Reconnecting America CEO John Robert Smith announced today the addition of Andriana Abariotes to the organization’s Board of Directors.

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) has released a guide, “Transit-Oriented Tools for Metropolitan Planning Organizations” to aid Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in taking a more proactive role in planning and promoting compact growth along transit corridors. Funded through a cooperative agreement between Reconnecting America and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the guide highlights best practices related to regulations, funding, information sharing and partnerships.

The Federal Transit Administration has unveiled a new Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development Action Guide created by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. The guide comes in the form of a website and is the first "publication" by the FTA to be completely paperless. The website can be accessed at www.fta.dot.gov/livability/mitod or directly at mitod.org

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was in Kansas City, Missouri today, February 19, to announce that 51 projects in 41 states and the District of Columbia have been awarded $1.5 billion in TIGER Discretionary Grants. The TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) program was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and funding was awarded on a competitive basis to transportation projects of national or regional significance that also create jobs and provide economic benefits.

President Obama released his fiscal year 2011 budget proposal Feb. 1, 2010, signaling a clear commitment to the Sustainable Communities Initiative he announced last year as well as his continuing support for the federal interagency partnership between the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The proposed budget, the Obama Administration’s first, includes several new programs supporting livability, sustainable communities and transportation choices including investments in high-speed rail and public transportation. The budget comes less than a week after the President’s announcement of $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, and an additional $1 billion a year for five years. A few of the programs in the budget are listed below; there is more description of these programs in the analysis provided at the bottom of this story.