Highways, Bridges and Roads

Your morning transportation speed-read:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he will sign a bill to require streets to be designed with non-car uses in mind too.

Immigration officials are increasing their inspections of Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses.

Tea Party leaders in Georgia are opposed to moving a vote on a proposed transportation tax.

New York's John F. Kennedy Airport experienced a record amount of rainfall.

Voters in Michigan and other states should pressure Congress to pass a federal highway bill, President Obama said Thursday.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and current Mesa, Ariz., Mayor Scott Smith (R) argued Thursday that transportation spending was the best way to stimulate the stagnant U.S. economy.

In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Rendell and Smith said the anti-spending urge in Washington should stop when it comes to transportation.

"During this time of economic uncertainty and record federal deficits, many question why America should invest aggressively in infrastructure," they wrote. "The answer is simple: Whether it involves highways, railways, ports, aviation or any other sector, infrastructure is an economic driver that is essential for the long-term creation of quality American jobs."

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Airport tarmac delays are up again.

Massachusetts's lieutenant governor has criticized Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) on transportation funding.

A lawsuit over the proposed California high-speed rail will be heard by a judge Friday.

A former Playboy model was arrested by the Transportation Security Administration for allegedly trying to board a plane at the Orlando International Airport with a gun.

Getting rid of the middleman on transportation projects would make sense, said Colorado freshman Rep. Cory Gardner. 

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann's support for a bridge in her state was a topic of debate in The New York Times Wednesday.

Bachmann (R-Minn.) has been vocal in her opposition to federal spending. But she supports a bridge over the St. Croix River between Minnesota and Wisconsin that would require $700 million in federal money.

The Times asked a group of stakeholders in the project, which is also supported by Democratic Minnesota Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), whether Bachmann's support was hypocritical considering her statements about construction projects in the past, especially in relation to the federal economic stimulus package of 2009.

Former Vice President and 1984 Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale said the project would be bad for the environment.

"In 1968, I joined my colleague and friend, Senator Gaylord Nelson, to sponsor the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act," Mondale, who is also a former senator from Minnesota, wrote in the newspaper. "This important legislation, that now protects more than 250 rivers in 40 states, is at risk of being negated by a small group of people in Minnesota and Wisconsin and their desire for a mammoth freeway bridge over the St. Croix River. In the nearly 43-year history of the program, there has never been a bridge or infrastructure project built over a Wild and Scenic River, and we should not start with this one."

Transportation advocates and congressional staffers are concerned that the federal gas tax could become the next confrontational issue.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Massachusetts has a new Transportation secretary.

Transportation Security Administration workers at Los Angeles International Airport are undergoing transgender training.

The Department of Transportation announced the release of another $336 million in high-speed-rail money.

A former National Basketball Association player was arrested at St. Louis's Lambert International Airport for having a loaded gun.

The focus during the congressional recess so far has been on a spending bill lawmakers did not pass before they left, but a key labor union said Thursday it was going to spend the next month trying to convince them to pass one when they come back.

The Laborers’ International Union of North America said Thursday it was going to use the summer break to tell Congress "it’s time to pass a new Highway Bill that puts people to work and to discard a House GOP plan that would destroy 630,000 good jobs.

“In the debt ceiling debate and in the Federal Aviation Administration shutdown, some Republicans have shown they’re willing to put politics ahead of our economy and the livelihoods of working men and women,” LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan said in a statement. “We will not let the Highway Bill be the next victim of that strategy. We need to show that America faces its challenges and doesn’t run away from them.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A Transportation Security Administration officer was indicted for stealing from passengers' bags after an eBay auction.

Chicago's first bike-only lane is ready to go.

A United Airlines employee was accidentally shot by a passenger at New Orleans's Louis Armstrong International Airport.

Amtrak is resuming service between Kansas City and St. Louis.