It’s Budget Time Again in Washington

Transportation highlights from the FY2015 budget released today by the Obama Administration seek to put reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program on the political radar before we run out of money this summer. Will Congress kick the can until after the mid-term elections? The President's Budget Proposal provide fodder and ideas about ways to pay for it through tax reform that may motivate advocates and the Hill to act in the coming months, or at least elevate the national debate.

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Navigating the Regional Transportation Funding Maze

I’ve spent a fair amount of my “summer vacation” examining how metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) use their planning and programming tools to support livable communities. This is a question that a growing number of regions are interested in learning to help them make better investments with scarce public resources. While still far too opaque, best practices are emerging. MZ Strategies, LLC is involved with several efforts to help spread the word.

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Time for Congress to Clean Up its Self-made Transportation Funding Mess

It’s March in Washington, DC. The time of year when cherry trees start to blossom and the city is invaded by people of every political persuasion here to lobby Congress and the administration about any and everything having to do with the budget. Knowing what to say to Congress this year feels  a little harder. We find ourselves in a politically-made quagmire happening at the same time that states and cities have identified an incredible set of projects to create jobs, support economic growth, address environmental challenges, and make our communities great places to live.

We cannot depend too much on federal funds to solve our problems. But we also cannot continue to let Congress kick the can, or worse, kick us when we’re down. Individual voices make a difference. If you care about these issues, make your voice heard!

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Ready for a New Era of Transportation Finance?

In just the first two months of 2013, we’ve seen a surprising array of ideas being advanced by Governors seeking to overcome the most pressing transportation challenge of our time: how to pay for the system we have and the system we need? Federal rigor mortis is pushing the transportation fiscal canyon to states and localities. It also lends credibility to questioning the continued existence of a federal program or user pay model if it is insufficient to the task, and is more burden than benefit in terms of adding regulatory requirements that come without the funding to pay for them. The implications for states and localities are significant.

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Beyond the Ballot Box – Sustainable Transportation Funding in a Time of Federal Retrenchment

In addition to my consulting work with MZ Strategies, LLC this year I am a Visiting Fellow with The Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech (Alexandria Campus). Please visit my post today on The Sustainability Planning Lab to read my thoughts on the implications of the rising tide of local transit ballot measures. Does this represent a permanent paradigm​ shift in funding regional sustainable transportation projects with federal direct support yielding to loans and local funding strategies? If so, what are the implications for regional equity and transportation innovation?

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