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Campaign Funds for Alaskan; Road Aid to Florida
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, June 6 - It is no secret that campaign contributions sometimes lead to lucrative official favors. Rarely, though, are the tradeoffs quite as obvious as in the twisted case of Coconut Road.
The road, a stretch of pavement near Fort Myers, Fla., that touches five golf clubs on its way to the Gulf of Mexico, is the target of a $10 million earmark that appeared mysteriously in a 2006 transportation bill written by Representative Don Young, Republican of Alaska.
Mr. Young, who last year steered more than $200 million to a so-called bridge to nowhere reaching 80 people on Gravina Island, Alaska, has no constituents in Florida.
tagged earmarks highways pork road_building roads transportation_finance transportation_policy
by jn
...on 07-JUN-07
Metro at odds with officials on highways
Regional transportation plan gets cold response from feds, state board
By Jim Redden
The Portland Tribune, Feb 13, 2007 (28 Reader comments)
For months Metro leaders have said that the old way of solving transportation problems no longer works.
Led by Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder, officials at the regional planning agency repeatedly have said that building new highways is no longer the solution for the area’s growing congestion problems.
Instead, Burkholder and the others have said that the Regional Transportation Plan to be adopted next year will stress such land-use goals as encouraging people to live closer to where they work and shop, in part by encouraging more mass transit.
Regional transportation plan gets cold response from feds, state board
By Jim Redden
The Portland Tribune, Feb 13, 2007 (28 Reader comments)
For months Metro leaders have said that the old way of solving transportation problems no longer works.
Led by Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder, officials at the regional planning agency repeatedly have said that building new highways is no longer the solution for the area’s growing congestion problems.
Instead, Burkholder and the others have said that the Regional Transportation Plan to be adopted next year will stress such land-use goals as encouraging people to live closer to where they work and shop, in part by encouraging more mass transit.