Transportation

Lori Aratani and Faiz Siddiqui A pedestrian bridge at Innovation Station, part of Phase II of Metro’s Silver Line expansion to Dulles International Airport and beyond, is under construction July 26, 2017 in Herndon, VA. Newly unsealed court documents allege that the company that made the pre-cast concrete panels that make up the exterior walls at five of the stations knew the materials were defective. Concrete panels for several of the new Silver Line stations do not meet safety or reliability ... Read more

Congressman Gerald E. Connolly released the following statement after the House Appropriations Committee included the full $150 million in federal funding for WMATA: “I am pleased the House Appropriations Committee took our strong recommendation and has included the full $150 million in federal funding for WMATA. The federal government has a responsibility to fulfill its commitment to funding our nation’s transit system, and this is an important step.” Connolly led the delegation in sending a le... Read more

Faiz Siddiqui Metro crews copied and pasted language from prior years’ structural inspection reports for the Rhode Island Avenue station and in other instances skipped hard-to-reach areas, culminating in a steel beam and concrete chunks falling from the ceiling in 2016, the agency’s inspector general concluded in a report released Thursday. No one was injured, but the Rhode Island Avenue and Brookland stations will be shut down for 45 days starting July 21 to permanently address the structural ... Read more

Steve Burns The announcement of a new Metro shutdown, planned for 98 days over the summer of 2019, is bringing at least one ardent Metro supporter to his wits’ end. “We were kind of promised that the SafeTrack shutdowns would be a one-time thing,” Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly told WMAL. “I think it’s very difficult, with a straight face, to make the case to the public that we’re ‘Back to Good’ when we really are back to shutdowns.” Connolly said he would like to see a full accounting of the dec... Read more

Faiz Siddique There will be no service on Metro’s Blue and Yellow lines south of Reagan National Airport for 98 days beginning in May 2019, as the transit agency embarks on a platform rebuilding project spanning six stations, part of an effort to refurbish 20 station platforms over three years. The work, which will at times target the Red, Blue, Yellow, Green and Orange lines, will focus on rebuilding crumbling station platforms that the agency says pose a safety risk to riders, and will mark M... Read more

Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, Vice Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released the following statement on President Trump’s decision to pardon Scooter Libby: “First, Sheriff Arpaio. Now, President Trump pardons Scooter Libby. This is a perversion of the pardon power and an instrument for obstruction of justice. The President is sending a clear signal to others that he will reward obstruction of justice. This is a sad moment for our democracy and justice syst... Read more

Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), Rep. Donald S. Beyer, Jr. (D-VA), Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sent a letter to President Donald Trump and a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt expressing grave concerns about stunning new revelations they received this week from Kevin Chmielewski—a long-time supporter and campaign aide of President Trump who served as Pruitt’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations at EPA. In their let... Read more

Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, Vice Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released the following statement on today’s release of the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s report on how the Federal Transit Administration can strengthen oversight safety: “This GAO report finds that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) does not have its own house in order regarding guidance for state transit safety agencies. GAO found that FTA does not have a plan or timeline... Read more

Mike Lillis Democrats are lashing out at the notion that President Trump and GOP leaders may seek to eliminate some of the funding increases in the enormous 2018 spending package adopted less than two weeks ago. Republicans have come under fire in their districts during the spring recess after supporting the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill, which provides a huge bump in both defense and domestic spending, adding hundreds of billions of dollars to federal deficits. In response, Trump and Majority Lea... Read more

Today SEEC Leadership, including Co-Chairs Reps. Gerry Connolly, Doris Matsui and Paul Tonko, and Vice-Chairs Reps. Matt Cartwright, Alan Lowenthal, Mike Quigley, Chellie Pingree and Jared Polis released the following statement in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement that the greenhouse gas standards for model year vehicles 2022-2025 are no longer appropriate, giving the EPA room to lower the standards finalized by the Obama Administration. “The benefits of the clean ca... Read more