Today, in Philadelphia, Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, announced a $53 billion, six-year program to accelerate construction of the nation’s high-speed rail network. The plan calls for $8 billion in fiscal year 2012 to jumpstart the program.

Reconnecting America applauds President Obama’s remarks last night in the State of the Union with regard to his support for high-speed rail, improved infrastructure, and, in particular, development around rail stations. Transit-oriented development, or TOD, is what we do. We specialize in building on-the-ground partnerships and convening the players necessary for responsible, equitable development near transit centers. Therefore, we were elated to hear the President recognize that “Jobs…didn’t just come from laying down track…. They came from businesses that opened near a town’s new train station….” Modernizing our infrastructure means providing better transportation choices for people of all walks of life. Everybody wants to live in a community where they have easy access to jobs, quality housing, shopping, schools, healthcare and recreational opportunities. High-speed rail is also an important goal for the improvement of our nation’s infrastructure. The…

Reconnecting America today released a new report, "2010 Inventory of TOD Programs: A National Review of State, Regional and Local Programs that Fund Transit-Oriented Development Plans and Projects."

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development today released "TOD 203: Transit Corridors and TOD," the latest in CTOD's ongoing series of best practices guidebooks.

Today the Center for Transit-Oriented Development released its "Performance-Based Transit-Oriented Development Typology Guidebook,” a hands-on tool for identifying the different conditions that exist around transit stations and determining how that influences performance on a range of metrics.

The past few months have been an exciting time as large and small communities, representing all corners of the country, have worked on developing collaborative planning processes that will address the unique conditions in their region and which will improve the quality of life for the diverse people that live, work and play there.

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith commended the Obama administration for the $2.4 billion in grants announced today for the development of high-speed and inter-city passenger rail corridors in the United States.

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith applauded today's award of nearly $600 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) II construction and planning grants.