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U.S. Department of Transportation
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C.
www.dot.gov/affairs/briefing.htm
Weekly News Digest
DOT 187-04
Friday, October 8, 2004
Meridian, MS, Receives Grant for First Responder Training. The City of Meridian,
MS has received approximately $350,000 from the Federal Railroad Administration
to continue and improve "first responder" emergency preparedness training
through the Southeastern Transportation Safety Center in Meridian. The center's
emergency response training curriculum is focused on disseminating "best
practices" for responding to events involving chemical, biological, nuclear,
radiological or explosive devices. The grant will permit the center to develop
new courses on passenger train interdiction and techniques to effectively
control and secure scenes during criminal or terrorist events. The center
continues to work closely with Amtrak and freight railroads in developing and
conducting training for emergency responders across the southeast United States.
Contact: Steve Kulm: (202) 493-6024.
Federal Highway Administrator Names Top Traffic Information Web Sites. The
nation’s top highway official named Web sites in Maryland, Houston and San
Antonio as the nation’s best Internet destinations for providing drivers with
the most useful and up-to-date information on road and traffic conditions. “We
want to give drivers the tools they need to avoid traffic jams and get to where
they want to go safely and quickly,” said Federal Highway Administrator Mary E.
Peters. The three Web sites recognized are Maryland’s CHART
www.chart.state.md.us, Houston’s TranStar www.houstontranstar.org and San
Antonio’s TransGuide www.transguide.dot.state.tx.us. Contact: Nancy Singer:
(202) 366-0660.