are beginning to realize that much of the power and leadership required to fight global warming will come at the state, regional, and local level. Consider this … Continued
A few months ago, I was in Baltimore for a summit conducted by the Regional Plan Association on the Northeast Megaregion maintaining its economic competitiveness while addressing climate change. Rep. Earl Blumenauer had one bit of narrative that stuck with me about our nation’s history of rising to the challenge of infrastructure with visionary plans … Continued
In this entry from Greater Greater Washington — one of my daily must-reads here about DC growth and urbanism issues — he digs up a 12-year-old op-ed from Russell Baker in the New York Times about the pain of rising gas prices. (Back when they were spiking over a dollar:) Sure I’m mad about the … Continued
Chart on housing prices against gas prices from the CEO’s for Cities report, Driven to the Brink (2001 recession shaded) If you look back over the last two weeks at what we’ve been pointing to in the news and circulating on the blog, there was a clear trend emerging: Rising gas prices and escalating transportation … Continued
Last week, we mentioned the release of a new tool from the Center for Neighborhood Technology that measures the true cost of housing affordability, by also considering the transportation costs of each area. (Note: the Washington Post had a good story about the index here.) A few other outlets have done their own local test … Continued
The situation: Bridges are falling down, traffic congestion is worsening, gains in fuel efficiency are reducing gas tax revenues, worthwhile transit projects are sitting on the shelf, and the Highway Trust Fund — funded by the 18.5 cents a gallon gas tax that is already inadequate for funding transportation investments — is about to run … Continued
It’s not just gas prices that make transportation expensive… Yesterday, The Center for Neighborhood Technology, an SGA coalition member, along with the Brookings Institution, released a new web-based tool to measure housing affordability — by also measuring the transportation costs inherent in a home’s location. Traditionally, affordability is measured at 30% or less of a … Continued
As you may have read this morning in numerous other outlets, New York City’s plan to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan was defeated last night without reaching a vote on the floor. [NYT] The plan would have charged most cars $8 and trucks $21 to enter traffic-choked Midtown and Lower Manhattan during busy hours on … Continued
Last week, Ford Motor Company sold their Land Rover and Jaguar lines to Indian Automaker Tata Motors, in the news lately for their plans to introduce the Nano: An ultra-cheap, small, fuel-efficient car in India and other developing countries. Most transportation writers noted the development, and the implications for American automaker Ford and their renewed … Continued
Expectedly, there was plenty of interesting commentary on yesterday’s feature in the Washington Post on political appointee Tyler Duvall and the Department of Transportation’s attempts to steer America towards the privatization of transportation infrastructure. Ryan Avent sees a problem, perceiving that the issue is painted as a decision between roadway pricing OR transit. (It’s worth … Continued