America 2050 is pleased to co-sponsor the U.S. High Speed Rail Association's conference in New York City on November 14-16, 2010 at the New Yorker Hotel. General registration is now open.
The conference will include two days of keynote speakers and panels focusing on the policy, planning, engineering, governance and financing of true high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor and on the Empire Corridor in New York State. Speakers will include members of the Obama Administration, Amtrak, Northeast State DOTs, private engineering firms, members of Congress, Mayors, and economic development officials from throughout the Northeast. The conference will also include tours of major rail projects underway in the New York Metropolitan region and showcase successful examples of transit-oriented development.
Register Here.
• Reduce delays at international points of entry
• Increase travel time reliability on major freight corridors
• Reduce by 10 percent the number of freight related fatalities by 2015
• Reduce national freight related CO2 levels by 40 percent by 2030
• Reduce freight related air, water, and noise pollution
The bill establishes within the Department of Transportation an Office of Freight Planning and Development, and gives the DOT two years to develop a National Freight Transportation Strategic Plan that would guide federal investment to achieve these goals.
The bill also establishes a competitive grant program to provide funding for capital investments for freight projects. These grants could go towards projects such as port or intermodal facility improvement, freight rail improvement or capacity expansion, and Intelligent Transportation Systems to reduce congestion. It also mandates that the DOT develop new tools "to support an outcome-oriented, performance-based approach to evaluate proposed freight-related" projects.
Click here read the complete text of the bill.
Earlier this month America 2050 sponsored a two-day planning charrette in Portland, Oregon with stakeholders along the Pacific Northwest Rail Corridor - stretching from Vancouver, British Columbia to Eugene, Oregon to develop a vision for an integrated Cascadia megaregion enabled by high-speed rail.
Building on America 2050's research on Where High-Speed Rail Works Best the workshop sought to explore the economic, land use, urban design, and transportation strategies and investments necessary to fully leverage federal, state, provincial, and local investments in high-speed rail in this binational corridor. The workshop was an opportunity to broaden the focus of regional leaders on how high-speed rail can help advance larger goals for Cascadia as a more interconnected, sustainable, and prosperous megaregion.
To learn more, you can download the detailed briefing book of background information prepared for workshop participants. You can also access America 2050's original map of the Cascadia megaregion prepared for the workshop, which synthesizes transportation, land use, and the regional planning strategies of the entire megaregion on the America 2050 Maps Page (scroll to the bottom of the page.) A summary of workshop proceedings and next steps will be posted here soon.







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