ray lahood

"they reduce travel costs, dramatically improve safety and public health, and reconnect citizens with their communities," Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said in his blog . Biking is also easy on the environment, since muscle-power means zero carbon emissions, and on your wallet, since you don't need insurance, inspections, gas fill-ups, or expensive repairs. Plus, as any child of any generation will tell you, biking is just fun.  

Chrysler's new Trenton South engine plant, which is making the new 3.6-liter Pentastar engine, has earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification. The U.S. Green Building Council awards the credential to industrial structures that exceed standards on site planning, conservation of water, electricity and materials, and eliminating shipments to landfills. Contractor Walbridge of Detroit used recycled content in 44% of its materials and recycled more than 90% of construction  

When planting time comes, farmers need things when they need things. A federal waiver aims to keep agricultural deliveries coming in a timely manner. Northwest Missouri Congressman Sam Graves, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, worked with others to convince transportation officials to waive hours-of-operation rules for farm truck drivers during planting season.

The agency has long understood that limited farm storage capacity necessitates a ‘just in time’ delivery system from retail distributors of farm supplies to farms ... during the busy planting and harvesting seasons.   -Department of Transportation

 

As President Barack Obama makes a last-minute lobbying blitz Saturday to urge House Democrats to pass health care reform , it's likely that a handful of targets will be undecided lawmakers from his home state. Four House Democrats from Illinois, contacted through their aides, declined Friday to commit to their vote on the sweeping reform package. They were Reps. Melissa Bean, Jerry Costello, Bill Foster and Deborah Halvorson.  

'Your grandchildren will snap across the entire continent in 24 hours on a new kind of highway and in a new kind of driverless car that is controlled by the push of a button," futurist Norman Bel Geddes promised in 1940. Mr. Bel Geddes designed Futurama, the most popular exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair, which in many ways inspired the construction of the Interstate Highway System. Driverless cars have so far remained the stuff of science fiction.  

Projects are considered under way when a contractor has been hired, the project has received official notice to proceed, and work has begun. This milestone comes just more than a year after the Recovery Act was signed into law and as the spring construction season is getting into full swing. Biden made the announcement as part of a visit to North Carolina – the state where the 10,000th project, the Sanford Bypass, will break ground.  

First Google Bike Maps , now this. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is truly a man for all seasons: he wallowed in glory after cash for clunkers, has launched an all-out assault on "distracted driving," got himself smack in the middle of the fray over Toyota's Great Recall, and has now decided he's a friend to the two-wheels-and-Spandex crowd. Last week, he addressed the National Bike Summit (see above for a video excerpt from his so-called tabletop speech) This week, he followed up his remarks with  

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. , March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Cycling has never been more popular in the U.S. and Florida – and accidents between cyclists and motor vehicles have never been more common. (Photo:   http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100319/FL73495-a ) (Photo:   http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100319/FL73495-b ) In 2008, 716 cyclists died in bicycle / motor vehicle crashes, or two percent of the total number of people killed and injured in traffic crashes that y

The establishment of well-connected walking and bicycling networks is an important component for livable communities, and their design should be a part of Federal-aid project developments   -Ray LaHood

 

The Biotechnology Industry Organization spent just under $1.9 million lobbying in the fourth quarter on health care reform efforts that would impact biotech drugs, according to a recent disclosure form. The company also spent about $1.9 million lobbying during the same period in 2008. The industry group — whose members include Amgen Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc. — lobbied on legislation for a proposed regulatory system for biosimilars, or copies of lucrative biotechnology drugs.