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We at @ucs.org were privileged to support this work, which was done by @umanitoba.bsky.social Orly Linovski, @njklein.bsky.social, @amyelee.com, and @bloustein.rutgers.edu Kelcie Ralph. The full paper is currently in preprint, available here osf.io/preprints/so... - and there's more to come.

osf.io

OSF

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Then there's industry-funded research and direct intervention in electoral campaigns. In internal case study research, produced for member companies, trade groups boast about electing a Houston city councilmember and stress the importance of making allies out of state Departments of Transportation.

Acknowledgment of the "ACEC Research Institute" funders, which inclue major engineering and infrastructure firms.

Billboard advertising campaign from Associated General Contractors in 2021, noting "Conor Lamb Voted to Keep you Stuck in Traffic"

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Beyond numbers, it's instructive to see the road lobby's tactics. The American Trucking Association has a year-round presence in DC, sending a state chapter to lobby every week. Contracting firms use "payroll stuffers" - messages that accompany workers' paychecks asking them to call Congress.

The research examined 8 groups - representing truckers, highway contractors, manufacturers, engineering firms, and others with vested interest in road projects. Collectively, these groups employed hundreds of lobbyists and spent over $100 million on lobbying and campaign donations in 2024.

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The Highway Lobby Spends Millions to Make Sure We Pay Billions

One reason Congress writes checks for bigger highways despite the public demanding different choices? The influence game played by the road lobby. New research summarized by @kevshen.bsky.social here (blog.ucs.org/kshen/the-hi...) scrutinizes the tactics of the DC groups pushing road construction.

blog.ucs.org

Our car-dependent transportation system is no accident.

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Steven Higashide @stevenhigashide.com · 27/03/2026

Ghost-in-the-machine-writing: AI company looking for "prestigious," award-winning writer... to do hourly gig work polishing AI-generated plays, novels, and short stories.

Screenshot of LinkedIn job posting for "Literary Writer" - an AI company looking for "prestigious," award-winning writer to do hourly gig work polishing up AI-generated plays, novels, and short stories.

Screenshot of LinkedIn job posting for "Literary Writer" - an AI company looking for "prestigious," award-winning writer to do hourly ($75-150/hour) gig work polishing up AI-generated plays, novels, and short stories.

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Reposted by Steven Higashide

Kevin Schwarzwald @kschwarzwald.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

www.curbed.com/article/mta-... A common issue that pervades a lot of app design - people in SV don’t seem to conceive of worlds where you don’t have service bc you’re underground, you run out of data completely, etc. Really great to see @mta.info move this in-house!

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Steven Higashide @stevenhigashide.com · 15/03/2026

"To commit to building public transit infrastructure is to decide to keep being a society." -David Alff www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/n...

nytimes.com

Commuters, Rejoice! The New Portal Bridge Is Ready for Riders.

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Reposted by Steven Higashide

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 08/03/2026

Everything the US moves around needs diesel fuel to power the trucks, trains, & boats: food, goods, crops, commodities, everything. Oil products powers ~90% of US transport. It's why we should electrify transport as a national security imperative: to reduce the risk of price shocks to the economy.

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Reposted by Steven Higashide

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

* U.S. JUDGE RULES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION UNLAWFULLY SOUGHT TO UNDO NEW YORK'S MANHATTAN CONGESTION PRICING PROGRAM @reuters.com

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Reposted by Steven Higashide

M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

As the guy who wrote the book on zoning abolition, I'd like to go on record as saying: if you can use zoning to stop the concentration camps, fucking go for it.

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Steven Higashide @stevenhigashide.com · 14/02/2026

And also yelling repeatedly that public transit is unsafe, exactly what you hope to see from a federal transit official

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Steven Higashide @stevenhigashide.com · 14/02/2026

He'll be remembered for his accomplishments, such as "being an administrator"

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Reposted by Steven Higashide

Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 09/02/2026

Thank you, @dorismatsui.bsky.social, for standing up for strong fuel-economy standards that save families money, cut pollution, and reduce oil dependence. Clean transportation is affordable transportation. #CleanerCars #RouteZero

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Reposted by Steven Higashide

Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 02/02/2026

💰🚗For more than a half century, fuel efficiency standards have saved US drivers money. How much money? TRILLIONS. Fuel efficient vehicles mean less expensive trips to the gas pump and more money for education, for family outings, for groceries. (🧵👇)

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Steven Higashide @stevenhigashide.com · 02/02/2026

I didn't put this in the piece because I wanted to keep the focus on what Duffy has done as secretary (those remarks date to his time as Fox News talking head). But it just reinforces the extent to which authoritarianism is a whole-of-government project for this administration.

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Steven Higashide @stevenhigashide.com · 02/02/2026

Another fact underscoring the descent of USDOT: Elaine Chao (Trump 1 transpo secretary) resigned in protest after the January 6 attacks. Sean Duffy described the 1/6 insurrectionists as people "peacefully walking, giving themselves a tour of the Capitol." www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox...

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Reposted by Steven Higashide

Wedge LIVE!™ @wedge.live · 01/02/2026

"Nobody feels like it's safe to ride the public transport, the buses, the light rail" because federal agents are stalking transit stops. "We shouldn’t have to worry if we’re going to have guns pulled on us on the way to work at all, but this is our reality.” www.youtube.com/shorts/b9Rnd...

youtube.com

Famed Indigenous chef Sean Sherman: My employee was taken.

“We were just trying to get him medication… But he was already gone.” Last week, the internationally renowned Indigenous chef Sean Sherman told reporter Nate Halverson that federal agents detained…

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Reposted by Steven Higashide

Jason Linkins @dceiver.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Can't stress enough that no arm of any GOP-controlled governing body is actively at work doing anything to improve the lives of Americans. Even the typically staid and bipartisan USDoT has been transformed into an instrument of self-dealing and revenge. newrepublic.com/article/2051...

newrepublic.com

How Trump Weaponized the Department of Transportation

The policies that govern how we get from place to place are usually immune to partisanship. This administration is using them to advance Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

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Steven Higashide @stevenhigashide.com · 30/01/2026

Interesting finding - another reminder that transportation is a network and a change in one link has wide-ranging ripples. And underscores how parochialism is the death of good transportation - politicians all want projects in "their" district but that's often not what brings the most benefit.

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Reposted by Steven Higashide

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 29/01/2026

Political scientists have a term for how Trump governs: “Competitive authoritarianism.” Like Hungary under Orbán, he was elected but uses the gov't to abuse the law. trib.al/hY3VbAW The DOT is usually immune from this partisanship. Instead, they're using it to advance Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

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And let me also note how good it felt to be in DC earlier this month as part of the Crossroads Convening, where transportation researchers and my @ucs.org colleagues came together to share some of the research that's been sidelined as part of this administration's attacks bsky.app/profile/gret...

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How Trump Weaponized the Department of Transportation

NYC Mayor Mamdani and NY Governor Hochul, in different ways, show the potential for transportation to energize a more hopeful politics. The weaponization of USDOT is one of the worst things I've seen in my transportation career. But there is a way out. Read more: newrepublic.com/article/2051...

newrepublic.com

The policies that govern how we get from place to place are usually immune to partisanship. This administration is using them to advance Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

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Luckily, courts and state attorneys general have turned back many of these attacks. And when states raise their own transportation funding–as New York has with congestion pricing and as Illinois did last fall–they can insulate themselves from some of the fallout.

As Yonah points out, USDOT is failing to advance its core responsibilities. But it’s actually much worse than Duffy focusing on pajamas - he is focused on punishing the president’s rivals. And a DOT focused on persecuting foes is not focused on improving lives. bsky.app/profile/yona...

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Bizarrely, some politicians have praised Duffy as “not as bad as the other Trump secretaries.” (www.politico.com/news/2026/01...) What’s clear to me is that he has taken USDOT to one of the darkest places in its history.

politico.com

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This is a dark turn. Even during Trump’s first term, USDOT was “an island of normalcy,” to quote one analyst. Secretary Elaine Chao did normal DOT things like celebrating grants in both red and blue states. Duffy issues partisan statements blasting a Democratic governor seemingly every week.

Duffy has been a loyal henchman in Trump’s authoritarian push. He’s tried to enlist the Transportation Department in immigration crackdowns, used its grants to support election denial, and stoked division by canceling equity-focused research and blasting blue-state transit projects as woke.