I became a board member of CART a year ago - a group with years of experience in various transportation issues.  My background, mainly in disability rights, touched on transportation accessibility, but this is so much bigger!  Now CART is undertaking a grassroots movement to influence the way we fund our transportation infrastructure for the next 6 years.  I'd better get educated. 

As I find sources of information that make sense to me, I'd like to share them with you. 

Why?  Transportation is the second biggest federal discretionary spending category — second only to defense spending.   Where and how we choose to invest in transportation will have deep impacts on our housing and job markets, public health, energy needs, climate, economic competitiveness, and nearly every other pressing issue facing our country today.

In the past SAFETEA-LU (the current bill which expires September 30th, 2009) and its predecessors heavily favored one kind of transportation, the motorized kind which travels on pavement.  For the next 6 years, many of us would like to see more effort put into alternative modes of transit.

So here's a site which gives a good overview of the history of financing the Federal-Aid Highway Program (FAHP) and the process of authorizing legislation in fairly simple language - and there's even a flow chart.  It's from the Federal Highway Administration:  www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/financingfederalaid/authact.htm

Next is a quick read from the Journal of Commerce  www.joc.com/node/410996 about the thinking of Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.  He actually uses the words "intermodal transportation".  That's hopeful.

Finally, a taste of the dialogue we can expect in the coming months:  transportation.house.gov/News/PRArticle.aspx  from the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

Enough for now - Enjoy!