John Hennessy III,
P.E.
To celebrate its 50th Anniversary, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is launching the “Engineering for You (E4U)” video contest to highlight how engineering innovations serve human welfare and the needs of society. The main prize is $25,000 and the contest will run from Nov. 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014. Learn More at www.e4uvideocontest.org
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This video highlights how the trading of goods is the lifeblood of metropolitan economies. The Metro Freight research series by the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings assesses goods trade at the metropolitan scale. It uses a unique and comprehensive database to capture all the goods moving in and out of U.S. metropolitan areas, both domestically and beyond. The reports in the series will describe which goods move between metropolitan areas, how they move via different modes of transportation, and uncover the specific trading relationships between U.S. metropolitan areas as well as their global counterparts.
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Transportation Issues Daily
The Senate passed its version of a maritime transportation bill (WRDA) last May. The House begins debating its bill (WRRDA) today, so we don’t yet know what the final language will be…But based on the version coming to the House floor for debate, here are five key differences between the two proposals which have financial implications. The first four come courtesy of the Congressional Budget Office, in its Cost Estimate report. The CBO is nonpartisan and produces “independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process.” The fifth difference is one we’ve written about before, and follow the CBO section.
POST CARBON INSTITUTE
This study explored how some municipalities that are already leading the way on sustainability are now understanding and applying the concept of resilience. Senior staff at fourteen selected municipalities of various regions and sizes were surveyed on their communities’ perceived risks and vulnerabilities, and how these were being addressed.
Worried that there’s not enough charging infrastructure to keep your EV going? PlugShare’s user-updated, interactive map serves a dual purpose: to help drivers plan their trips by locating residential and commercial charging stations, and to help us improve our EV infra by serving as a visual guide to where more stations are needed. A quick glance at the map establishes the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest as EV hotspots, while trips around non-mainland states or rural plains states like Wyoming and Montana would still be best accomplished in an old-fashioned gas-guzzler.
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On October 29 – 31, 2013, over 500+ executives will gather at the 5th North American Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum, in Washington, DC to discuss the Top 100 infrastructure projects in North America. Total project values will exceed $500 billion. The North American Forum is a dynamic 2.5 day event, focused on infrastructure development in the US, Canada and Mexico, while facilitating business and promoting projects across the region.
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INTERNATIONAL DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION
Downtowns across the United States are thriving. From Boston to San Diego, Seattle to Miami, cities are diversifying their economies and land use, restoring and enlivening public spaces. During the last three decades, city centers have been adding arts, culture, dining, education, medical, and research institutions, along with hospitality, leisure, and sports venues. Simultaneously, there has been a dramatic and sustained increase in residents, living both within business districts and adjacent neighborhoods.
BROOKINGS INSTITUTION by Clifford Winston Introduction Transportation is a friction—a cost in both money and time—that must be incurred by individuals and firms to complete almost any market transaction. An efficient and extensive transportation system greatly enriches the standard of living in modern society by reducing the cost of nearly everything in the economy; expanding […]
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Vol. 24, No. 13 (update)
In the longer run, greater state fiscal autonomy and financial sophistication could modify the federal-state relationship in transportation. There would be less need for direct financial aid to state DOTs and more emphasis on credit assistance to support transportation investments of truly national scope and significance. (High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor comes to mind). At the same time, federal oversight of state transportation programs could be reduced to reflect the smaller federal fiscal footprint.
“You can’t say ‘Okay, we have X amount of money, go do something. You have to spend it within a year.’ I think the debate got caught up into not looking at long-range infrastructure projects that are sustainable and allow a much more efficient operation dealing with sustainability of businesses using the infrastructure or the private sector…America has to get back because it’s not just the roads, it’s the water systems, it’s the energy systems, it’s transportation, its looking at things and how, with sustainability, we can be more efficient.”
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