Tagged: transportation

Governor-elect Rick Snyder is expected to name directors for the state's Department of Transportation and the Michigan State Police later today.

It's believed that Snyder will keep Kirk Steudle on as director of the Michigan Department of Transportation.  Steudle has been the director of the department since 2006.

Snyder is also expected to appoint Kriste Etue as director of the Michigan State Police.  She's currently the deputy director of the state police.

As The Detroit News reports, Etue will be the first woman to head the Michigan State Police:

She will be the second woman named to head a department in the Snyder administration. On Friday, Olga Dazzo was named director of the Department of Community Health.

Snyder is expected to make the announcement of both posts at a news conference today in Lansing.

UPDATE 12/9/2010 3:33pm:

Michigan's been left off the list of state getting more federal money for high speed rail projects.  The New York Times reports:

The biggest winners of Ohio and Wisconsin’s money were California, which will receive another $624 million on top of the nearly $3 billion it has received so far toward the construction of a high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and Florida, which will get another $342 million on top of the roughly $2 billion it has received to build a high-speed train between Orlando and Tampa.

The other states that will get Ohio and Wisconsin’s money will be Washington, which will get up to $161 million; Illinois, which will get $42.3 million; and Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Vermont, which will all get less than $10 million.

A public forum on the future of trains in Michigan will be held tonight in Monroe.

John Langdon with the Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers says college students and senior citizens like trains. He says he hopes everybody else will see that increasing rail service is good for the economy, the environment and their own pocketbook.

Congressman John Dingell's office has announced that the federal government will chip in $13.9 million dollars to fix an aging Ann Arbor bridge.

The four lane bridge on Stadium Avenue, which runs past the "Big House," has been down to two lanes because it's so dilapidated.

Senator Carl Levin wants to scrap the government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard. Auto manufacturers must meet these fuel economy standards for their fleets, or face penalties from the government.

The Obama Administration recently updated the standards.  By 2020, automakers will have to reach an average 35.5 mpg for their combined car and truck fleet.

The Chevy Volt got one step closer to the showrooms this week. The electric vehicle was unveiled to the media.

Illegal oil spill workers caught in Texas