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Archive for the ‘National’ Category

Subsidizing Congestion: The Multibillion-Dollar Tax Subsidy That’s Making Your Commute Worse

Wednesday, November 19th, 2014

TABLE 1: CAPSULE HISTORY OF PARKING AND TRANSIT TAX BENEFITS

TRANSITCENTER
Ultimately, the effect of the tax benefit for commuter parking is to subsidize traffic congestion by parking roughly 820,000 more cars on America’s most congested roads in its most congested cities at the most congested times of day. It delivers the greatest benefits to those who need them least, typically upper-income Americans, and costs $7.3 billion in reduced tax revenue that must be made up through cuts in government programs, a higher deficit, or increases in taxes on other Americans.

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Tags: Congestion, Parking, TransitCenter
Posted in Congestion, Equity, Funding, National, Policy

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Climate Change & Resilience: Recommendations to the President

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

High tide flooding in Broward County, Florida. Photo Credit: Paul Krashefski.

PRESIDENT’S STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL LEADERS TASK FORCE ON CLIMATE PREPAREDNESS AND RESILIENCE
At state, local, tribal, and territorial levels, leaders are making bold decisions on ways to invest in more resilient infrastructure, revise land use, update building codes, and adjust natural resource management and other practices to improve the resilience of their communities to climate impacts. The Federal Government has a critical role to play in supporting these efforts by ensuring that Federal policies and programs incorporate climate change, incentivize and remove barriers to community resilience, and provide the information and assistance communities need to understand and prepare for climate risks.

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Tags: Flooding, Obama Administration, President's State Local and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience
Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Infra Views, National, Smart Grid, Smart Growth, Sustainability

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Computer and Internet Use in the United States

Thursday, November 13th, 2014

Figure 3. Percentage of Households by Type of Internet Subscription: 2013

UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU
As part of the 2008 Broadband Data Improvement Act, the U.S. Census Bureau began asking about computer and Internet use in the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS). Federal agencies use these statistics to measure and monitor the nationwide development of broadband networks and to allocate resources intended to increase access to broadband technologies, particularly among groups with traditionally low levels of access. State and local governments can use these statistics for similar purposes. Understanding how people in specific cities and towns use computers and the Internet will help businesses and nonprofits better serve their communities as well.

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Tags: American Community Survey Reports, Internet, United States Census Bureau
Posted in Broadband, Infra Views, National, Technology, Telecommunications

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Transportation Policy and Funding in the Post-Election Climate

Wednesday, November 12th, 2014

Innovation Newsbriefs
Vol. 25, No. 15
The mid-term elections have put an end to any lingering hope of passing a long-term transportation bill during the congressional lame duck session. Such hope was recently expressed by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, and two Democratic senators, Tom Carper (D-DE) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee…But with the November elections heralding a fiscally more conservative political climate and with Congress preoccupied with a whole lot of unfinished business, passing a massive multi-year multi-billion funding bill for transportation during the lame duck session will be the last thing on the lawmakers’ minds.

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Tags: Anthony Foxx, C. Kenneth Orski, Congress, Innovation Newsbriefs, Ken Orski
Posted in Funding, Guest Post, Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Policy, The Infra Blog

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Mapping Freight: The Highly Concentrated Nature of Goods Trade in the United States

Tuesday, November 11th, 2014

Figure 2. Top 1 Percent of Trade Corridors Based on Value, Domestic Corridors Only, 2010

METROPOLITAN POLICY PROGRAM
BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
Each year, the United States moves over $20 trillion in goods weighing over 17 billion tons between hundreds of metropolitan, non-metropolitan, and international regions. It does so using an extensive network of freight assets: over 4 million miles of highways, local roads, railways, navigable waterways, and pipelines; hundreds of seaports and airports; and thousands of intermodal facilities to tie the network together. Without this network, it would be impossible for regional economies to trade goods and reach their full economic potential.

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Tags: Brookings Institution, Freight, Global Cities Initiative, Metropolitan Policy Program
Posted in Highway, Infra Views, National, Policy, Roads

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Options For Increasing Surface Transportation Revenue

Monday, November 10th, 2014

Policy Optimality Considerations for Federal Revenue Options ($ in billions)

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF STATE HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS (AASHTO)
In an attempt to provide a viable solution to the surface transportation funding debacle, this post offers a matrix of dozens of possible methods of funding surface transportation in the U.S., including the few that are already being implemented along with the many that have yet to be explored.

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Tags: AASHTO, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, VMT Tax
Posted in Funding, Infra Views, National, Policy, Tax

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Rising Waters, Rising Threat: How Climate Change Endangers America’s Neglected Wastewater Infrastructure

Thursday, November 6th, 2014

The frequency of extreme precipitation events in the United States is increasing

CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS
As climate change strains aging sewer systems around the country through increasingly severe weather and sea-level rise, the resilience of wastewater infrastructure is becoming a critical public and environmental health issue for communities and municipal and state governments.

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Tags: CAP, Center for American Progress, Flooding
Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Climate Change, Environment, Infra Views, National, Wastewater

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National ‘Bicyclist Safety’ report gets actual safety trends backwards

Thursday, October 30th, 2014

By Michael Andersen, News Editor, BikePortland.org

A report released by the Governors Highway Safety Association Monday is a perfect example of what can go wrong when safety experts get stuck behind their own windshields. The GHSA, an umbrella organization for state departments of transportation whose claims to fame include popularizing the phrase “aggressive pedestrians,” is surely staffed by smart people who are working hard to reduce injuries and deaths. But the problems in this report start right at the top.

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Tags: Bicycling, BikePortland.org, Cycling, GHSA, Governors Highway Safety Association, Michael Andersen, safety
Posted in Biking, Guest Post, National, The Infra Blog

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Strengthening the EPA’s Clean Power Plan

Thursday, October 23rd, 2014

FIGURE 1. The EPA’s Renewable Energy Targets under Its Proposed Clean Power Plan Are Modest

UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS
This brief outlines a better way to make the most of renewable energy in the Clean Power Plan, and to strengthen its state renewable energy targets as the cost of sources such as wind and solar power decline. The UCS proposal builds on the EPA’s approach while utilizing the latest available market data, demonstrated rates of growth in renewable energy, and existing state commitments to deploy renewables. Using our recommended modifications, the EPA could nearly double the amount of cost-effective renewable energy in their state targets—from 12 per-cent of total 2030 U.S. electric sales to 23 percent (Figure 1, p. 3).

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Tags: CAA, Clean Air Act, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Union of Concerned Scientists
Posted in Carbon Tax, Clean Air, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Infra Views, National, Pollution

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Natural Defenses from Hurricanes and Floods: Protecting America’s Communities and Ecosystems in an Era of Extreme Weather

Tuesday, October 21st, 2014

Figure 1. Natural and nature-based features at a glance.

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION
This report represents a collaborative effort of the National Wildlife Federation, Allied World Assurance Company, and Earth Economics to address the mounting risks of flooding and hurricanes to U.S. communities. Specifically, this report focuses on the U.S. coasts and coastal waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico and the nation’s extensive network of rivers and streams –places where millions of Americans live and work. It asks whether federal, state, and local officials are paying enough attention to the growing threats of floods and hurricanes across the country and whether they are using the policy tools at their disposal to protect people and property endangered by these potentially-catastrophic natural hazards.

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Tags: Allied World Insurance Company, Earth Economics, Flooding, Hurricanes, National Wildlife Federation
Posted in Climate Change, Environment, Green, Infra Views, National, Sustainability

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Archive for the ‘National’ Category

Subsidizing Congestion: The Multibillion-Dollar Tax Subsidy That’s Making Your Commute Worse

Climate Change & Resilience: Recommendations to the President

Computer and Internet Use in the United States

Transportation Policy and Funding in the Post-Election Climate

Mapping Freight: The Highly Concentrated Nature of Goods Trade in the United States

Options For Increasing Surface Transportation Revenue

Rising Waters, Rising Threat: How Climate Change Endangers America’s Neglected Wastewater Infrastructure

National ‘Bicyclist Safety’ report gets actual safety trends backwards

Strengthening the EPA’s Clean Power Plan

Natural Defenses from Hurricanes and Floods: Protecting America’s Communities and Ecosystems in an Era of Extreme Weather

CATEGORIES

Dear Friends,

InfrastructureUSA.org is a non-profit, online community whose mission is to bring together infrastructure experts, industry leaders, government officials and most especially interested citizens, to participate in vigorous conversation and generate action to address the U.S. infrastructure crisis.

Support for InfrastructureUSA.org has been provided by these organizations and individuals:

Archive for the ‘National’ Category

CATEGORIES

Dear Friends,

Support for InfrastructureUSA.org
has been provided by these organizations and individuals: