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* The Washington Post…
With $14 billion in new federal funding, the infrastructure law was supposed to jolt efforts to protect the U.S. highway network from a changing climate and curb carbon emissions that are warming the planet. New records show the effort is off to an unsteady start as hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent elsewhere.
Last year, 38 states made use of a provision in the law to shift about $755 million to general-purpose highway construction accounts, according to Federal Highway Administration records. The sum is more than one-quarter of the total annual amount made available to states in two new climate-related programs.
* Illinois shifted more than $39 million, according to WaPo…
Illinois shifting more than 42% of climate reslience funding to general purpose highway construction accounts. Give state DOTs money and they will do whatever they can to spend it on highways. https://t.co/WIdgD3kyHC pic.twitter.com/rSI8pBZb87
— Kyle Whitehead (@ktWhitehead) July 27, 2023
* Back to WaPo…
California shifted $97 million to pay for safety projects. New York moved $36 million to fund what officials called the state’s “core capital program.” Arizona said it used $20 million for its five-year highway construction program, largely for “pavement preservation,” and Louisiana used $8.2 million to fund roundabouts near an outlet mall. […]
A legal provision predating the infrastructure law allows states to shift up to half of their federal transportation funds among several different programs — a provision that also applies to transportation money from the new law. Kevin DeGood, director of the infrastructure program at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said Congress clearly intended for money to be allocated to projects that would reduce emissions or protect against extreme weather.
* Related media advisory…
On Monday, July 31, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will join Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski and other local leaders in the Champaign-Urbana, IL, and East St. Louis, IL, areas to highlight major infrastructure investments and announce new funding.
These projects are examples of how the Biden-Harris Administration is investing in America and working to build the next generation of American infrastructure, while creating good-paying jobs.
posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 1:16 pm
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Hm. Article says the provision allowing states to transfer up to half of the money away predates the 2021 bill, it wasn’t part of the bill, so it seems a bit underhanded to use an old loophole. That being said, the article also says some states claim the money will still ultimately help with “resilience”, and others claim the money will be transferred back, meaning this is just cash flow more than actually taking the money.
Comment by Perrid Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 1:29 pm
Maybe the climate should form a union and pay into campaign funds.
Comment by Taft Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 1:41 pm
Key word?…Shifted.
Comment by Dotnonymous x Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 1:55 pm
Build the I-57 to I-65 Illiana Expressway. It would eliminate a lot of stop and go congestion. Less stop and go traffic will reduce carbon emissions.
Comment by DuPage Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 2:02 pm
Often life is so much easier and less complex on most levels when you apply ethics to the decision making process and follow the rules in place on spending taxpayers money.
Comment by Back to the Future Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 2:10 pm
DOTs need to be renamed back to “Highway Departments.” That is all they seem to care about.
Comment by Homebody Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 2:12 pm
::Build the I-57 to I-65 Illiana Expressway. It would eliminate a lot of stop and go congestion. Less stop and go traffic will reduce carbon emissions.::
This is so wrong it made me laugh out loud. Perhaps you would see some reduction in stop and go emissions but it would be dramatically overshadowed by the increased emissions created by another interstate highway and all the suburban sprawl that comes with it.
Comment by Senator Clay Davis Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 2:44 pm
::Build the I-57 to I-65 Illiana Expressway. It would eliminate a lot of stop and go congestion. Less stop and go traffic will reduce carbon emissions.::
Yeah, no. Stop-and-go traffic isn’t a significant contributor to carbon emissions. Building additional road capacity to address congestion invariably results in more emissions, not fewer, due to the principle of induced demand.
Comment by Benjamin Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 3:00 pm
@Benjamin 3:00 ===Yeah, no. Stop-and-go traffic isn’t a significant contributor to carbon emissions. Building additional road capacity to address congestion invariably results in more emissions, not fewer, due to the principle of induced demand.===
Hmmm. Most (except electric vehicles) stopped in traffic still have their engines running, still producing carbon emissions. Most of the traffic that would use the By-Pass would otherwise use the longer existing routes they use now.
Comment by DuPage Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 3:41 pm
::Most of the traffic that would use the By-Pass would otherwise use the longer existing routes they use now.::
Yeah, and eventually the Illiana would fill up too. More roads = more cars = more emissions. Any reduction in idling (if that even occured) would be nominal and temporary.
Comment by Senator Clay Davis Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 3:46 pm
Spending money on highways instead of clean green transportation is insanity given where we are in the rising global temperatures.
Comment by Incandenza Thursday, Jul 27, 23 @ 4:33 pm
::Build the I-57 to I-65 Illiana Expressway. It would eliminate a lot of stop and go congestion. Less stop and go traffic will reduce carbon emissions.::
When will we learn that “just one more lane…” never works?
Comment by SweetLou86 Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 2:55 pm
Stop paving or we are going to bake ourselves.
Comment by James Knell Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 3:24 pm