A few months ago, I was in Baltimore for a summit conducted by the Regional Plan Association on the Northeast Megaregion maintaining its economic competitiveness while addressing climate change. Rep. Earl Blumenauer had one bit of narrative that stuck with me about our nation’s history of rising to the challenge of infrastructure with visionary plans … Continued
How can we cut our emissions, fuel consumption, while also reducing congestion and providing more space for jobs and housing? The US EPA’s smart growth office released a new study (5 mb pdf) examining the impact that good infill development can have on reducing transportation demand and lowering emissions. In some ways, this study picks … Continued
If you, like a majority of Americans, think that any proposal to suspend the gas tax is a bad idea — bad for the environment, bad for our infrastructure, bad for our dependence on foreign oil, and bad for our wallets— you’ll be interested to see an online petition that was sent to us today: … Continued
The situation: Bridges are falling down, traffic congestion is worsening, gains in fuel efficiency are reducing gas tax revenues, worthwhile transit projects are sitting on the shelf, and the Highway Trust Fund — funded by the 18.5 cents a gallon gas tax that is already inadequate for funding transportation investments — is about to run … Continued
If the king tells you to “jump!” you say, “how high?” And when Warren Buffett tells you to buy something you say “how much?” So when Buffet, one of the kings of investing, starts putting his money into freight railroads, financial analysts take note. Michael Sivy of CNN Money correctly observes some of the competitive … Continued
Expectedly, there was plenty of interesting commentary on yesterday’s feature in the Washington Post on political appointee Tyler Duvall and the Department of Transportation’s attempts to steer America towards the privatization of transportation infrastructure. Ryan Avent sees a problem, perceiving that the issue is painted as a decision between roadway pricing OR transit. (It’s worth … Continued
While New York City has been in the news lately for their plan to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan, what you don’t know about the experiment may surprise you. It wasn’t just the brainchild of a progressive city government committed to reducing vehicle traffic and congestion in a portion of the city with great transit … Continued
Click the video to watch a recent CBS News piece on the growing use of passenger rail Retailers of scale like Wal-Mart and Target survive on small margins. The rate of profit may be small, but selling a bazillion units of everything adds up to a tidy sum at the end of the day. In … Continued
Highways like these in San Antonio get built with federal highway funds. President Bush’s proposed budget for the 2009 fiscal year contained an alarming provision for “fixing” the transportation funding crisis. Unfortunately, the solution is akin to putting a band-aid on a gaping wound while also cutting off an arm. Without getting too deep into … Continued
The Alaskan Way Viaduct is a three story barrier, separating Seattle from its historic waterfront. Continuing the thread started yesterday on urban freeways and the CNU Teardown Survey, we have a guest blogger today. Cary Moon is the co-founder and director of the People’s Waterfront Coalition, which is a grassroots group that formed a few … Continued