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Archive for the ‘Smart Growth’ Category

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Bridging the Gap: Restoring and Rebuilding the Nation’s Bridges

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
picture-11

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF STATE HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS

Almost a year ago, we as a nation were stunned and saddened by the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis that took 13 lives, injured 144 others, and disrupted the life of a great city.

In the intervening year we have watched with pride the way in which federal, state, and city transportation agencies, contractors, and construction teams have worked night and day to bring to life a new bridge, unsurpassed in technology and design.

Also in the past year we in the transportation industry have looked even more closely at the safety and sustainability of America’s 590,000 bridges for today and into the future.
This report was developed by the men and women of the state departments of transportation to share that inside look with you.

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Posted in Accountability, Aging Infrastructure, Bridges, Funding, Highway, Local, National, Policy, Roads, Smart Growth, Transit, Uncategorized, Urban Planning

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Too Much Debt: Washington State Can’t Finance Major Highway Projects It Has Planned

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
picture-7

COALITION FOR A SUSTAINABLE SR 520
SR 520 is one of two east-west roadways across Lake Washington. Approximately 115,000 vehicles carrying 190,000 people travel the SR 520 Evergreen Point Bridge every day.

Washington is dangerously close to its constitutional debt limit. SR 520 is dangerously close to the end of its useful life. The state is advocating a construction plan that can’t legally be paid for.

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Posted in Accountability, Funding, Highway, Infra Views, Land Use, Local, Policy, Roads, Smart Growth, Urban Planning

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Gov. Ed Rendell: Rebuild our Infrastructure

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
By Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell
Most schools are out for a summer break after final grades were toted home in students’ backpacks throughout the country. Around the same time, America got its infrastructure report card — and the results aren’t good.

Imagine sitting around the kitchen table reviewing Junior’s grades. His last report card shows a cumulative average of D. As a family, parent, teacher or community, wouldn’t we do all we could to try to help this student improve? Of course we would.

It’s the same with the state of the country’s infrastructure. Consider some of these “grades,” as reported in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ most recent infrastructure report card: transit, D; energy, D+; dams, D; bridges, C; aviation, D; drinking water, D-; hazardous waste, D; schools, D; and wastewater, D-.

I’d say this defines our infrastructure situation as one in crisis.

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Posted in Accountability, Aging Infrastructure, Bridges, Clean Air, Drinking Water, Employment, Funding, Highway, Jobs, Local, National, Policy, Public Transportation, Smart Growth, The Infra Blog, Transit, Urban Planning, Water Treatment

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Thermal Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act of 2010: Economics and Impacts

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
U.S. District Energy Fuel Consumption by Fuel Type

INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT ENERGY ASSOCIATION (IDEA)
Even if a U.S. climate bill is passed in 2010, it is likely to be many years before a cap-and-trade system has an impact on energy use. With continued uncertainties regarding U.S. climate legislation, it is now more essential than ever that the U.S. implements other policies that move us toward reduced fossil fuel consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The Thermal Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act of 2010 will stimulate increased use of renewable energy sources to heat and cool buildings throughout the country.

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Posted in Clean Air, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Funding, Green, Infra Views, Land Use, Local, National, Policy, Public Transportation, Smart Growth, Sustainability, Technology, Urban Planning

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Video: Green City, Clean Waters

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

When it rains in the City of Brotherly Love, problems soon follow because more than half the city has “combined” sewers – pipes that carry both storm water and sewage. When it rains, the system fills quickly. The surplus, which includes raw sewage and road oil, backs up into basements and gushes untreated into rivers through 164 overflow pipes.

Instead of going the route of many other cities and building miles-long, multibillion-dollar tunnels to hold storm-water overflows–and then pumping it back into the system when the rain stops–Philadelphia’s 20-year stormwater management plan is based on “green infrastructure” and offers benefits that can be appreciated above the ground.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Drinking Water, Environment, Green, Inland Waterways, Land Use, Local, Policy, Show Us Your Infra, Smart Growth, Sustainability, Urban Planning, Wastewater, Water Treatment

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State Transportation Reform: How Advocates Are Winning

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Transportation Advocates by Type of Organization

TRI-STATE TRANSPORTATION CAMPAIGN

As long as states are responsible for building and maintaining our country’s surface transportation system, they remain the central actors in transportation decision making and are the lynchpin for any lasting reform. The ability to influence policies, projects and spending decisions at the state level matters.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Biking, Equity, Funding, Highway, Infra Views, Local, National, Policy, Public Transportation, Rail, Roads, Smart Growth, Transit, Urban Planning

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The Globalization of Traffic Congestion

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Rather Be Working

IBM
The question now is: what is to be done? More fuel efficient cars, more public transportation, more ridesharing, more telecommuting are all good steps – but hardly enough. And it is clear that the traditional remedies for road congestion – adding a lane or building a new road – have proven to be just a temporary fix before congestion returns. Technology can help. For the first time in history, digital and physical infrastructures are converging. As a result, we are now able to understand large, complex systems that previously resisted investigation – systems as diverse as waterways, oilfields, and transportation networks.

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Posted in Competitiveness, Congestion, Global, Infra Views, National, Private Investment, Public Transportation, Smart Growth, Technology

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The Accidental Legacy of the High-Speed Rail Program

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

…the HSR initiative could turn out to be of considerable economic benefit to the nation — but not quite in the way the program has been sold to the public and not exactly in the manner it is still being envisioned by the Conference of Mayors and other passenger rail boosters.

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Posted in Competitiveness, High Speed Rail, Innovation Newsbriefs, National, Policy, Rail, Recovery, Smart Growth, The Infra Blog, Transit

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Next Stop: California – The Benefits of High-Speed Rail Around the World and What’s in Store for California

Thursday, July 1st, 2010
Energy Consumption

CALPIRG
As California moves toward construction of a new high-speed rail network, the state has much to learn from experiences abroad. High-speed rail lines have operated for more than 45 years in Japan and for three decades in Europe, providing a wealth of information about what California can expect from highspeed rail … and how the state can receive the greatest possible benefits from its investment.

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Posted in Environment, Global, Green, High Speed Rail, Infra Views, Local, National, Rail, Smart Growth

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Guest on The Infra Blog: Ronald DeFeo, Chairman and CEO, Terex Corporation

Thursday, June 24th, 2010
defeo-ron

Ronald DeFeo is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Terex Corporation. Terex Corporation is a manufacturing franchise serving the construction, infrastructure, quarrying, recycling, mining, shipping, transportation, refining, utility, and maintenance industries.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Aviation, Competitiveness, Congestion, Guests on The Infra Blog, High Speed Rail, National, Policy, Private Investment, Public Opinion, Public Transportation, Rail, Smart Growth, The Infra Blog, Transit, Urban Planning

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