Some good news: it appears that a temporary solution has emerged to prevent Metro from losing $3.6 billion in federal funds due to an ongoing dispute over pension reform between the state of California and the U.S. Department of Labor. The solution involves a state bill exempting transit agencies from [continue reading]
Some readers may have been following a difficult issue for Metro in recent weeks. The U.S. Department of Labor has indicated that it believes that pension reform legislation in California (known as PEPRA) violates the collective bargaining rights under federal law of unions representing transit workers. As a result, Metro [continue reading]
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 Transportation Headlines online newspaper, which you can also access via email subscription (visit the newspaper site) or RSS feed. The oldest and greatest [continue reading]
Metro EPW Testimony 072413 Metro CEO Art Leahy today testified in Washington D.C. in front of the U.S. Senate’s Environment & Public Works Committee; his testimony is above. The topic was an important one for the agency: the expanded TIFIA loan program approved by Congress in last year’s multi-year transportation [continue reading]
Metro project acceleration plan The Metro Board of Directors this month will consider a project acceleration plan that, on average, would lop an average of 10 years off the time it takes to build second and third decade Measure R transit and road projects. It’s a big deal for many [continue reading]
MayoralLetterAFFBonds4-30-13 The America Fast Forward initiative got a nice boost last week when the U.S. Conference of Mayors issued a letter (above) to Congress supporting Metro’s attempt to create a new class of bonds that could be used to accelerate transportation projects across the country, including Metro’s Measure R highway [continue reading]
Some outstanding news today: President Obama has endorsed the America Fast Forward bonds proposal as part of his plan to improve the nation's infrastructure. The White House fact sheet is below and here's the update from Metro's government relations staff: This morning, the White House released a fact sheet [continue reading]
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. TIFIA loans likely skewed toward new road projects (The Transport Politic) Good post by [continue reading]
Metro last year scored a win when Congress adopted part of the America Fast Forward initiative, expanding a federal loan program called TIFIA that offers low-interest, government backed loans. Metro is now pushing Congress to adopt the other half of AFF, a bond program designed to raise money to accelerate [continue reading]
First, a point of emphasis: the America Fast Forward program to expand federal funding to speed up the construction of transportation projects is very much a work-in-progress. Congress adopted part of America Fast Forward last year — an expanded federal loan program called TIFIA that backs loans with the big [continue reading]
