Transit under attack in US Senate

Houston light rail included

Jay Blazek Crossley, Sep 15, 09.

Senators John McCain of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma have introduced a series of amendments to the bill that covers the US Department of Transportation’s budget to deny funding for transit projects across the country, including funds that are intended for Houston’s light rail expansion, although Streetsblog reports that the amendment is not expected to pass. Transportation for America is reporting that the amendments will come to a vote today and asking that supporters ask their Senators to support federal funding for transit. Streesblog has compiled a list of potentially affected projects:

* the ARC transit tunnel connecting New York City and New Jersey
* Utah’s Mid-Jordan light rail, Draper light rail, and Weber-to-Salt Lake City commuter rail projects
* the Sound Transit light rail extension in the Seattle area
* the West, East, and Gold rail transit corridors in the Denver area
* Northwest/Southwest light rail and the Houston light rail extension in Texas
* the Dulles Corridor extension of D.C.‘s Metro into Virginia
* the Sacramento light rail extension
* Honolulu’s proposed rail transit line
* the Miami area’s Metrorail Orange Line extension
* Wilshire Boulevard bus-only lanes and the Metro Gold Line extension in L.A.
* the Blue Line extension in Charlotte, N.C.
* the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line rehabilitation project
* bus rapid transit from Bellevue to Redmond in Washington state
* the Tennessee statewide bus program
* Commuter rail improvements on the Wilmington to Newark route in Delaware
* regional rail from Ann Arbor to Detroit
* Stamford urban transitway in Connecticut

For more on the bill: H.R. 3288

Image above is from the groundbreaking ceremony for the North and Southeast light rail lines in Houston, Texas. Shown in the image are US Representatives Sheila Jackson-Lee and Al Green, US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Chairman of the Board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, David Wolff.