Reconnecting America CEO Shelley Poticha testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs March 26 at a symposium held by committee chair Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT). Dodd had invited expert witnesses to share their views on how to improve the connection between housing and transit policy and how to promote transit-oriented development through the coordination of local planning and land use. The symposium, entitled “Creating Livable Communities: Housing and Transit Policy in the 21st Century,” is one in a series of hearings, briefings and meetings being held by the committee on how to enhance our nation’s transit systems and expand transit options for all Americans. Later this year the committee will write the transit portion of a new surface transportation bill. Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), also testified. Reconnecting America, CNT, and Strategic Economics are partners in the…

Reconnecting America CEO Shelley Poticha was quoted in Time magazine's March 23 cover story on "10 ideas that are changing the world." The story noted that the global economy is being remade before our eyes, and that an increasing number of people are focusing on how to make better use of existing infrastructure - including the 47,000 miles of highways that make up this country's interstate highway network. The interstate is extremely important because the right of way has been developed over centuries at great cost, it's strategically located, and it's available for use without having to purchase more land. But instead of just enabling more driving, fossil-fuel consumption and suburban development, the interstate's right of way could become "the backbone of a larger network of railways, broadband cables and even a new, more efficient electrical power grid," Time reporter Richard Lacoya wrote. "Envision a system in which you drive to a light-rail station along the…