Hitch up the bus

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta launched National Transportation Week today by starting on a weeklong bus tour. The week honors the efforts of the transportation community who helped restore America’s transportation system after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and continue to keep the traveling public safe. During the tour, Mineta will participate in events in Pittsburgh; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis and St. Louis.

On May 13, he will throw out the first pitch at a baseball game in Pittsburgh between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Arizona Diamondbacks. He will also be on hand on May 14 for the grand opening of the Central Ohio Transit Authority’s Easton Transit Center.

National Transportation Week will run from Sunday, May 12, through Saturday, May 18.

To kick off the bus tour, Mineta announced an $11 million grant of federal discretionary funds to improve safety and reduce congestion on the 14th Street bridges connecting Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia on heavily traveled I-395. The announcement was held at the Jefferson Memorial.

Under the grant, safety improvements will be made to the bridge interchanges where I-395 meets them from the Virginia and District of Columbia sides, as well as improvements to the nearby Humpback Bridge on the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which intersects I-395.