Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced funding for 191 new Recovery Act transit projects in 42 states and Puerto Rico that will help transform the nation's infrastructure and support thousands of jobs across the country. In making the over $600 million in new awards, the Federal Transit Administration met an aggressive deadline to award 100 percent of its Recovery Act transit formula dollars by March 5.

U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured a commitment from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to work with her, state, and local officials in an effort to keep the important Maine, Montreal & Atlantic Railway operating in Northern Maine. Secretary LaHood pledged to send the Federal Railroad Administrator to Maine to work on a plan to keep the railway operating.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, the representative of Lower Manhattan and the senior Northeastern member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said  there will be $156 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for the Fulton Street Transit Center in Manhattan. These federal funds, which Nadler supported, will be used for construction and improvements of the new Downtown transit hub. Improvements will focus on connections between stations, passageways, platforms, systems, and restoration of the historic Corbin building.

A federal investigation has identified pervasive flaws in rail safety at Metro and severe inadequacies in the agency responsible for oversight. Findings released March 4 call for widespread changes in how the nation's second-busiest subway system is supervised and managed, the Washington Post reports.

On March 5, Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-Ill) joined House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and IDOT Secretary Gary Hannig for the groundbreaking on the Englewood Flyover, which is now expected to begin this year thanks to $133 million in new federal funding.

Engineers who design facilities and structures live in a cycle of planning and planning again, the BNSF electronic employee newsletter reports. But sometimes, even with the best of planning and looking "around the corner," a surprise comes along that requires a different approach. That's what happened with the Burlington, Iowa, bridge project, which involves rebuilding a bridge originally built in 1867-1868.

MTA Long Island Rail Road customers using the busy Ronkonkoma Station now have almost 300 new parking spots available to them thanks to completion of a railroad-funded renovation project on the northeast side of the tracks in the Town of Brookhaven. The rehabilitation of the former dirt lot included drainage, curbs, asphalt paving, sidewalks, lighting, striping, signage, fencing and landscaping.

Hundreds - perhaps thousands - of old creosote-soaked railroad ties dumped along a 30-mile stretch of the Deschutes River may be removed in coming months thanks to persistent cage-­rattling by Eugene, Ore., businessman and clean-water enthusiast John Brown, The Eugene Register-Guard reports.

IMPulse NC LLC promoted of Jeffrey Wharton to president. Wharton previously served as executive vice president and general manager for the company. He has more than 30 years of transit construction and manufacturing experience and currently serves on the board of directors of the American Public Transportation Association, and as Chair of the APTA Business Member's Business Development Committee.