Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Federal Funding

3 White Elephants That Help Explain America’s Infrastructure Crisis

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 30, 2015 | No Comments

A new report by the Center for American Progress zeros in on an under-appreciated culprit in America’s much ballyhooed infrastructure crisis: All the money we waste on useless roads. CAP highlights three “white elephant projects” that illustrate how billions of dollars in federal infrastructure funds are squandered thanks to a lack of accountability in the transportation funding process. “States receive federal […]

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Congress Trims TIGER (But Doesn’t Hack It to Pieces) in 2015 Spending Bill

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 15, 2014 | No Comments

The drama is over; the House and Senate have both passed the “cromnibus” spending bill [PDF] that funds government operations through the end of fiscal year 2015. And the Department of Transportation’s TIGER program survived. While small, TIGER has proven to be a significant source of funding for local transit and active transportation projects, enabling […]

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Bi-partisan Senate Bill Would Give Locals More Say Over Transpo Spending

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 22, 2014 | No Comments

When it comes to transportation funding, cities and towns occupy the bottom of the totem pole. The vast majority of federal transportation money goes to states, to the exclusion of local governments. That means state DOTs get tens of billions to spend on highways each year, while mayors and local agencies have to scrounge for […]

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Congress Hits the Snooze Button on Transpo Funding Until May

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 1, 2014 | No Comments

Someone had to cave and last night, it was the Senate. The upper chamber had fought as long as it could to adjust the House transportation bill so it wouldn’t expire when the GOP controls both chambers of Congress. But senators were never willing to actually let the Highway Trust Fund go broke. U.S. DOT […]

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Time’s Up: 6 Things to Know About Today’s Transportation Showdown

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 31, 2014 | No Comments

Today is the House of Representatives’ last day in session before departing for an August recess full of photo ops and electioneering in their districts. The Senate will stick around DC for one more day before going home. Before that happens, the two houses have to come together on a plan to keep the Highway […]

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With No Transport Funding Fix, U.S. DOT to Cut State Payments Next Month

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 2, 2014 | No Comments

State transportation departments could see the federal funding they receive pared back as early as a few weeks from now if Congress doesn’t come up with a transportation funding solution. A “cash management plan” to deal with the impending shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund — which actually pays for transit, biking, and walking projects […]

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How the Federal TIGER Program Revived a Cleveland Neighborhood

By Angie Schmitt | May 15, 2014 | No Comments

Cleveland doesn’t look like a dying Rust Belt city these days in the Little Italy and University Circle neighborhoods. In fact, it looks like it’s thriving. At the corner of Euclid and Mayfield, a new mixed-use development — MRN’s “Uptown” — is filling out, hosting a bookstore, a bakery, bars, and new apartments. Just across […]

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New Federal Bill Would Help Orient Communities Toward Transit

By Angie Schmitt | May 5, 2014 | No Comments

The federal government has a long history of supporting transit, but it’s never played much of a role in promoting the kind of development that helps make those investments successful. That’s why David Goldberg at Transportation for America is so excited about a new bill that would help encourage transit-oriented development: Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Kirsten […]

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How the GROW AMERICA Act Could Modernize Federal Transportation Policy

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 30, 2014 | No Comments

Yesterday, U.S. DOT did something it hadn’t done for a decade: submit a surface transportation authorization bill to Congress. And what a bill it is. The $302 billion, four-year GROW AMERICA Act has several major reforms that would shift federal policy in a more multi-modal direction. One big change that we’ve noted before is that […]

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Obama Administration Sends Transportation Bill to Congress

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 29, 2014 | No Comments

The Obama administration today sent Congress its proposal for a multi-year transportation bill, which it’s calling the GROW AMERICA Act. The bill, based on the budget proposal President Obama released two months ago, relies on corporate tax reform to raise $87 billion to fill the hole in the Highway Trust Fund. The four-year bill would cost $302 billion. […]

CTA Applies for Federal Grant to Fund Red-Purple Modernization

By Steven Vance | Nov 21, 2013 | 10 Comments

In a great example of President Obama’s “fix it first” strategy (improving existing infrastructure before building new), the Federal Transit Administration is changing one of its rules to allow the Chicago Transit Authority to apply for a large grant to help fund the $2-4 billion Red-Purple Modernization project. RPM would significantly upgrade some of CTA’s oldest […]

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