NATIONAL NEWS

Roll Call: Oberstar: Much Unfinished Business Remains
http://www.rollcall.com/features/Agenda-Ahead_2009/agenda_ahead/41412-1.html
The principal order of business for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in 2010 will be completing the unfinished business from 2009.  Major legislation to invest in our nation’s surface transportation infrastructure, modernize air traffic control, bring economic development opportunities to distressed areas of the country, improve transportation on our inland waterways, enhance safety in the transport of hazardous materials, and protect our nation’s waters are on the committee’s agenda for next year.

Roll Call: Durbin: True Recovery Means Jobs Growth
http://www.rollcall.com/features/Agenda-Ahead_2009/agenda_ahead/41414-1.html
...Second, infrastructure jobs. Unemployment in the construction industry is nearing 20 percent while state and local governments have $47 billion worth of transportation infrastructure projects that could begin work in 90 to 120 days. Our package will help match the huge supply of skilled workers with the equally large demand for projects by significantly increasing the federal spending dedicated to infrastructure in 2010. These good-paying jobs will last beyond next year and will help create a modernized national infrastructure, which will pay dividends for many years to come.

Brookings: A U.S. National Infrastructure Bank And Long Term Economic Sustainablility
http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/united_states/a-u-s-national-infrastructure-bank-and-long-term-economic-sustainablility-18620.html
Today’s fiscally constrained environment demands a new approach to infrastructure policy, allowing us to upgrade our existing infrastructure, expand choices in moving people and goods (and ideas), ease the burden on household budgets, and help us attain energy independence.

STATE NEWS

Plain Dealer: Transportation Agencies Say Stimulus is Nice, but They Need Even More
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2009/12/transit_agencies_and_lawmakers.html
Not to be ungrateful, because the nation's road builders and bus-and-rail agencies are thrilled with the billions they're getting for transit hubs and road projects -- but they'd like some more, please.  The $787 billion economic stimulus bill provided $48 billion for their backlogged highway and transportation projects. Their need is far greater, officials from agencies including the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority said Thursday.

News Observer: 3-county transit plan needs trim
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local_state/story/238413.html
Oops! Maybe we can't afford everything in that big regional transit plan after all.  Blame it on the recession.  With sales-tax receipts down after years of heady growth, county finance officers have scaled back their hopes for how many trains and buses we could buy with a proposed three-county, half-cent transit sales tax.  A new forecast from Triangle Transit warns that Wake, Durham and Orange counties might have $470 million less to spend over the next 25 years than local leaders counted on last year when they received a plan for $8.2 billion in transit investments.