SSTI and Spitfire Strategies worked with the Iowa DOT to develop support for funding system preservation. Spitfire researched what messages would appeal to voters and decision makers, then wrote a plan for Iowa DOT to make the case for funding maintenance.
funding
How do we get “everyday Americans” to support transportation funding?
Despite the fact that everyone uses some mode of transportation, a recent article in Governing Magazine explored the transportation community’s failure to engage “everyday Americans,” in the need for transportation investments. There is too much at stake – jobs, money, infrastructure – for people to ignore these critical issues. If we want policymakers to make smart transportation decisions, they need to feel pressure from their constituents. The article finds that we aren’t reaching “everyday Americans” because the messages that the transportation community has been using doesn’t resonate with them. How do we fix this communications challenge?
Dangerous By Design (Transportation For America, 2011)
Although nearly 12 percent of traffic deaths are pedestrians, little public attention – and even less in public resources – has been committed to reducing pedestrian deaths and injuries in the United States. This report outlines …
FTA proposes shifting the focus of transit investment evaluations from commute time reduction to ridership and other metrics
The Federal Transit Administration’s proposed changes to the way it evaluates transit investment funding under the New Starts and Small Starts programs would shift the focus from travel time reduction to projected ridership and the …
A small city tries to fund sidewalk improvements
Missoula, Montana—a city of roughly 70,000 people— for decades had a policy similar to many cities of allowing property owners to decide if they wanted a sidewalk, and pay for it themselves. This created city streets that resembled “broken teeth,” where properties with sidewalks were next door to properties without sidewalks.
The high speed rail quandry
The future of high speed rail in America continues to be uncertain. While California has suffered multiple setbacks in its efforts, high speed rail continues to be on the agenda in several other states.
Take me out to the ballpark, but make me walk the last mile
A story in mid-December highlighted the disconnect between what clubs will pay for players and a stadium vs. what they are willing to pitch in for transit. The Miami Marlins just completed a new stadium, and …
Value capture fuels transit expansion in Charlotte area
State and local transit planners in North Carolina are looking at a plan that combines two forms of value capture in order to construct and operate commuter rail running north from Charlotte. The plan, made …
Barge industry jumping on PR band wagon as river infrastructure begins to age
The barge industry is taking a page from freight railroad’s ad campaign to make its efficiencies known. They want to remind elected officials and average Americans that the river infrastructure, on which barge traffic depends, …
Transit funding shrinks despite increasing ridership
A recent New York Times article notes that, since 1995, transit ridership in the U.S. has grown by 31 percent, outstripping both VMT and population. This is true even in cities that lack good transit systems. The …