Outdated forecast data containing rosy economic assumptions and signaling potential cost overruns plagues the planned $6.9 billion XpressWest high-speed rail project connecting Victorville, CA, to Las Vegas, NV, according to a new Reason Foundation report. If it fails, the seriously flawed plan could put taxpayers on the hook for billions. …
China’s attempt at a high-speed rail network is fraught with corrupt officials, impossible costs, and deadly safety failures. But U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wishes America would follow it as a model. LaHood told The Cable last week: The Chinese are more successful [in building infrastructure] because in their country, …
A company that has lobbied for greater federal transportation funding may have overcharged the federal government by millions for a construction contract, according to a recent report by federal watchdogs. Watsonville, California-based Granite Construction has been prodding Congress to maintain or increase federal funding for transportation construction projects. The company’s …
A District of Columbia city council member is calling on the city’s taxicab commission to allow competition to its “mediocre and unreliable” taxi services in the wake of a sting operation aimed at shutting down an innovative car service that officials say violates a number of city laws. If current …
Last week, the independent California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group recommended that the state legislature not proceed with funding the proposed Los Angeles–San Francisco project. Its argument was grounded in concerns about “the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s plan to start construction without any assurance of future funding from the federal …
Yesterday, I wrote about the House-passed bill H.R. 2887, which would reauthorize expiring aviation and surface transportation programs for a few months. Senator Tom Coburn (R–OK) is expected to offer an amendment to remove a mandate that forces states to waste 10 percent of all Federal Highway Administration money on …
The House passed today H.R. 2887, a bill to reauthorize expiring aviation and surface transportation programs for a few months. Senator Tom Coburn (R–OK) is expected to hold up the bill in the Senate because of something called Transportation Enhancements (TE) included in the legislation. TE is a program run …
Some national business leaders are outright opposing measures of fiscal responsibility. Fortunately, fiscal conservatives in Congress are fighting back. Case in point: reaction to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) Chairman John Mica’s (R–FL) proposed six-year reauthorization bill, which limits transportation spending to the federal fuel tax revenues flowing into …
