Latest news with #HouseCommitteeonTransportationandInfrastructure
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Metro D Line will be closed for 70 days, starting May 17
The Metro D line, also known as the Purple Line, will soon be closed for 70 days as construction continues on the rail expansion project beneath Wilshire Boulevard. Service on the route will be suspended at all stops from Union Station to Wilshire/Western from May 17 to July 25. B Line service — which shares stops from Union Station to Wilshire/Vermont — will increase from North Hollywood to downtown to accommodate riders. Shuttle service will be provided for the last leg of the line to connect riders to Koreatown from Wilshire/Vermont to Wilshire/Normandie and Wilshire/Western stations. The project will add seven stations and expand service on the line from Koreatown to Hancock Park, Beverly Hills, Westwood and West L.A. broke ground more than a decade ago. It's faced delays over safety concerns and received pushback from some Westside residents. Metro's goal is to finish the project by the 2028 Olympics, but hundreds of millions of dollars promised by the federal government for the project have not yet been delivered. Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), who sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and recently toured the rail project, also warned that tariffs affecting the cost of materials could pose new obstacles to infrastructure projects. The current route is one of Metro's most heavily used. Ridership numbers for the B Line and D Line, which Metro combines, were more than 1.8 million in March. The first $3.7 billion phase of the extension under Wilshire Boulevard will include three stations — Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega. Those are expected to open by the end of 2025. Tunneling is complete for that section, according to Metro. Tracks have been laid and lighting has been installed. The transit agency will next work on connecting communication and power systems between the existing line and new sections during the upcoming service interruption. The next phase of the project will include Wilshire/Rodeo and Century City/Constellation stations, which are expected to open in 2026. The final section to create the Westwood/UCLA and Westwood/VA Hospital stations are planned for a 2027 opening. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
08-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Metro D Line will be closed for 70 days, starting May 17
The Metro D line, also known as the Purple Line, will soon be closed for 70 days as construction continues on the rail expansion project beneath Wilshire Boulevard. Service on the route will be suspended at all stops from Union Station to Wilshire/Western from May 17 to July 25. B Line service — which shares stops from Union Station to Wilshire/Vermont — will increase from North Hollywood to downtown to accommodate riders. Shuttle service will be provided for the last leg of the line to connect riders to Koreatown from Wilshire/Vermont to Wilshire/Normandie and Wilshire/Western stations. The $2.4-billion project to add seven stations and expand service on the line from Koreatown to Hancock Park, Beverly Hills, Westwood and West L.A. broke ground more than a decade ago. It's faced delays over safety concerns and received pushback from some Westside residents. Metro's goal is to finish the project by the 2028 Olympics, but hundreds of millions of dollars promised by the federal government for the project have not yet been delivered. Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), who sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and recently toured the rail project, also warned that tariffs affecting the cost of materials could pose new obstacles to infrastructure projects. The current route is one of Metro's most heavily used. Ridership numbers for the B Line and D Line, which Metro combines, were more than 1.8 million in March. The first phase of the extension under Wilshire Boulevard will include three stations — Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega. Those are expected to open by the end of 2025. Tunneling is complete for that section, according to Metro. Tracks have been laid and lighting has been installed. The transit agency will next work on connecting communication and power systems between the existing line and new sections during the upcoming service interruption. The next phase of the project will include Wilshire/Rodeo and Century City/Constellation stations, which are expected to open in 2026. The final section to create the Westwood/UCLA and Westwood/VA Hospital stations are planned for a 2027 opening.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House committee proposes annual $250 fee for EVs
This story was originally published on Smart Cities Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Smart Cities Dive newsletter. UPDATE: MAY 1, 2025: The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure approved its portion of the budget reconciliation bill yesterday on a party-line vote of 36-30. Democrats put forward some 120 amendments to the committee's bill, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said during the meeting, none of which were adopted. Proposed amendments included protecting grants to Amtrak's Northeast Corridor issued before Jan. 20, 2025. Larsen lamented the lack of bipartisanship in an emailed statement: 'Today's markup of the Republican reconciliation legislation is a departure from the regular, bipartisan work of this Committee.' Support for the bill came from road builders, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, agricultural interests and truckers. The Amalgamated Transit Union expressed its support in an April 29 letter, saying 'the federal gas tax is no longer capable of sustaining the [Highway Trust Fund] on its own.' In addition to roadway infrastructure, the fund also supports mass transit. 'Congress must find a long-term solution to declining real gas tax revenue,' Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emissions Transportation Association, said in an April 28 letter to the committee and shared with Smart Cities Dive. The organization favors a $100 per vehicle yearly fee over the $250 annual federal registration fee the committee adopted. Gore said the lower fee would be 'commensurate with the annual gas tax paid by an internal combustion engine vehicle with average fuel efficiency.' More legislation affecting electrical vehicle adoption may be included in the reconciliation package. The full House voted yesterday to overturn the Biden administration's approval of California's clean truck rules and is expected to vote today to nix California's Advanced Clean Cars II regulations requiring all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be zero emission vehicles by 2035. APRIL 29, 2025: The House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure included a $250 annual registration fee for electric vehicles and a $100 annual registration fee for hybrid vehicles during the budget reconciliation proposal reported out today. The proposal's goal is to ensure that EV and hybrid owners contribute to the Highway Trust Fund. An excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuels, along with a sales and use tax on heavy duty vehicles, currently support the fund, which committee Chairman Sam Graves called 'broken' in a press release Tuesday. 'For far too long, EVs have operated on our nation's roads without paying into the system,' Graves said at the committee meeting. 'Plain and simple, this is a fairness issue, and it's time these roadway users pay their share for the use of the road.' The current federal gasoline tax, at 18.4 cents per gallon, hasn't changed since 1993. If it were indexed to inflation, the current rate would be 37 cents per gallon, according to the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution's Tax Policy Center. As a result of the static tax rate, inflows to the trust fund haven't kept up with expenditures. Since 2008, Congress has made up the shortfall by transferring funds, mainly from the federal government's general fund, to the tune of $275 billion, including $118 billion from the 2021 infrastructure law. Outlays from the trust fund go to states and local governments for the maintenance and construction of highways, bridges and related infrastructure. A portion of the fund's investments go to mass transit. In the 2024 fiscal year, the Highway Trust Fund spent $26.7 billion more than it took in from user fees, according to analysis by the Eno Center for Transportation. The Congressional Budget Office projects the fund will have insufficient funds to cover its expenditures by 2028 if funding increases at the rate of inflation and the tax rate remains the same. By 2035, the CBO projects the trust fund will be short $242 billion. Democratic committee members uniformly denounced the budget proposal, which they say favors the wealthy while cutting programs for other citizens. 'This bill would raise new taxes on the American people in order to provide trillions of dollars in tax breaks for billionaires,' Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., said at the meeting. The House committee bill would cut $4.6 billion over the next 10 years by rescinding funds for Inflation Reduction Act programs that the press release called unnecessary, which include Neighborhood Access and Equity Grants, Environmental Review Implementation Funds and Low-Carbon Transportation Materials Grants under the Federal Highway Administration; Assistance for Federal Buildings and Use of Low-Carbon Materials, and Emerging Technologies funding under the General Services Administration; and the Federal Aviation Administration's Alternative Fuel and Low-Emission Aviation Technology Program. 'Today's legislation is, in part, a response to investments that Democrats prioritize, some of which are objectionable to our [Republican] colleagues,' Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said. 'We want to keep these investments going.' Larsen said he and other Democrats would introduce amendments to the budget proposal. Recommended Reading These two men will lead transportation policy in the Trump administration
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration funding cuts could hamper L.A. River parks projects, lawmaker warns
Cyclists sped past on a trail overlooking the Los Angeles River near Dodger Stadium as a group of city officials and members of Congress walked to a neighborhood park filled with native plants, trees and picnic tables — an example of larger parks and green spaces that are planned along the river with support from federal funds. U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) was there along with Rep. Rick Larsen, (D-Wash.), the top Democratic member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, to call attention to federally funded projects that they believe are now at risk as President Trump and his allies seek to make widespread cuts to government programs. Local officials have been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a river revitalization project intended to restore natural habitats and expand parks along miles of the waterway between Griffith Park and downtown L.A. 'This is a big, transformative project for Los Angeles,' Friedman said. 'It would just be heartbreaking to see the Trump administration pull all the federal funding that we're relying on.' Read more: An L.A. River champion offers a vision for reimagining the waterway — and the city's future The White House didn't respond to a request for comment. Dena O'Dell, chief of public affairs for the Army Corps' L.A. District, said in an email that her agency 'recognizes the importance of the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration Project and remains committed to its partnership with the City of Los Angeles.' 'We can't speculate on future levels of funding for the project,' O'Dell said. Friedman said during the visit Thursday that the bike path and parks that have been built so far in Elysian Valley have turned a stretch of river that was once seen as nothing more than a concrete channel into a natural amenity. 'There were these communities that backed up to the river, where really all they had was blight and chain-link fences and overgrown weeds,' she said. 'Now with the restoration, you see the promise that the river gives.' Under the Biden administration, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law authorized $28 million for the project, the latest in a series of joint investments. Read more: Acting on Trump's order, federal officials opened up two California dams Now, however, Friedman said the Trump administration's efforts to freeze funds previously approved by Congress threaten those investments, as well as future financial support that will be critical to complete the effort. She said Trump and his allies, including Elon Musk, have made clear they want to defund such projects, along with many other government programs. 'The things that they specifically called out that they want to defund is anything to do with climate, anything to do with habitat, anything to do with ecology,' Friedman said. 'They've called these 'woke' projects, and so they consider creating parkland to be 'woke' and not something that's important.' The benefits of the planned projects along the L.A. River, Friedman said, include creating new parks and trails for communities that have long lacked access to recreational areas, as well as restoring natural habitats for birds and other wildlife, improving water quality, and re-creating stretches of natural floodplains that capture stormwater and recharge groundwater. Friedman said Trump administration officials have signaled they don't support projects such as bike paths — or 'anything that's not burning fossils.' She pointed out that efforts to revitalize the area with paths and riverside parks in recent years have already brought new businesses including cafes and shops, and attracted residents who walk, jog and bike along the river. If the federal funds were to be slashed, she said, that would leave the project dependent on state and local funding, and would make the effort go more slowly, while also putting a larger economic burden on L.A. taxpayers. Larsen, who describes himself as a birder, said he enjoyed spotting a great egret in the river. Seeing this stretch of the river, he said, helped him 'better understand why that ecosystem restoration is important to this region.' Friedman and Larsen also toured the nearly completed Wilshire/La Brea Metro subway station, part of the Purple D-Line extension project, which is slated to connect downtown L.A. to UCLA and the VA Medical Center. Friedman said the project is sorely needed because 'there's a huge hunger for better mobility around L.A. to get traffic off the road and lower people's costs.' Hundreds of millions of dollars that the federal government promised toward the expansion have not yet been delivered, she said, and if the Trump administration were to pull out, 'that puts the whole project in jeopardy.' This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Trump administration funding cuts could hamper L.A. River parks projects, lawmaker warns
Cyclists sped past on a trail overlooking the Los Angeles River near Dodger Stadium as a group of city officials and members of Congress walked to a neighborhood park filled with native plants, trees and picnic tables — an example of larger parks and green spaces that are planned along the river with support from federal funds. U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) was there along with Rep. Rick Larsen, (D-Wash.), the top Democratic member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, to call attention to federally funded projects that they believe are now at risk as President Trump and his allies seek to make widespread cuts to government programs. Local officials have been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a river revitalization project intended to restore natural habitats and expand parks along miles of the waterway between Griffith Park and downtown L.A. 'This is a big, transformative project for Los Angeles,' Friedman said. 'It would just be heartbreaking to see the Trump administration pull all the federal funding that we're relying on.' The White House didn't respond to a request for comment. Dena O'Dell, chief of public affairs for the Army Corps' L.A. District, said in an email that her agency 'recognizes the importance of the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration Project and remains committed to its partnership with the City of Los Angeles.' 'We can't speculate on future levels of funding for the project,' O'Dell said. Friedman said during the visit Thursday that the bike path and parks that have been built so far in Elysian Valley have turned a stretch of river that was once seen as nothing more than a concrete channel into a natural amenity. 'There were these communities that backed up to the river, where really all they had was blight and chain-link fences and overgrown weeds,' she said. 'Now with the restoration, you see the promise that the river gives.' Under the Biden administration, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law authorized $28 million for the project, the latest in a series of joint investments. Now, however, Friedman said the Trump administration's efforts to freeze funds previously approved by Congress threaten those investments, as well as future financial support that will be critical to complete the effort. She said Trump and his allies, including Elon Musk, have made clear they want to defund such projects, along with many other government programs. 'The things that they specifically called out that they want to defund is anything to do with climate, anything to do with habitat, anything to do with ecology,' Friedman said. 'They've called these 'woke' projects, and so they consider creating parkland to be 'woke' and not something that's important.' The benefits of the planned projects along the L.A. River, Friedman said, include creating new parks and trails for communities that have long lacked access to recreational areas, as well as restoring natural habitats for birds and other wildlife, improving water quality, and re-creating stretches of natural floodplains that capture stormwater and recharge groundwater. Friedman said Trump administration officials have signaled they don't support projects such as bike paths — or 'anything that's not burning fossils.' She pointed out that efforts to revitalize the area with paths and riverside parks in recent years have already brought new businesses including cafes and shops, and attracted residents who walk, jog and bike along the river. If the federal funds were to be slashed, she said, that would leave the project dependent on state and local funding, and would make the effort go more slowly, while also putting a larger economic burden on L.A. taxpayers. Larsen, who describes himself as a birder, said he enjoyed spotting a great egret in the river. Seeing this stretch of the river, he said, helped him 'better understand why that ecosystem restoration is important to this region.' Friedman and Larsen also toured the nearly completed Wilshire/La Brea Metro subway station, part of the Purple D-Line extension project, which is slated to connect downtown L.A. to UCLA and the VA Medical Center. Friedman said the project is sorely needed because 'there's a huge hunger for better mobility around L.A. to get traffic off the road and lower people's costs.' Hundreds of millions of dollars that the federal government promised toward the expansion have not yet been delivered, she said, and if the Trump administration were to pull out, 'that puts the whole project in jeopardy.'
