The multi-billion dollar transportation bill has run into deadlock and there's no off-ramp in sight. That has America's construction companies, which depend on transportation spending for a large part of their business, watching, reading tea leaves and lobbying heavily for the House and Senate to get their act together and get something passed. Soon.
A Republican transportation bill seeks to eliminate the $1.6 billion in federal transportation funds that has been used to add bike lanes, improve sidewalk, create curb cuts and otherwise enhance roadways to make them more friendly to cyclists and pedestrians.
The proposed legislation would encourage private companies to build toll roads alongside federal highways, cut Amtrak subsidies and pay for infrastructure with money from new oil drilling.
Congressman Jim Oberstar tells Living on Earth about his new transportation bill and why getting Americans out of their cars is so vital.