In a November 1 column in the Washington Post reproduced below, the respected economist Robert J. Samuelson attacks the Administration’s high-speed rail program as “wasteful spending masquerading as a respectable social cause.”…Samuelson’s blunt assessment appears in stark contrast to the Administration’s confident prediction, in the words of top federal transportation officials, of “a world class network of high-speed corridors” that would connect “80 percent of America in the next 25 years at a cost of $500 billion.” How can professional judgments be so diametricaly opposed and whose judgment will prevail?
View this complete post...Archive for the ‘Rail’ Category
High-Speed Rail Debate Refuses to Quiet Down
Monday, November 1st, 2010Guest on The Infra Blog: Robert Paaswell, Ph.D., Executive Director, CUNY Institute for Urban Systems
Monday, November 1st, 2010
Dr. Robert Paaswell, Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at the City College of New York, is also the founding Director of the City University Institute for Urban Systems, a major University-wide initiative to examine the intersection of new technology, changing institutional structure and innovative finance on the provision of infrastructure in the 21 st Century. Paaswell is Director Emeritus of the federally supported University Transportation Research Center (UTRC).
View this complete post...Streetfilms: Voices from the Rail~Volution (2010)
Monday, October 25th, 2010
Streetfilms was out in Portland at this year’s Rail~Volution 2010 trying to get a pulse on the transportation world by talking to a healthy dose of this year’s attendees which includes advocates, bloggers, transportation planners, industry spokespeople and members transportation agencies across the country.
View this complete post...The Miller Center Proposes a New Transportation Agenda
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010In the relentless 24/7 news cycle of the news media, the release of another policy report by a group of experts causes hardly a ripple. At best it earns a perfunctory mention by the news services and in a few trade publications, only to be buried and forgotten in the next day’s avalanche of fresh news. The report “Well Within Reach: America’s New Transportation Agenda,” published by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia on October 5, deserves a more considerate treatment. The report not only stands out because it is the product of a distinguished bipartisan group of national thought leaders in transportation but also because it shows a keen grasp of the issues surrounding contemporary transportation policy.
View this complete post...Well Within Reach: America’s New Transportation Agenda
Monday, October 4th, 2010
MILLER CENTER OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Transportation systems are the backbone of America: They keep our nation strong and moving. But we have not been taking good care of this resource. Lacking a coherent vision for our transportation future and chronically short of resources, we defer new investments, fail to plan, and allow existing systems to fall into disrepair.
Transportation Funding in a Changing Political Environment
Monday, October 4th, 2010A series of events toward the end of September addressed the challenge of inadequate transportation funding, a quandary that has long bedeviled transportation advocates. Collectively, these events paint a picture of a transportation community that is eager to increase investment in infrastructure but struggles in vain to find the means to pay for it — and probably can expect little help from the next, more fiscally conservative Congress, bent on reducing spending.
View this complete post...Relationships Between Streetcars and the Built Environment
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM
In the past 20 years, numerous cities have planned and implemented new rail transit systems. This movement has coincided with other urban regeneration trends, bringing new life to urban centers and advancing strategies to manage growth that promote more efficient patterns of development. Various forms of heavy rail, light rail, and streetcar systems have been built, many with robust ridership and popularity, owing to a rediscovery of this form of transportation, as well as concerns about growing traffic congestion, volatile fuel prices, and climate change.
More Projects and Paychecks: Transportation’s Summary of Recovery
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF STATE HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS
The transportation investment in stimulus is working—and in every state across the nation. More than $40 billion in highway and transit projects have been approved and are moving forward—almost $30 billion are under contract on 16,761 different projects. More than 63,000 direct on-project jobs have been created or sustained in August as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and states have already paid out $3.2 billion in payroll.
50 NOTABLE ROAD, RAIL, PORT, AND AIRPORT PROJECTS
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
CIVIL ENGINEERING NEWS
Stressed public budgets and delayed passage of long-term federal funding have taken a toll on many transportation infrastructure projects in the United States during the last year. Nevertheless, many significant projects are moving ahead. The inaugural CE News Transportation Projects Roadmap lists 50 notable transportation infrastructure projects in the United States — ranked by estimated cost — that are currently in some stage of planning, design, or early construction. The list includes 21 road/highway/bridge projects, 17 rail/transit projects, seven port/waterway projects, and five airport projects…
-CE News
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