ABOUT:
Defense policy analysis, commentary and discussion.Nathan Hurst covers transportation as a staff writer for CQ Roll Call. He previously wrote about Congress and the White House for the Washington bureau of The Detroit News, and before that was a business reporter for the News following stints covering crime and business at The Seattle Times and The Boston Globe, as well as several smaller publications in New Hampshire.
Born in Ohio, Nathan grew up in southwest Virginia and New Hampshire before graduating with a degree in print and multimedia journalism from Emerson College in Boston. He lives on Capitol Hill.
Postponing action on a rail authorization until Congress takes up broader surface transportation legislation next year may provide Amtrak supporters with a tantalizing opportunity to solve their long-term funding problem.
With time running out before the current authorization of federal railroad programs expires at the end of September, it looks increasingly likely that lawmakers will postpone new rail legislation until next year and roll it into a bigger surface transportation bill.
In addition to focusing attention on mechanical concerns about the freight trains that haul crude oil to refineries, the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, train crash is reviving debate about allowing rural cargo railroads to operate trains with just one professional on board.
The freight train derailment and explosion that flattened a tiny Quebec town earlier this month has renewed scrutiny of a widely used type of oil tanker cars that has been a concern by safety watchdogs for years.
There’s no sign of any legislative effort in Congress after a deadly California limousine crash this spring, but state lawmakers in Sacramento are weighing bills aimed at making the vehicles safer.
Two high-profile limousine accidents in Northern California this spring are raising questions about oversight of the industry that builds the vehicles — though highway safety advocates see little prospect of tougher scrutiny by lawmakers anytime soon.
Driverless cars remain a rare novelty, but it might surprise motorists to discover that much of the technology that will make them work is already available in the new cars they’re buying today.
No longer confined to the realm of science fiction, driverless vehicles are beginning to show up on American highways, with California, Nevada and Florida already legalizing their use.
The House’s 3-year-old ban on earmarks may be put to the test in the coming weeks, as the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee writes its authorization of flood control, navigation and environmental restoration programs.
Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx sidestepped persistent questioning Wednesday about how to fill revenue shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund, telling senators weighing his confirmation as Transportation secretary that he would “bring together a wide variety of stakeholders”
A new study suggests the driving habits of Americans may be changing faster than lawmakers can figure out how to tax them.
The decline in driving by Americans may already be hastening the demise of the Highway Trust Fund.
Louisiana Democrat Mary L. Landrieu has revamped her amendment to freeze flood insurance rates for five years, removing the biggest obstacle to final Senate action this week on legislation to authorize federal projects for flood control, navigation and environmental restoration.
While President Barack Obama complained that averting Federal Aviation Administration furloughs by transferring airport capital improvement funds amounted to “using our seedcorn,” his own fiscal 2014 budget would cut the Airport Improvement Program by 17 percent.
Airport operators were relieved that Congress enacted legislation before the recess rolling back air-traffic-controller furloughs — though they were less than pleased about where lawmakers found the money to offset the cuts.
Outgoing Charlotte, N.C., mayor Anthony Foxx will be President Barack Obama’s pick for the next Transportation Secretary, according to two sources with knowledge of the selection.
Political finger-pointing over Federal Aviation Administration furloughs intensified Monday, with congressional Republicans orchestrating a Twitter campaign aimed at blaming the Obama administration for flight delays.
Congressional lawmakers continued the debate over how to legally handle the Boston bombing suspect on the Sunday talk show circuit, as new details about the accused brothers continued to trickle out.
It isn’t often in Washington that an interest group asks Congress to raise its taxes — but that’s exactly what inland barge operators are urging.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster has tapped six committee members to help formulate a national intermodal freight plan that will tie together road, rail, air cargo, ports and inland waterways infrastructure planning and policy.
A quarter-century ago, Congress authorized a $775 million project to replace the antiquated Olmsted Locks on the Ohio River, about 20 miles northeast of the point where it converges with the Mississippi. The project was supposed to be finished in 2000.
The man who played Indiana Jones on the big screen is on a new crusade, this time on Capitol Hill.
A coalition of U.S. airlines, their employee unions and business groups is opposing a proposal that would allow companies to foot the bill for U.S. customs agents to clear passengers at foreign facilities, saying it would give international competitors an unfair advantage.
While the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s proposal to expand foreign preclearance facilities is encountering stiff opposition from airlines, concurrent moves to expedite visa processing for foreign visitors are getting broad support.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is getting a brief reprieve from a Congressional mandate to provide wireless service in the capital city’s Metrorail stations and tunnels.
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