Written by Shane Phillips
The U.S. Department of Transportation is reporting that driving is at a six-year high, but beware the hype. As James Brasuell at Planetizen notes, these numbers are not adjusted for population and thus don’t account for the growing number of residents living in the country. As always, the better question to ask is how much the average American is driving, and the answer to that is the same as it’s been for years: less and less.
The Infra Blog
No, Americans Are (Still) Not Driving More
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014Vote for Your Favorite Transportation Photo
Friday, August 29th, 2014
AASHTO’S Faces of Transportation photo/video contest is closed to submissions this year, but you can still participate in history by voting for your favorite entry. Whichever photo gets the most votes will win of the “People’s Choice Award,” and the photographer will receive a $500 prize.
View this complete Infra Blog post...Guest on The Infra Blog: Jenny Hoffner, Senior Director and Co-Lead, Clean Water Supply Program, American Rivers
Wednesday, August 27th, 2014
Jenny Hoffner is Senior Director and Co-Lead of American Rivers’ Clean Water Supply program leading a national program to advance climate resilient, predictable, reliable clean water supply policies for communities and their rivers.
“Water is life. We take it for granted in our country but it’s absolutely essential that we pay attention to this most precious and finite of resources…And we have increased demands across the board on our finite water supplies.”
View this complete Infra Blog post...The High-Speed Rail Debate Revisited
Tuesday, August 19th, 2014Innovation Newsbriefs
Vol. 25, No. 12
Two recent columns in the New York Times (both reprinted below) have revived the semi-dormant debate about the future of high-speed rail in America. The first column, by New York Times correspondent Ron Nixon, casts a skeptical eye on the Administration’s high-speed rail program and concludes that “despite the administration spending nearly $11 billion since 2009….the projects have gone mostly nowhere…”
The second column, closely following the first, is an opinion piece by the Times’ editorial board. The editors may have felt obliged to respond to the highly critical assessment of the White House initiative by one of their own reporters.
View this complete Infra Blog post...San Francisco Bay: Interactive Map Makes Bike Share Easy
Friday, August 15th, 2014
For travelers, visitors, or even die-hard fans who want to make the most of their San Francisco Bay area bike share experience, the BABS (Bay Area Bike Share) map is the ticket…Industry stakeholders and planners can also make use of BABS data to predict demand and model bike-share user behavior, hopefully resulting in a smoother, more efficient–and more profitable–experience for everyone.
View this complete Infra Blog post...Guest on The Infra Blog: Terry Bennett, Senior Industry Program Manager, Civil Engineering & Planning, Autodesk
Wednesday, August 6th, 2014
Terry D. Bennett, LS LPF MRICS ENV SP LEED AP, is the senior industry program manager and lead strategist for civil infrastructure at Autodesk. He is responsible for setting the company’s future vision and strategy for technology serving the planning, surveying, civil engineering and heavy construction industries, as well as cultivating and sustaining the firm’s relationships with strategic industry leaders and associations.
“…Many of the answers will be found by reconnecting the American people with the many economic, social, and even environmental aspects of infrastructure and its investment. Today’s challenge is really about renewing our vision for how to balance natural and man-made infrastructure, and how to leverage both to enhance our future condition…”
View this complete Infra Blog post...Making the Grade – Civil Infrastructure Industry Leaders Weigh In on Plan to Fix America’s Failing Infrastructure
Thursday, July 31st, 2014
On June 27th in Washington D.C., a new report was released that outlines innovative new ways that the federal government, industry and other stakeholders can work together to solve the crisis of the failing state of U.S. infrastructure. Entitled “Making The Grade,” the six point plan is the result of experts from 45 different organizations, including corporations, professional organizations, think tanks, financial advisors and academic institutions.
The report’s name is intended as a rallying cry in response to last year’s quadrennial report card by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which gave America’s overall infrastructure a D+ grade. Several of the report’s contributors continued the rallying cry in a #FlashBlog event last week. Following is a summary:
View this complete Infra Blog post...Guest on The Infra Blog: Frank Moretti, Director of Policy and Research, TRIP
Tuesday, July 29th, 2014
Frank Moretti is the director of policy and research for TRIP – a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization that prepares reports on a variety of transportation issues, including traffic congestion, traffic safety, road and bridge conditions, transportation planning and air quality.
“The nation is increasingly reliant on its rural economy…and as that dynamic is changing we wanted to take a look at the nation’s transportation system and see if we have in place a rural transportation system that can support not only the rural economy, but the nation’s economy moving forward.”
View this complete Infra Blog post...12 U.S. DOT Secretaries Speak, But Won’t Agree on a “Fix”
Monday, July 28th, 2014Innovation Newsbriefs
Vol. 25, No. 10
The 12 bipartisan secretaries allude in their letter to their combined experience stretching back over 35 years. Indeed, they arguably have more institutional knowledge, experience and expertise in transportation funding than the whole current Congress combined. Their coming together at this moment also bespeaks to their above-the-fray non-partisanship and general collegiality…So the obvious question for them is: Why can’t they, or why won’t they, make a single substantive consensus recommendation on exactly how transportation funding should be increased?
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