In the summer issue of Dissent, Benjamin Ross, a transit advocate from Maryland, offers a deconstruction of free-market arguments for road building and then takes on express toll lanes.

Friday’s Tribune has an editorial about the urgency of coming to grips with the state’s transportation needs. While the author and I might disagree on what some of the specific projects might be, we’re on the same wavelength on several points, including the need to ensure that maintenance gets funded. We also see the way…

Portland City Council is reviewing a number of its tax abatement programs. In fact, there is now a moratorium on the multi-unit housing abatement. The abatement for Transit-Oriented Develop is also being reviewed, but is still available. In fact, the eligible areas have been expanded to include more Light Rail stations. The TOD program is…

Fixing it. There’s an interesting piece over at The Daily Score reviewing a book on the privatization of roads. The thesis is that much of our congestion is simply too expensive to fix. There are also alternative estimates of the cost of congestion (hint: not so high). And very interestingly, there’s an estimate that suggests…

Hat tip to a reader who pointed me to a three-part series in the Denver Post about toll roads that fail to meet revenue projections. The series title is “Truth be Tolled.” Part 1: Roads to riches paved with bad projections Part 2: No 2-way street Part 3: A fork in C-470 The consequences include…