Former highway chief named transportation secretary

[krispos42]

POSTED: 12:49 p.m. EDT, September 5, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush has chosen Mary Peters, a former federal highway administrator, to succeed Norman Mineta as secretary of transportation, a senior administration official said Tuesday.

<snip>

Peters spent three years directing the Arizona Department of Transportation, where she worked her way up through the ranks during a 16-year career there. Since November, Peters has been national director for transportation policy and consulting in the Phoenix office of Omaha-based architectural, engineering and consulting firm HDR Inc., according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement had not been made.

Peters, who was chief of the Federal Highway Administration from 2001 to 2005, fills a Cabinet seat left open when Mineta left the job in July after six years on the job. Bush wanted to announce his choice as the Senate returned from its August recess so the confirmation process could begin.

Peters is an advocate of user fees, or tolls, for building new highways. In a recent interview, she said that the federal highway program will run out of money by decade's end without substantial changes and, rather than raise taxes, some states are turning to toll roads already to fill gaps.

"You just can't depend on the federal government to bring the money in that was around when the interstate system was first built," Peters said.

<more>

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/05/transportation.secretary.ap/index.html

Oh, goody goody goody... more tolls.

Well, I guess that was inevitable. With hybrids and electric cars using the roads but not paying much gas tax, we pay somehow for our crappy highways, right? And the best way to do that is to put up a police checkpoint full of cameras. And it will be conviently tied to your credit card so the government can track when and where you go.

Because GOD FORBID we simply read the odometer each time electrics get their car's registration renewed and charge a penny or two a mile. Nope, gotta have that checkpoint.

How long before they add a drug-sniffing device and an X-ray machine to look for guns and bombs to those tolls? Or am I just being way to paranoid?

[BOSSHOG]

1. Wow, she's just a quote machine

"Rather than raise taxes, some states are turning to toll roads." No cost to the public there.

"You just can't depend on the federal government to bring the money in" so sayeth a member of the administration that spends at least a billion dollars a week on a failed foreign policy.

No doubt, she will be just a wonderful fit to the bush adminstration. She'll do a heckuva job.

[eleny]

2. so does this put the Mexico to Canada highway on the fast track?

And she's for toll roads, too. That bodes badly for Colorado where they want to build one of those monsters alongside I-25. Farm and ranch owners are up in arms. That demographic is traditionally Republican out here. Having their land appropriated for a toll road by their "boy" must be a kick in the head.

[jpak]

3. Build us an Interstate Passenger Rail System

and forget the toll roads...

[snooper2]

4. you are being too paranoid..

I don't mind the tollway's we have around Dallas, perfect concrete lanes, well maintained, and the best way to travel around town. I am trying to get the visual of a drug sniffing dog checking my truck as I go through the toll at 75 MPH....

Of course anything that changes while Chimpy is in office is by default suspect, and probably a bad idea.

[Omaha Steve]

5. Bush Taps Peters for Transportation

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060905/D8JUV63O0.html

Bush Taps Peters for Transportation
Email this Story

Sep 5, 5:58 PM (ET)

By DEB RIECHMANN

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Tuesday picked Mary Peters to be the nation's new transportation secretary, a Cabinet position that took on more prominence after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

If confirmed by the Senate, Peters, a former federal highway administrator who had explored a run for governor of Arizona, will succeed Norman Mineta, who stepped down in July.

"The secretary of transportation plays an important role in our nation's coordinated efforts to guard against terrorist threats to our aircraft, our seaports and our infrastructure," Bush said. "It is a job that requires vision and strong leadership. Mary Peters is the right person for this job."


Then-Federal Highway Administration administrator Mary Peters is shown on the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston, in this March 27. 2003 file photo. President Bush has chosen Peters, a former federal highway administrator, to succeed Norman Mineta as secretary of transportation, a senior administration official said Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki, File)


Peters spent three years directing the Arizona Department of Transportation, where she worked her way through the ranks during a more than 15-year career there. Since November, she has been national director for transportation policy and consulting in the Phoenix office of HDR Inc., an architectural, engineering and consulting firm based in Omaha, Neb. She was chief of the Federal Highway Administration from 2001 to 2005.

FULL story at link above.

[karlrschneider]

6. Hmph, I thought he tapped peters for titillation...

...

[Deja Q]

7. Drat. You beat me to it. (or did you, um, tapped me to it?)

:rofl: