Efforts to thwart human trafficking are increasing among state departments of transportation, though there is still a ways to go in terms of spurring “deeper engagement” on their part. [Above photo by Savvas Alexandrou via Wikimedia Commons.] Data from an ongoing survey of anti-human trafficking efforts by state DOTs – entitled “State DOT Contributions to […]

The Federal Highway Administration issued $500,000 in “quick release” Emergency Relief funds on May 28 to help the Vermont Agency of Transportation repair roads damaged by flooding in mid-April. Rapid runoff as the result of heavy rain and snowmelt created floods that damaged roads in eight Vermont counties, with the cost of long-term repairs to […]

The U.S. Travel Association released a survey on May 22 that it said shows Americans avoided an estimated 47.5 million auto trips in 2018 due to highway congestion; equivalent to the loss of $30 billion in travel spending and 248,000 jobs, according to the organization’s economists. [Above photo by the Virginia Department of Transportation.] The survey […]

Characterizing it as an “ambitious” spending plan, Amtrak officials noted on May 28 it plans to invest $72.5 million this year to “improve the customer experience” at rail stations across its network. Those “Customer Now” projects include everything from new door systems, lavatories, and platforms at some stations to the renovation of the Great Hall […]

The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee issued a draft of its fiscal year 2020 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies or THUD funding bill on May 22, which provides a total of $86.6 billion in funds to the U.S. Department of Transportation – $167 million above enacted FY 2019 funding and $3.7 billion […]

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., introduced the Rebuild America Act of 2019 on May 22, which would incrementally increase the federal tax on gasoline and diesel fuel by five cents a year over five years, index those taxes to inflation, and “establish Congressional intention” to replace those taxes with “a more equitable, stable source of funding” […]

The Federal Transit Administration announced grants selections totaling approximately $9.6 million for 37 medical transit projects on May 22, while also highlighting workforce training programs initiated by SunLine Transit Agency that’s preparing its employees to manage future technologies, such as all-electric buses. [Above photo by TriMet.] The FTA noted that its Access and Mobility Partnership grants are focused on […]

A new report issued by IBM Security on May 21 indicates that the travel industry and its customers are “increasingly the targets of cyberattacks” as criminals seek to monetize highly valuable travel data, while the transportation industry as a whole is now a “priority target” for cybercriminals as it now ranks as the second-most attacked […]

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao gave a keynote address at the 150th Anniversary of the Golden Spike ceremony in Ogden, Utah, on May 11; an event that celebrated the completion of America’s First Transcontinental Railroad. “The transcontinental railroad was a tremendous feat of engineering, innovation and manpower that was key to the economic development […]

In a 25-page letter issued on May 16, the Federal Railroad Administration officially “deobligated” more than $928 million in funding given to the California High-Speed Rail Authority for “failure to make reasonable progress” on the state’s proposed north-south high-speed train program; a project curtailed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Feb. 12. [Above photo […]