"LOS ANGELES — This auto-obsessed city — a place where people love their cars almost as much as they hate the traffic — has embarked on the biggest expansion of its mass transit system in decades, an effort to change the way people navigate its sprawling and clogged streets and freeways."
The Department of Transportation awarded $2.4 billion for 54 projects in 23 states. The winners were selected from 132 applicants in 32 states, who had asked for a total of $8.8 billion for planning, construction, equipment purchases, and other closely related efforts.
"The Obama administration plans to reallocate money designated for high-speed rail if the states granted the funds reject them."
The standards, now in a 60-day comment period, cover three types of heavy trucks but would not apply to vehicles built before the 2014 model year.
Some involved new fees, taxes, or bonds, while others didn't dip into voters' wallets. Get a thumbnail sketch of each measure, and its fate at the hands of voters
As newly minted GOP governors vow to reject billions stimulus money going to their states for high-speed rail, the incoming chair of the House Transportation Committee envisions redirecting the money to the Eastern rail corridor that brings tourists to his state.
"Republicans running for governor in a handful of states could block, or significantly delay, one of President Obama’s signature initiatives: his plan to expand the passenger rail system and to develop the nation’s first bullet-train service."
Salt and other substances used to make roads and other paved surfaces safer contaminate water ways with deadly toxicity levels that can even last till summer in some areas, according to a USGS study.
Cyclists thrive where autos rule: Los Angeles, where smog and freeway have hitherto defined a lifestyle.
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