June 2015 – InfoHive – Transportation

US Chamber: Key to Economy is Transportation Funding by Raising 1 Tax

Interstate Commerce requires transportation. As a logical continuation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s transportation chief, speaking in Dallas said:

The key is revenue- how to fund transportation.
Privately, she said that the US Chamber supports raising the federal gas tax.

Dallas Morning News

3 Ways Car Manufactures Adapting to Modern Transportation Trends

Kids these days are less interested in owning and driving cars. Why drive when you can be driven? What are auto manufcaturers doing to stay relevant?

Ford debuted the MoDe:Flex, an electric bike networked to mobile apps
- its the 3rd e-bike by Ford
Elsewhere Ford introduced on-demand car service called GoDrive
Ford has a giant pilot program of peer-to-peer rental, allowing owners to retain the rental, like airBnB for cars.

Forbes

High Speed Rail: The National Landscape

Nationally 2 high speed rail projects have moved beyond “gee, wouldn’t it be nice if we could zip between cities on a train at high speeds” conjecture.

California has a state funded high speed rail proposal that is in the process of construction
- Voters approved $10 Billion
- 520 miles of track
- has fought landowners and has been using eminent domain
Texas high speed rail project is considered to be more than just conjecture & is privately funded.
- Seeks to raise $10-$12 billion
- 240…

Will every commuter & freight rail in the country be fined on January 1st?

Congress and the Federal Rail Administration are requiring that every commuter and freight train in the country install positive train control by 12/31/2015.

Positive Train Control is anticipated increase train safety. It can cost hundreds of millions to install. Congress allocated no funds to help railways, and included a fine for not installing the safety measure of $25,000 per day.

Rail has known since 2008 of the deadline for positive train control requirements.

Governing

New head of Regional Transportation Commission: Presenting County Judge…

Parker County Judge Mark Riley is the new chair of the Regional Transportation Council. The Council includes the 12 counties around Dallas- Fort Worth.

The RTC is the policy making body and oversees transportation planning for the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country.

Weatherford Democrat

Regulatory Trend: 6 Ways to Prioritize Transportation Projects

Virginia Department of Transportation has implemented a new priority system for fudning transportation projects. VA will score a project on the following criteria:

accessibility
congestion management
economic development
environmental quality
safety and
land use.

Economic Development is a trend we’re seeing in Texas. It was included in the rational for the Tomball Tollway. Tollways have vocal opposition, but econo…

Lege Trend: Limiting Regulations for High Speed Rail

This week the State Public Works Board in California adopted condemantion resolutions for 16 more properties. Taking the total pending and potential eminent domain cases to 246 since December 2013. Fresno Bee

California’s experience is teaching us that high speed rail is a process. To move high speed rail along more quickly, the California legislature added a budget rider that will:

Legal Trend: Texas wins. No Confederate License Plate. But not for the reason you think.

The US Supreme Court sided with Texas denial of the confederate license plate design. One would naturally think the ruling hinged on free speech, but alas, one would be wrong.

The US Supreme Court decision found that Texas could deny the licnese plate because the license plate itself is the property of Texas and refelct government speech.

Houston Chronicle