DOT hunts for ideas in Scandinavia (4/15/09) Phil Taylor, Energy&Environment reporter The U.S. Department of Transportation is sending a team of engineers and scientists to Europe next month to observe what Scandinavian countries are doing to keep bicyclists safe and welcome on the open road. A spokesman for the department said the two-week scoping trip… read more
Advocacy
A HOV Lane for Providence
In my opinion, RIDOT completely dropped the ball during the I-way project by not putting in HOV lanes during the multi-million (billion?) dollar 195/95 interchange reworking. This would have been a perfect opportunity to give a big boost to public transportation and those who do the right thing by carpooling. Yet, nobody appears to have… read more
H5074 – House Judiciary Hearing
Aside from feeling a bit like a fish out of water at times, I think the hearing at the House Judiciary went fairly well yesterday. We had six people testify at the hearing in favor of legislation. The bill needs some additional crafting from lawyers, but we definitely managed to get their attention. Once we’ve… read more
H5074 – No need for numbers
It turns out there is VERY little room available for onlookers in the house judiciary. As such, I wouldn’t recommend coming down unless you are really interested in the legislative process. We were under the impression that numbers would help our cause, unfortunately the are unlikely to make much of a difference. Sorry for sounding… read more
H5074 – PBC Recommendations
At our meeting with Representative Gemma, we proposed a combination of some changes to existing laws and wording for a completely new law based on the Orgeon Vulerable Roadway User legislation. These recommendations are what Representative Gemma will be presenting to the House Judiciary tomorrow instead of the original 3-foot legislation. If you plan to… read more
RIPTA Trying to Revive Ferry Service
According to a Providence Journal article, State transit officials said yesterday that they will try to revive the Providence-to-Newport ferry, and one ferry operator said he’s interested. I find it hard to believe that during these tough economic times, they will be able to pull this off, but it would be nice to see it… read more
H5074 Hearing Postponed
Representative Gemma, the sponsor of H5074 has agreed to request the bill be postponed to give us a bit more time to provide him with suggested modifications. We will let everyone know when there is a new hearing date.
Congressman Kennedy to Join Congressional Bike Caucus
As some of you may know, I had the opportunity to attend the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC a few weeks back. There were four participants from Rhode Island. As part of the summit, we spent a day on The Hill talking with our Sentors, Representatives, and their associated staff members. I will follow… read more
H5074 Scheduled to be Heard – March 24th!
The time is upon us… The 3-foot legislation is scheduled to be heard by the House Committee on Judiciary: House Bill No. 5074 BY Gemma, Flaherty, Ferri, Trillo ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES AND OTHER VEHICLES — PASSING, USE OF LANES, AND RULES OF THE ROAD {LC98} 01/13/09 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary… read more
Yet Another Law
While driving along a highway over the weekend, I happened to notice one of those roadside signs stating, “New driving law, tune to 1630”. It piqued my interest, so I switch over to hear what this was all about. You can read the entire law online, but in a nutshell it states motorists, when approaching… read more
A Radical Thought
I don’t know about you, but I’m really concerned about the amount of money being given to various companies to bail them out as a result of their own failures. I’ll fully admit, I don’t understand the complete economic picture, but I’m willing to concede that having these big companies fail could have a significant… read more
Climate, energy debates must factor in transit policy
From today’s Energy & Environment Daily 03/20/2009 Josh Voorhees, E&E reporter Any congressional debate on climate change and energy independence must take into consideration the nation’s transportation systems, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said yesterday. “A discussion of climate change legislation and transportation reauthorization would be incomplete without examining transportation infrastructure policies and practices,” said Markey,… read more