Friday, May 27, 2011

We can expect a paradigm shift in federal transportation spending habits

A lot of my (jeff, not staci) job at SRTC is tracking legislation -- especially budgetary legislation -- at the local, state and federal levels. Those who know me have probably heard me a say this thousand times over the past couple of years, and now you are going to hear it again:

The way our federal government funds transportation is going to change dramatically over the next few years. Priorities will change, programs will be redesigned to reflect those priorities and ultimately the states will be put in the driver's seat when it comes to spending the ever-dwindling federal dollars we do receive.

Larry Ehl, from the Transportation Issues Daily blog, has EXCELLENT analysis on the subject here.

How this next 6-year transportation authorization bill shakes out is any one's guess at this point, but one thing appears to be certain: the transportation funding system as we know it today is not going to survive much longer. But you can rest assured that we will try and keep you informed of it here at the SRTC Transportation Blog!

Have a great holiday weekend,

Jeff

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About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.