65 / Funding cuts, DOT mechanics, & Waymo optimism.

Quick hits re: the federal-level implications of the recent election on transportation, housing, and urbanism in the U.S. No political post-mortems or predictions, but rather look at existing policies and their potential impacts. Surface level breakdown of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), detailing the combined $566 billion in federal transportation spending through 2026. Heading into Thanksgiving, we also stress the importance of communicating urbanism ideas effectively across political divides at the family gathering. The episode concludes with a clip from Pete Buttigieg discussing road safety goals, in comparison to the aviation industry. It's a helpful framing. We'll take a look at state and local-level implications, soon. That edition will be far more optimistic, as many local transit funding measures passed, across the country. Ran out of time, today. We discuss: 00:00 On transportation and urbanism post-election. 03:14 Infrastructure act and federal funding. 08:19 CAFE standards and pollution metrics. 11:39 Transit-oriented development and housing. 21:07 Private sector progress in transportation, featuring Brightline and Waymo. 23:08 Optimism. 27:37 Coby Lefkowitz returns, next week. For context: Yonah Freemark's perfect election thread. On the IIJA (via The White House). On the IRA (via EESI). On CAFE standards (via Reuters). Waymo passes 150k weekly rides (via The Verge).