Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

ART OF TRANSIT: Happy Second Thursday in February, People. Photo is from Boston earlier this month by Craig Cloutier , via Flickr creative commons.

TIFIA loans likely skewed toward new road projects (The Transport Politic)

Good post by Yonah Freemark that notes that most of the applications for the expanded federal loan program known as TIFIA — i.e. America Fast Forward — have been for road projects. The problem, Freemark writes, is that federal legislation is working at cross purposes. On the one hand, America Fast Forward says the loans should pay for innovative transportation projects. On the other hand, the overall transportation spending bill that included AFF basically doles out TIFIA loans based on factors that most road projects can easily meet.

Dump the Surfliner Express? Report says ridership is dismal (L.A. Streetsblog)

The morning Amtrak express train between San Diego and L.A. Union Station is faring poorly and officials blame losing riders from stations that are now bypassed (San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana and Fullerton are among them). The express train requires two hours and 28 minutes to get from San Diego to Union Station, with the train leaving San Diego at 7:07 a.m. That’s competitive with driving during rush hour but let’s face it: 148 minutes — if the train is on time — to go 120 miles is kind of sad in the year 2013.

Before it’s time: Burbank’s experimental monorail (Los Angeles Magazine) 

I missed this one in yesterday’s library round-up and I’ll toss it out there to get some clicks from the monorail obsessives around town. It’s the story of a short and experimental monorail that existed from 1910 to 1912 in a Burbank orchard in hopes of persuading the powers-that-be that monorails could be the future of mass transit in So Cal. As you might have guessed, the powers-that-be were not persuaded. Cool historical photo with the post.

The world’s most expensive Starbucks drink (Chevassus Studios) 

Commuters like coffee, thus this qualifies for today’s transpo headlines! Who wouldn’t pay $50 for a drink with 48 shots of espesso? The only thing wrong with the video is the lack of a sequel to see what this guy was like after drinking this monstrosity.