An 18-month extension of the existing transportation law cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee this week. As the Senate, for the most part, falls in line with the Obama Administration, bipartisan support for the new bill remains significant.

In May, the Secretary of Transportation talked with Blueprint America for the Road to the Future documentary on PBS. Sec. LaHood's comments illustrate that the Administration wants transportation reform, but just not now -- especially if it means raising the gas tax in these economic times.

An update to the Blueprint Colorado project: A series of short videos produced by Rocky Mountain PBS on Denver's Living Streets initiative.

Then, Colorado State of Mind on Rocky Mountain PBS talks with Colorado's state planners to see how the state is managing its infrastructure.

Blueprint America correspondent Rick Karr updates a NewsHour report on freight rail congestion in the Midwest as a third of a billion dollars in federal subsidies is on its way to the backlogged region.

Rep. Jim Oberstar (D., MN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has been at odds with the Obama Administration on when to take up his recently introduced transportation bill: THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2009.

A 2008 report by the Federal Transit Administration, “Transit State of Good Repair,” said one-quarter of the nation’s bus and rail assets are in marginal or poor condition. Still, any federal mass-transit inspections or findings are nothing but symbolic at-best. Unlike with the Food and Drug Administration, for example, the government cannot recall flawed equipment or issue citations for ignoring recommendations.

When the stimulus bill was passed last February, it sent billions of dollars to the nation's mass-transit agencies. Still, the money was purposed for only new equipment and construction -- nothing to operate the systems, even as many are cutting service, laying off workers or raising fares.

The Monday Metro accident in Washington, D.C., when a train car rear-ended another killing nine people, involved some of the oldest cars in the city’s young subway system. The cars had already been said to have vulnerabilities. Washington, however, is not the exception for using equipment that is outdated.

Though the cause of the accident is still speculated, especially following two recent rail accidents nationally in the past year, officials said today the Metro train car involved was two months past due for scheduled maintenance on its brakes, and the car was an older model that federal officials had recommended be replaced because of concerns about its safety in a crash.

Chairman Jim Oberstar (D., MN) and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released the full 775-page Transportation Bill text.

As the sage Yogi Berra once said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” When it comes to financing transportation infrastructure, our nation has come to a fork in the road and we must take action.