Sec. Peters unveils new rail funding, driving data

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters announced that the U.S. DOT will provide $30 million to match local investments in 15 rail capacity projects across the country and Americans drove 3.6 percent less in July 2008 and 62.6 billion miles less over a nine-month period compared to last year.

“At a time when transit and rail are seeing record growth, the very way we finance these systems is at risk. That is because our transit investments come from the same source as our highway investments – federal gas taxes,” Secretary Peters said. “Federal transportation policies that rely almost exclusively on gas taxes are failing our state and local governments.”

The federal-state partnerships in Arizona, California, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin will support projects designed to cut delays and expand capacity on existing intercity passenger rail routes and help provide new services where none currently exist.

To view the traffic volume trends report, click here.