skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

DOT: Not All Money Needs to Go for Same Old Road Projects

play audio
Play

Wednesday, April 22, 2009   

Des Moines, IA – Transportation planning officials in Iowa are scrambling to get projects back to the Federal Transportation Committee for re-authorization of funding, but some say many of those projects reflect Iowans' addiction to driving, rather than offering ways to fight climate change through enhancing public transit.

Public transit advocates say the lion's share of stimulus money is going towards new or wider roads instead of to projects that cost-effectively reduce tailpipe emissions. However, the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) is looking for input from Iowans at six public meetings across the state on sustainable transportation and land use options.

Michelle McEnany, director of the Iowa DOT office of Public Transit, says these meetings are part of an effort set up by the legislature last session to identify gaps in current public transit and learn what Iowans would like to see in future transportation plans.

"Is it through public transit? Is it buses? Is it van pools? Maybe it's car sharing or car pooling; even passenger rail is in the mix."

McEnany says Iowans need a transportation system that uses tax dollars wisely when it comes to improving roads.

"Putting transit on the road sometimes requires that we do improve the streets, that we make the streets more transit-friendly, pedestrian-friendly, bike-friendly. "

She says while Iowa needs to maintain existing roads, it's also a good idea to scrutinize new road construction and the more than 36 million dollars of the stimulus money received by the Iowa DOT that will go toward transit projects.

The first meeting is in Ames April 28th, beginning at 5:30 at the Quality Inn.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021