State and local transportation officials as well as firms that design and build roads and subway projects now have a bit more market stability, thanks to a newly enacted measure that extends federal highway and transit programs through Sept. 30, the last day of the 2011 fiscal year. The bill, which President Obama signed on March 4, freezes funding at fiscal 2010 levels for about seven months. The new measure’s highway obligation limit will be about $24 billion, or roughly 7/12ths of 2010’s full-year obligation ceiling of $41.1 billion. The legislation is the latest—and the second-longest—of seven extensions since Sept.
In a move that will provide some stability for transportation construction, the Senate has approved a bill to extend federal highway and transit programs through Sept. 30, the last day of the 2011 fiscal year. Senate passage of the bill, which came on a March 3 voice vote, marks final congressional action on the measure, which provides an authorization of about seven months. The House had approved the bill one day earlier. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation on March 4. The bill would be the seventh stopgap highway-transit authorization since Sept. 30, 2009, when the last multi-year
In a move that will provide some stability for transportation construction, President Obama has signed legislation to extend federal highway and transit programs through Sept. 30, the last day of the 2011 fiscal year. Obama signed the measure on March 4, the date on which a previous short stopgap was slated to expire. Final congressional approval of the bill came on March 3, when the Senate passed it on a voice vote. The House had approved the measure one day earlier. The bill is the seventh stopgap highway-transit authorization since Sept. 30, 2009, when the last multi-year statute, the 2005
With the start of the prime road-building season drawing near, the House has approved legislation that would extend federal highway and transit programs through Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year. The next step is action by the Senate, which is expected to pass the roughly seven-month-long measure soon. The bill would be the seventh stopgap highway-transit authorization since Sept. 30, 2009, when the last multi-year statute expired. The current extension is scheduled to lapse on March 4. Construction and state transportation officials would have strongly preferred to see Congress approve a new long-term bill, but the seven-month
The federal transportation trust fund remains moored as competing interests in Congress wrangle over spending priorities. Meanwhile, transportation agencies, anticipating a resurgence in cargo as the Panama Canal is expanded and as the economy improves, are moving forward with united interests, despite uncertainties over funding. Four years ago, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation granted $15 million to Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah to begin studying some 840 miles of Interstate 15 for optimal freight movement, part of its Corridors of the Future program, which is now in limbo as it awaits further funding. But Susan Martinovich, director of the Nevada
Two proposed Northwest port facilities to export coal to China are facing hurdles. Millennium Bulk Logistics, a subsidiary of Australia’s Ambre Energy North America, with a partial stake owned by St. Louis-based Arch Coal Inc., wants to upgrade the Longview Terminal Facility on the Columbia River, roughly 45 miles downstream of Portland, Ore. But environmental groups, including the Washington Dept. of Ecology, have filed suit against the project, claiming Cowlitz County didn’t follow state law in awarding a shoreline permit. Millennium bought 416 acres of a former aluminum smelter in January. It wants to replace 150 creosote river pilings and
A fter a series of political volleys on Feb. 25 between Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) and U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who proffered a week’s extension of the U.S. DOT’s deadline for accepting federal funding for a $2.7-billion high-speed-rail line, the governor showed no signs of changing his opinion and approving a deal. On Feb. 25, the original deadline for Florida, media reports said the governor was rejecting a second proposal that provided for a Tampa-Orlando line. That latest proposal created an interlocal entity to oversee the project and shield the state from liability. Scott initially rejected
Not all states are turning down federal funding for high-speed passenger rail. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has formally obligated $590 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to the Washington DOT, clearing the way for passenger rail infrastructure projects in that state. The state DOT announced on Feb. 26 that it had reached agreements with federal and railroad officials on releasing the funds as well as a spending plan and rail-service benchmarks. U.S. DOT awarded Washington $590 million in January 2010, when it announced the winners of ARRA’s $8 billion for high-speed passenger rail. But agreements with state
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has formally obligated $590 million in stimulus-act funds to the Washington DOT, clearing the way for projects to improve passenger rail infrastructure in that state. The Feb. 26 announcement follows an agreement between the Federal Railroad Administration and Washington DOT regarding the release of the federal aid and a separate pact among Washington DOT, BNSF Railway, which owns the track, and Amtrak, which operates the trains, on a spending plan and rail service benchmarks. The federal aid will go for projects that include bypass tracks and upgrades to track and signal systems on the Washington
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood decided on Feb. 25, after meeting with Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), to grant the governor another week to review a plan that would create an interlocal entity to oversee the proposed $2.7-billion Orlando-to-Tampa high-speed rail line and eliminate all state liability for the project. Related Links: U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's Statement “I feel we owe it to the people of Florida, who have been working to bring high-speed rail to their state for the last 20 years, to go the extra mile,” LaHood said in a statement. The federal government has committed $2.4
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