Highways, Bridges and Roads

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Texas needs to step on the gas with its transportation funding, a new report finds.

San Francisco is mapping out its plan for moving people around during the America's Cup yachting tournament.

A Chicago casino is betting on a bridge to Indiana the state of Illinois said it wasn't planning to replace.

Ohio looking to the private sector for transportation funding.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was a long way away from home as he asked for more transportation money. 

A bridge connecting New Hampshire and Maine is getting $20 million from the feds.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said his predecessor, Ed Rendell, took his foot off the gas on transportation.

D.C. bridges need work, too.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is fighting with his City Council over transportation projects they should ask voters to approve next year.

North Carolina got its high-speed rail from the federal government, but the plan is far from a done deal.

A Texas trucker was found in Mississippi to be carrying a bigger load than initially met the eye.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asks Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to protect their mutual home state's transportation dollars.

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers on Tuesday announced a bill to create six pilot "intelligent transportation systems" they say will use technology to ease transit woes in cash-strapped American cities.
 
Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) said their "Smart Technologies for Communities Act" would make improvements to transportation that federal and state governments could not otherwise afford.
 
“We cannot continue to simply build our way into a transportation system necessary for the demands of the 21st Century,” Rogers said in a statement.

“Technologies and information exist today to cost effectively, safely and efficiently manage our nation’s roads and infrastructure.”

Jamie Hunter, a former transportation aide to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), has been hired by the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm Arent Fox.

Hunter, who worked in Kerry's office from 2002-2007, will be director of government relations for Arent Fox, the firm announced Tuesday.

"Jamie is a talented and knowledgeable public servant who brings a substantial amount of experience to complex issues in the aviation and telecommunications industries,” former Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), a senior policy adviser at Arent Fox, said in a statement.

“While serving on the Senate Commerce Committee, I was deeply involved in aviation, transportation, and communications issues, and Jamie’s hard work, skill, and dedication was well known to both members and staff," Dorgan continued. "Our clients will benefit from Jamie’s experience and abilities.”

Hunter had most recently worked at the General Aviation Manufacturers Association as director of government affairs. He also worked on Kerry's unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign.

More goods were shipped to Canada and Mexico using trucks, trains and other forms of surface transportation as commerce with the two countries increased 19.5 percent from January 2010 through the first month of this year.
 
The Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said Tuesday that goods worth a total of $67.8 billion were shipped across the U.S.'s southern and northern borders in January, up from $54.6 billion in the same month in 2010.
 
The rise continued a trend that saw trade increase 42.7 percent since 2009, when the continent was in the throes of the worldwide recession.
 
Trade with Mexico and Canada this January is 10.7 percent higher than January 2006, when the U.S. economy was still humming. And it is up 46.2 percent from January 2001, when the nation was on the verge of a small recession.
 
Not surprisingly, given its geographic proximity, Michigan had the highest value of trade with Canada, at $5 billion. Texas led surface trade with Mexico with $9.6 billion. 

The full shipping numbers can be read here.

Detroit's problems are well-documented, but its bridges being 13th worst in the nation can be added to the list.

Arizona officials approved a comprehensive rail plan, but they didn't say how they planned to pay for it.

Commuters in Maryland are going out of their way to avoid tolls.

Washington state officials want studded tires off the road for spring, but spring hasn't started there yet.

Washington, D.C., MetroRail turns 35 years old over the weekend, but it remains to be seen if Congress will give the aging rail system a birthday present and appropriate the $150 million it wants for improvements.

Massachusetts's transportation secretary has seen the lights of the "Big Dig" controversy and stepped down.

Transportation officials in Baltimore were betting on more than roads in the Charm City.

Utah's moving a 4 million-pound bridge on Interstate 15.
 

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The road is rocky these days for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's transportation secretary.

Transportation officials in San Francisco are ponying up for transit-oriented housing.

They came from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's visit to Hawaii convinced he supports a proposed railway there.

The budget writers in Washington state have let lawmakers know how much they'll have to spend on transportation.

A bill approved Thursday by the Ohio state Senate would ban signs on roads in the state that tout development projects as being paid for by the federal economic stimulus program.
 
The Associated Press reported that the measure, sponsored by Republican lawmakers, is expected to clear the state House as well. Republicans are in power in both chambers.
 
The bill's sponsor, Ohio state Sen. Tim Grendell, said the signs were a waste of taxpayer money
 
"That's money that could have been used for actual road improvements that would actually help the economy and do what the stimulus was supposed to do, which was create jobs," Grendell told the AP in February.
 
"Zero jobs were created with these signs," he said.
 
Grendell opposed the 2009 stimulus bill.