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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · 17h

We’re excited to introduce Roadmaps and Roadblocks, a series of interviews explores how the federal surface transportation program that supports highways, transit, passenger rail and active transportation got to be the way it is and how we can improve it.

www.fundersnetwork.org/mobility-acc...

Roadmaps and Roadblocks: Federal Transportation Interview Series – The Funders Network

www.fundersnetwork.org

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · 13d

Who Doesn’t Have a Car?
A new @nrdc.org map shows car-free living and the factors affecting car usage in United States.
www.nrdc.org/resources/wh...

Who Doesn’t Have a Car?

A new NRDC map shows car-free living and the factors affecting car usage in United States.

www.nrdc.org

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · 14d

Yonah Freemark credits WMATA’s funding deal to strong management under CEO Randy Clarke. “DC Metro has done a really good job in terms of bringing people back. The service is substantially better than it was pre-pandemic...”
www.planetizen.com/features/136...

The Wave of Transit ‘Fiscal Cliffs,’ Explained

Covid and inflation played a role. But for many agencies, the crisis goes much deeper.

www.planetizen.com

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · 21d

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · 21d

Is your state making progress on roadway safety, repairing roads and bridges, and investing in transit/walking/biking? Find out!

Join Steve Davis and Corrigan Salerno for a conversation on @t4america.bsky.social's State of the State data hub on Sep. 24, 12-1pm ET.
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Understanding the State of the System: Walking through our data hub for better transportation advocacy. After registering, you will receive a confirmation e...

With Transportation for America’s interactive State of the System (SOS) data hub, you’ll learn how to use the foundational transportation data we’ve assembled and synthesized that answers these critic...

us02web.zoom.us

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · 22d

"For decades...the US worked actively to make the car the only viable way to travel...they built roads for just one kind of vehicle...[and] in zoning practices that prohibit development where transit is good and cars aren’t necessary."
tinyurl.com/yckbz398

Should We Let Public Transit Die?

Urban-rural hostility is fueling a public transportation crisis in US cities. But demands to abandon bus and train riders ignore the economic and social costs of cutting service.

tinyurl.com

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · 29d

It was meant not as a thread against competitive grant programs but as a thread against solving problems in large formula programs through tiny discretionary programs. It has failed for decades (and could hardly do anything else) and, yet, is the only strategy I see considered seriously for change.

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · 29d

The 2025 Small Business Anti-Displacement Network Conference: Fostering Resilience is convening November 12-14 at The Hotel at University of Maryland. Come strategize about how to foster resilient small businesses and remain resilient in anti-displacement work.
antidisplacement.org/2025-sban-co...

2025 SBAN Conference - Small Business Anti-Displacement Network (SBAN)

antidisplacement.org

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 12

So stop it. If you don't like it then don't champion it. This is my 6th reauthorization and it was impossible not to see most of this coming if you can look at and learn from past mistakes. So let's try it.
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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 12

Local leaders, transit/bike/ped advocates, environmentalists, community groups often complain about their treatment by state DOTs and their lack of access to funding from the federal transportation program. But then they lobby for and/or support more of the same.
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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 12

Now Ds and Rs are happily working on reauthorization negotiating how much of the competitive grants will go to put more money out to the states with less accountability. State DOTs and Rs can't throw a bone to those that want accountability and modernization. Everyone else...
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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 12

The Biden Administration moved these grant programs too slowly. I got comments from over 20 DOT staffers about a no cost extension on a grant—many contradicted each other. That left these funds available for the taking.
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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 12

This approach has led to more congestion, more fatal crashes, more emissions that make kids sick, and no improvement in state of repair. And the program is broke but gets the budgetary protections of a program in surplus
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t4america.org/reauthorizat...

Reauthorization policy platform - Transportation For America

t4america.org

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 12

The IIJA packed the modern transportation needs into comparatively small competitive grant programs under the control of the WH, while sending multiple times that to the states to spend as they always have, with no oversight or accountability.
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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 12

Many are upset that @usdot is pulling back grant funds. They are focusing multimodal grant programs on projects for one mode—so the opposite of multimodal. All modes are equal, but some modes are more equal than others.

@t4america.bsky.social saw much of this coming. Let's learn from it.
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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 11

The difference between U.S. policy and safer countries: "Rather than design to allow the highest possible speeds safely, self-enforcing or self-explaining roadways use geometry and design features to constrain speeds to what is believed to be safe for the context."
ict.illinois.edu/news/newslet...

Self-enforcing roadways bringing safety up to speed

ict.illinois.edu

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 11

Who opposes physical activity? Those that lobby for:
-eliminating parking levies
-petrol subsidies and tax cuts
-rezoning at the urban fringe low-density housing
-driverless cars to improve safety rather than for less need to drive in the first place
journals.humankinetics.com/view/journal...

journals.humankinetics.com

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 11

Due to high demand, @Amtrak has added a train car on the new Mardi Gras rail service to NOLA for upcoming Saints home football games.

Sunday, Sept. 14
Sunday, Oct. 5
Sunday, Oct. 12
Sunday, Oct. 26
Sunday, Nov. 23
Sunday, Dec. 14
Sunday, Dec. 21

Tickets will go fast!

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 10

The Trump administration’s inaction at USDOT may lead to FY2022 grants expiring at the end of September, putting millions in community projects at risk.
t4america.org/2025/09/10/u...

USDOT might let your projects’ grant funding die - Transportation For America

The Trump administration’s inaction at USDOT may lead to FY2022 grants expiring at the end of Fiscal Year 2025, potentially putting millions in community projects at risk. Unless funding is obligated ...

t4america.org

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 3

If we only chase ‘more,’ without asking where, what, and for who, we risk repeating the same mistakes without addressing the root cause of the current crisis.
www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hu...

Smart growth: The abundance we need - Smart Growth America

www.smartgrowthamerica.org

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Sep 1

Normally I see these threads and roll my eyes, but @pwcdanica.bsky.social gets closer to the real issue than most. Two additions: 1) we need safety to be at the center of all programs, not a separate fix, and 2) our fear of slow moving cars is the top safety issue.

Sen. Danica Roem @pwcdanica.bsky.social · Aug 31

Through eight months, 501 people have now died on Virginia’s roadways in 2025.

Each of the last four years, I’ve offered bills to provide a new, dedicated funding stream for the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program so we can prevent deaths and injuries.

The Governor vetoed it this year.🧵

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Reposted

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Sep 1

Never forget, a 13-year study found that protected bike-lanes led to a drastic decline in fatalities for all road users.

ALL ROAD USERS.

And painted bike-lanes? No safety improvement at all.

For sharrows, it’s actually safer to NOT have them.

Via @usa.streetsblog.org @nyc.streetsblog.org

Separated Bike Lanes Means Safer Streets, Study Says — Streetsblog USA

Cities that build protected lanes for cyclists end up with safer roads for people on bikes and people in cars and on foot, a new study of 12 large metropolises revealed Wednesday.

usa.streetsblog.org

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Aug 27

That beautiful lady in the picture...that's my mom!
www.audacy.com/wwl/news/loc...

Life long residents say there's no place like home, pledging no storm could keep them from returning

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, the world watched in shock. Entire neighborhoods were submerged, homes were destroyed, and families were scattered. For many, the question was no...

www.audacy.com

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Aug 26

Thanks in part to @t4america.bsky.social's work since 2013, a coalition of local and state leaders successfully restored passenger rail service on the Gulf Coast. Learn more about what it took to get this done here...
t4america.org/resource/t4a...

T4A's impact: Restoring Gulf Coast passenger rail - Transportation For America

t4america.org

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bethosborne.bsky.social @bethosborne.bsky.social · Aug 22

When Congress comes asking for more of your hard earned money to support the transportation program, remember that they oppose accountability for how that funding is used or the results we get. @alsobrooks.senate.gov
t4america.org/2025/08/21/a...

Another bipartisan effort to make transportation policy worse - Transportation For America

t4america.org

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