The Infra Blog

Skepticism About High-Speed Rail Is Growing

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

“Spend first, answer questions later.” So concludes a critical editorial in the January 12 edition of the Washington Post, commenting on California’s proposed $43 billion High-Speed Rail program. The Post editorial, along with a January 11 article in the New York Times (both of which we reprint below), are emblematic of the increasingly skeptical press and public opinion concerning the fiscal and economic soundness of the Obama Administration’s high-speed rail initiative.

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How far will public transit take you? Ask Mapnificent

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

Mapnificent is an interactive tool that lets you see how far you can go with public transit in a given amount of time. Info is available for most major American cities.

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The Uncertain Future of the High-Speed Rail Program

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

The Illinois Department of Transportation has reached a cooperative agreement with Union Pacific and Amtrak that will permit the release of a $1.1 billion federal high-speed rail grant to the state of Illinois to fund passenger rail improvements between Chicago and St. Louis. The agreement was proclaimed by state and federal officials as “historic” and hailed as “one giant step closer to achieving high-speed passenger service between Chicago and St. Louis.” But stripped of its rhetoric, the announcement only reveals how inadequate and cost-ineffective the Administration’s “high–speed” program is turning out to be.

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Interactive Map: TIGER Awardees

Monday, January 3rd, 2011
TIGER Recipients

“Almost all of these projects have two things in common,” said T4 America director James Corless. ”They will all create desperately-needed jobs while building critical transportation infrastructure, and they have a hard time getting funded under the outdated structure of the current federal transportation program.”
-James Corless, Director, T4America

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Infra Wishes for the New Year

Friday, December 31st, 2010
4th of July Fireworks 2010 - Portland Oregon

-Elected officials will recognize that clogged highways, chocked air space and inadequate public transit systems have no political party affiliation.
-Investments to refurbish and create new infrastructure projects will be viewed as an ideal and necessary way to spend our tax dollars.

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A Brief Timeline of HSR Funding

Thursday, December 30th, 2010
train

April, 2009: The Obama Administration’s vision for high-speed rail (VIDEO) April, 2009: Department of Transportation’s strategic plan for high-speed rail Jan, 2010:  ARRA grants $8 Billion for HSR development October, 2010: Department of Transportation announces additional $2.4 for HSR November, 2010: State governments in Ohio & Wisconsin refuse HSR funds December, 2010: Department of Transportation […]

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Interactive Map: Aging Oil Infra in the Gulf

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
Aging Oil Rigs and Pipelines

An interactive map from the Wall Street Journal displays the location and age of offshore oil rigs, roughly half of which are “20 years old or more, and a third date back to the 1970s or earlier, long before the development of modern construction standards.”

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Broadband Visualized: States Map High-Speed Internet Data

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
map

Broadband.gov’s map shows broadband availability around the country, and many states are displaying their own broadband data on interactive maps.

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Infrastructure for EVs

Monday, December 27th, 2010

Electric cars (EVs) are becoming more practical (see the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf ), making EV infrastructure more of a necessity.

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The Outlook for the Federal Transportation Program in the Next Congress

Monday, December 20th, 2010

Innovation NewsBriefs Vol. 21, No. 32 Remarks by Kenneth Orski, Editor-Publisher of Innovation NewsBriefs before the Transportation Leaders session at the National Conference of State Legislatures, Phoenix, AZ, December 9, 2010 Broadly speaking, we can expect the changing balance of power in the next Congress to manifest itself in two ways: a strong push to […]

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