Public Transit

Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., will get $474 million from the federal government for a proposed light-rail system connecting the two cities, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday.

The announcement comes despite Congress's decision to eliminate funding for other types of trains in the recently passed budget deal.

The deal to avert a government shutdown eliminated $1.5 billion in funding for high-speed rail this year and $400 million that was in last year's budget. But the money for the Twin Cities light rail will come from the Federal Transit Administration.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

American Airlines wants more flights to Brazil.

Illinois is opening the door on looking into bicycle accidents involving the doors of parked cars.

Studded tires in Washington state have to be removed now.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) is the latest pol who doesn't think the proposed underground Washington MetroRail station at Dulles Airport should be allowed to take off.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Flights at St. Louis's Lambert Airport are getting back to normal after being hit by a tornado during the weekend.

Atlanta's MARTA rail system is defending its safety record after a beating of Delta employees by individuals police believe to be gang-related.

Opponents of high-speed rail in California are cheering the recent budget deal that puts the brakes on funding for the rest of the fiscal year.

Maine is considering bringing back billboards on highways in the state.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Fox News says Ray LaHood got it wrong on the reason for one of the recent firings of an air traffic controller.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is putting its headquarters up for sale.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell says there will be more than 900 transportation projects under his spending plan.

D.C. drivers can't use their cellphones while they drive, but soon they'll able to use them to pay to park.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Kansas is increasing some of its speed limits to 75 miles an hour.

A bill to force the North Carolina state legislature to accept federal high-speed rail money reached the end of the line in a committee.

A ride on Atlanta's MARTA rail system turned violent for two Delta Airlines employees.

JetBlue says it now flies 100 flights per day out of Boston's Logan Airport.

This story was corrected from an earlier version at 4:55 p.m.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wouldn't want his granddaughter patted down by TSA.

Missouri's worried about having matching funds for transportation dollars.

New Jersey's considering letting trucks roam free on the Garden State Parkway.

Washington's proposed underground Dulles Airport Metro station is under review.

A bus that crashed in the Bronx and killed 15 people was not hit by a truck as the driver claimed, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.

The bus was carrying senior citizens back to New York City after a trip to a casino in Connecticut.

The NTSB released its preliminary findings into the March 17 crash that, along with other accidents in New Jersey and New Hampshire, prompted Congress to take up bus safety legislation. 

"The motorcoach driver stated that a truck-tractor semitrailer encroached into his lane, striking his vehicle," the NTSB report said. "A truck driver subsequently identified himself as a witness to the accident. NTSB investigators interviewed the truck driver and conducted a focused examination of the combination vehicle, including taking dimensional measurements of the truck-tractor and semitrailer. No evidence was found that would correspond to a potential area of contact between the bus and the combination vehicle."

Read more...

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) administrator John Pistole said a pat-down of a 6-year-old was within the scope of the agency's procedures, even as he and Congress now look to change them.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will deliver the commencement address at Boston College this year.

Connecticut is trying to get whatever high-speed rail money is left after the budget cuts.

Vermont bus drivers are on the verge of a strike.

Your morning transportation speed-rail:

IBM wants to think through drivers' commutes for them.

The parents of a 6-year-old girl are upset she was patted down by TSA.

Louisiana is the latest state to raise some of its speed limits.

Drivers in Detroit called in sick to protest proposed transportation budget cuts in Michigan.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that random inspections of interstate passenger buses have resulted in almost 300 unsafe drivers or buses being pulled off the road.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) inspected 2,782 buses, LaHood said, and removed 262 of them. LaHood added that 156 drivers were given out-of-service citations.

Local law enforcement officials were working with FMCSA on the inspections.