Transportation Nation

In an average year, Americans report that they drive under the influence of alcohol as many 159 million times.  Maybe more.  By the CDC's count, one person dies every 45 minutes in a crash that involves an alcohol-impaired driver, and these wrecks cost the country more than $51 billion [the way the government adds this up is interesting: among other things, men are more likely to get in alcohol-related crashes, and lost earnings are more severe].

But curbing this practice is tough.  The strongest factor, according to UCLA transportation scholar Eric A. Morris is better enforcement of the law.  Morris is wrapping up a series on the Freakonomics blog about drinking and driving.  Among his writings is the stunning fact that, by the time the average person is caught driving drunk, they've gotten away with it 87 times.  Morris will be on The Takeaway next Tuesday with more.  -- Collin Campbell

(Andrea Bernstein, Transportation Nation) It's the 75th anniversary of the Parking Meter (video courtesy of the Oklahoma History Center above)  invented in Oklahoma City by an entrepreneur who noticed that all the spots were being occupied by shopkeepers, not shoppers. In depression-era Oklahoma, it cost a nickel a hour, today it costs 25 cents for about ten minutes. But as Sunset Park speech therapist Debbie Shiwbalek notes "if we're taking about a Manhattan studio" that much space would cost "at least $100K, so maybe this isn't so bad after all." The story, on Marketplace.

GOP begins targeting roadside stimulus signs.  Political tool for Dems, they say.  (Chicago Tribune)

Feds say book still open on causes of "runaway" Toyotas‎.  (ABC News)

Benefits of bus-only lanes are no secret in Beijing, China.  (ClimateWire)

Boise Airport gets new full-body scanners.  Security more important at smaller airports, officials say.  Video: (Idaho Statesman)

Dallas officials call for higher taxes for roads, rail.  (Dallas Morning News)

Already two and a half years late, Boeing Dreamliner delays may go into next year (Seattle Times)

(New York, NY - Matthew Schuerman, WNYC)  I was there.  At about 4:15 p.m. Eastern time, a giant boring machine drilled through the last of Manhattan bedrock to complete the tunnel for an extension of the Number 7 train.  The event marks a political milestone for Mayor Bloomberg.  It's also expected to develop Manhattan's Far West Side in the same way London supported Canary Wharf with an extension of the Jubilee Line.

For the past year, a pair of machines has been digging the mile-long tunnel, starting at 26th street and 11th Avenue and ending, today, underneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 8th avenue and 41st street.  There the extension connects with the current number 7 subway line.   Here's more of what the big moment was like from our broadcast of All Things Considered this afternoon.

(Washington, DC -- Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is defending a transportation project in her home district, saying it would help spur the renewable energy industry in the U.S.

Pelosi put the $500,000 earmark in an upcoming transportation spending bill, saying the money would fund two solar-powered ferries from San Francisco to Berkeley, across the Bay.

The project fell under criticism Tuesday from Citizens Against Government Waste, an anti-earmarking group in Washington. "In this instance, going green wastes the taxpayers' greenbacks,"

(Washington, DC - Todd Zwillich)  Do you know exactly how much an airplane ticket is costing you?

The answer for millions of travelers is, ‘probably not,’ at least not until the last minute, when it’s time to break out the credit card. Now, struggling airlines are facing scrutiny from Congress and the Obama Administration over the fees they charge passengers, for everything from extra bags to window seats.

The Government Accountability Office told lawmakers Wednesday that airlines had cleared nearly $8 billion in passenger fees in 2008 and 2009. Fees for cancellations, reservations and checked baggage alone reached $1.3 billion in the first three months of this year, up 13% from the same period last year, GAO said.

Of course, the Obama Administration already knew that.  The Department of Transportation is busy drafting new regulations forcing airlines to more clearly disclose their extra fees—for soft drinks, “fuel surcharges”, “convenience fees”, etc.--and also limit some of the charges that airlines can slap on customers.

Vince and Larry, who tirelessly promoted seat belt use in the '80s and '90s will now live forever, as part of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.  "There may be later generations of crash test dummies that are more lifelike and have better technology," said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, "but it's hard to imagine any dummies having a greater impact on safety."  Above, Vince laments, "I feel like I'm just banging my head against a wall" with his safety messages.  Today, Strickland notes as many as 84% of Americans buckle up when they get in the car.  --Collin Campbell

flickr user: Pro-Zak (by-nc)

(New York, NY - Collin Campbell, Transportation Nation)  A 350-foot bridge floated into New York harbor under the cover of night this morning. It’s the replacement span for the Willis Avenue Bridge and was built near Albany and sent down the river.

New York City’s Department of Transportation assembled the bridge in Coeymans, New York to avoid the impact that construction

(Washington, DC - Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation)  The enemies of pork barrel spending are taking aim at the latest transportation funding bill. That’s despite the fact that earmarks in the bill are lower than ever.

Spending watchdog Citizens Against Government Waste says the Fiscal 2011 appropriations bill for the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development is carrying 459 pet projects as it makes its way to the House floor later this summer.

Those earmarks, including $500,000 for a solar-powered Berkeley, Calif., ferry service championed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,

More federal money helps get "transit signal priority" and countdown clocks for bus riders.  The former lets drivers running late on their route make a red light change or holds a green light longer, thanks to $1.2 million from Washington.  The latter will take some guesswork out of waiting for the bus, as more signs will tell riders when the next one is coming.  -- Dan Olson, MPR News

Rusty signs and heedless drivers at 50 of Chicago's most dangerous rail crossings.  (Chicago Tribune)

Texas gubernatorial candidates asked to lay out transportation plans.  (Dallas Morning News)

Legally blind blogger working to improve pedestrian safety around DC (Wash Post).

NY Times drives the return of the Mercedes gullwing, with a $186,000 price tag.

Raleigh-to-Richmond high-speed rail?  The conversation continues in North Carolina.  (WUNC)

New York's transit cuts reach a museum.  (NY Times)

Will the Giro d'Italia come to DC?  (WAMU News)

Five flights had tarmac delays of more than three hours in May, the first full month with new, steep federal fines.  (USA Today)

California high-speed rail planners defend ridership estimates, as critics tell them to "do it right." (LA Times)

Duck boats high-and-dry nationwide after Philly fire, crash leaving two missing.  (SF Chronicle)

WSJ publishes letters from INFRASTRUCTURIST, new urbanists, others critiquing its "Myth of the Back-to-the-City Migration" piece.

(The Takeaway) California jurors have found transit police officer Johannes Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 shooting death of Oscar Grant. Mehserle, a BART cop, shot and killed Grant, an unarmed train passenger, early in the morning on New Year's Day, 2009. The video of the shooting, caught on cellphone camera, instantly went viral on the internet.  Oakland residents demanded to see a guilty verdict, many had hoped Mehserle would be convicted on stronger charges: either second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.  Last night, more than 50 people were arrested in largely peaceful protests.

Former BART police officer faces five to 14 years in prison in the shooting death of unarmed man on New Year's Day 2009: KALW News, Southern California Public Radio.

Looting in LA, Oakland, but outcry mostly peaceful: KALW News, Oakland Local.

(Washington, DC - David Schultz, WAMU News)  Metro, the D.C. area's embattled transit agency, needs new rail cars. Bad.

A third of its fleet of more than 1,100 cars have been in use since Metro trains began running -- that was in 1976.  Even before last year's deadly train crash, federal safety regulators declared these 34-year-old cars unsafe. Apparently, they are prone to severe "telescoping" - crumpling upon impact - when involved in a crash.

For years, Metro tried to replace these aging cars - as the National Transportation Safety Board had urged it to - but couldn't shore up the funding.

But in late May of this year,

(Washington, DC - Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation)  A Washington, DC, lobbying firm has nixed a campaign against federal distracted driving initiatives after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood lashed out at the plans.

LaHood took a swing today at the Seward Square Group, who he said is drumming up opposition to DOT's distracted driving campaign.

LaHood accused the lobbyists, some of whom represent mobile phone device manufacturers, of cynically trying to undermine efforts to curb distracted driving. DOT claims distracted driving, including the use of PDA's and cell phones while behind the wheel, causes 6,000 deaths per year on U.S. roads.

“Those of us who care about safety will join our effort, not undercut it. Thousands of lives are at stake,” LaHood said a press conference at DOT headquarters in Washington.

(Washington, DC - Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation)  President Obama will visit an electric truck plant in Kansas City, Mo., tomorrow to tout clean-energy vehicles as a job-creator, the White House says.

Obama is set to tour Smith Electric Vehicles, which was on the receiving end of $32 million in Recovery Act stimulus money. It was part of an overall $2.4 billion slice of the stimulus targeted toward high-tech battery and plug-in hybrid development.

Obama will tour the plant and make a speech on job creation with the plant as a backdrop. The White House says Smith's new plant, in a refurbished jet engine facility at the Kansas City International Airport, is one of "as many as 20" assembly plants the company plans to open.

Ford sales in China are up 53 percent, a record.  The Fiesta is a hit! (AP)

LaHood faces lobby against his push for stronger distracted driving laws.  (Washington Post)

Vegas officials agree on high-speed rail plan.  Now go to feds.  (Las Vegas Sun)

LA's Expo Line now a target for SoCal developers, previously interstate-focused.  (NY Times)

Manhattan's pedicabs "not all a bunch of lawless renegades," says NY Post.

(Detroit, MI - Rob St. Mary, WDET) Trucks aren't allowed in residential neighborhoods in Detroit, but with the help of mobile phone texts and a mapping tool, the public radio station in the Motor City, is showing that they're going into those neighborhoods anyway. In the first part of a series, reporter Rob St. Mary talks to a neighborhood resident who's been collecting photographic evidence.

Listen here:

To follow their whole series, or participate in their mapping project, click here.

(The Takeaway)  Blind people and advocates for the blind liken it to walking on the moon: The National Federation of the Blind has joined forces with Virginia Tech to create a car that could be driven by passengers who do not have the use of their sight. The car, slated at this point for a 2011 release, uses hand sensors, speaking computer directives and other forms of cutting-edge technology to aid their visibility-challenged drivers.  Here's Mark Riccobono, executive director of the National Federation of The Blind Jernigan Institute explaining it to John Hockenberry on The Takeaway.