Highways, Bridges and Roads

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A transportation group in New Jersey is accusing the state of shifting too many dollars from trains to highway construction.

Officials in London are downplaying concerns about the readiness of the city's public transportation systems for the 2012 Olympics.

The development of a proposed rail line at Delhi, India's, International Airport has not gone according to plan.

Rolls-Royce is testing a new jet engine at the Tucson International Airport in Arizona.

An influential House Democrat is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to investigate recent threats against a key tunnel and bridge that connect Detroit and nearby Windsor, Ontario, in Canada.

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said Tuesday that a bomb threat against the Detroit-Windsor tunnel on July 12 and a threat against the Ambassador Bridge Monday evening were concerning because the roadways are both heavily used. 

"The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge are critical to Detroit commerce, and threats against these crossings are a matter of national concern for both the United States and Canada," Conyers wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. 

President Obama said Monday that lawmakers' recent approval of a $105 billion transportation spending bill was a sign of possible cooperation in the future between him and Republicans in Congress.

The transportation bill, which was the first new road and transit spending deal approved since 2005, was signed by Obama earlier this month after months of contentious debate between Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

Asked at a town-hall meeting in Cincinnati Monday by a 15-year-old girl if he would create a job for her unemployed father who works in construction, Obama said the transportation bill would keep people in the industry on the job.

"So far I have not gotten a positive response from members of Congress on the other side of the aisle," Obama said after ticking off a list of pieces of his jobs agenda he said was being blocked by Congress before turning to the transportation bill. 

"This was a sign of some modest cooperation, so it makes me feel a little bit encouraged — they did just pass a transportation bill that at least wouldn't lay off more construction workers," Obama said.

Republican Rep. Sandy Adams (R-Fla.) is criticizing House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) for commenting on a proposed transportation tax in neighboring Georgia.

Georgians will vote July 31 on a proposed one-cent sales tax increase in regions across their state to pay for transportation projects.

Adams's campaign is calling attention to remarks Mica made during an appearance in Georgia in which the Transportation Committee chairman said state investment in road and transit projects is a factor in federal decisions about appropriations.

“This is yet another example of why John Mica has become part of the problem in Washington,” Adams campaign spokeswoman Lisa Boothe said in an email to supporters.

“We are facing a $16 trillion national debt and a $1.5 trillion deficit, yet Mica continues to advocate for more spending and more taxes," Boothe said. "It’s time Central Florida voters said ‘enough’ to the business-as-usual tax-and-spend ways of Washington insiders.”

Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said Saturday that while personally supports a transportation tax that is coming up for a vote soon in his home state, he will not endorse the proposal.

Chambliss said voters should "make up their own minds" about a proposed one-cent sales tax increase in regions across Georgia to pay for transportation projects. The fate of the proposal will decided in a July 31 referendum. 

“I have consistently stated that I support the T-SPLOST approach, which lets the people of Georgia decide if the proposal is in the best interest of their community and region based on the estimated cost and project list," Chambliss said of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax proposal in a statement released by his office.

“I personally plan to vote in favor of the T-SPLOST in my hometown of Moultrie because I believe it will create jobs for southwest Georgia and make a very rural part of the state more attractive for economic development," Chambliss continued. “I think Georgians should make up their own minds and vote their conscience on the T-SPLOST referendum on July 31, based on the facts for their region. That is why I have not and will not endorse T-SPLOST.”

Bicycle advocates in Washington are agreeing with House Speaker John Boehner's analysis that a recently approved $105 billion transportation cuts funding for bike and pedestrian programs.

Boehner (R-Ohio) has said repeatedly that the transportation bill spends money on road and transit projects instead of "bike paths and beautification efforts."

But the Democratic senator who led negotiations, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), has argued that despite allowing states to opt out of bike and pedestrian programs, the highway bill increases the overall amount of money that is available for "transportation alternatives" such as biking and walking. 

The bicyclist coalition America Bikes said Friday that Boehner's analysis of the highway bill's provisions was right.

"By any honest assessment of the new policy, Speaker Boehner and the original New York Times report are, unfortunately, correct," the group wrote in a blog post Friday. "The new transportation law includes deep and disproportionate cuts in funding for biking and walking projects."

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A former chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority says plans for the controversial railway have been "mangled."

Opponents of a proposed transportation tax in Georgia are taking their protests to an Atlanta highway.

Burbank, Calif.'s Bob Hope Airport has been reopened for movie filming after shootings were prohibited after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Chicago's Midway Airport has been named the scariest in the United States.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. John Mica's (R-Fla.) opponent in a member-versus-member Republican primary is calling for him to endorse a permanent ban on earmarking in the legislative process.

Mica has frequented lamented the effect a current House ban on earmarks had on his ability to win support for the recent $105 billion surface transportation that was approved by lawmakers.

But his opponent in his bid for reelection, freshman Rep. Sandy Adams (R-Fla.), said Wednesday that the earmark ban should be permanent.

"John Mica and other big-spending career politicians are part of the problem in Washington, D.C.," Adams said in an email to supporters. “After requesting $4 billion in earmarks and increasing our nation’s debt by more than $10 trillion over the past 20 years, central Floridians cannot afford John Mica any longer.

"With a nearly $16 trillion debt, it is clear the old way of doing things in Congress just doesn't work for the American people," Adams continued. "I will continue to fight for an earmark ban in the 113th Congress, but the question begs to be asked: Would John Mica?”

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) does not mention the recently approved $105-billion transportation bill in a new campaign ad touting his achievements.

Mica is locked in a contentious primary with fellow House member Sandy Adams (R-Fla.) after redistricting left the two battling for the same seat. Adams has often attacked Mica for his role in the passage of the transportation bill, including a recent criticism of his attendance at a White House ceremony for President Obama's signing of the bill.

In a new 30-second ad released by his campaign this week, Mica mentions healthcare, Medicare and taxes, but not the transportation bill.

"John Mica will fight to repeal ObamaCare," the ad says. "He'll restore Medicare, give seniors quality care again. John will protect military families and end Obama's war against Tricare. He'll fight the new taxes created by ObamaCare and the billions more Obama has planned for the middle class."

“While not perfect, this bipartisan agreement has important reforms," Boehner said of the bill signed Friday.