John Hennessy III,
P.E.
Transportation for America recently published The Scenic Route, a content-rich online guide to introduce the concept of “creative placemaking” to transportation professionals. The Scenic Route offers general information as well as specific approaches aiming to facilitate planners, public works agencies and local elected officials in utilizing the creative potential of their respective communities.
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Vol. 27, No. 1
In a gesture that looks more like a political testament than a realistic budget proposal, the Obama Administration unveiled a $4.1 trillion plan to fund the federal government in Fiscal Year 2017. The budget includes a hefty $98.1 billion for transportation— a 60% increase over the current annual spending level. To partly pay for the new spending, the Administration is calling for a $10 per barrel tax on oil that would translate roughly into a 25 cent/gallon increase in the price of gasoline at the pump.
AMERICAN COUNCIL OF ENGINEERING COMPANIES (ACEC)
Presidential election cycles represent opportunities for big changes—at least that’s what candidates promise in their stump speeches. In reality, the months leading up to voting day are often characterized by inaction, especially in an era when representatives from both political parties are more focused on waging political battles rather than passing needed legislation.
The American Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the HeroX crowdsourcing platform are presenting a challenge to bring attention to infrastructure in the USA…The hosts hope to create “an incentivized platform for innovative ideas to thrive and help shape America’s growth in the 21st Century.” They hope to gather ideas, vote for the most impactful ideas and projects, and even enter a “build” phase in July 2016.
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2016 ACEC Convention and Legislative SummitThe 2016 ACEC Annual Convention and Legislative Summit is coming to Washington, DC this Spring. Attendees can expect a wide variety of presentations, forums, keynote speeches, educational sessions and much more.
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Richard Harnish is the Executive Director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association (MHSRA), a member-supported non-profit organization advocating for fast, frequent and dependable trains linking the entire Midwest.
Here in Illinois we’ve been seeing a lot more interest in doing true high speed rail and we think we’re close to an important next step there. And I was out in Sacramento two months ago and touched the first car shell for that line. That’s something that most people don’t know: those trains really are under construction, and the stations are under construction. So we’re very close to a major tipping point.
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BOSTON UNIVERSITY
INITIATIVE ON CITIES
Mayors overwhelmingly believe that physical infrastructure is one of the greatest challenges facing their city. Mayors were asked to identify the greatest challenge they face which falls outside their control—in other words, a challenge that is typically the purview of other levels of government. “Think about the next five years and beyond. What ONE trend or issue that you primarily think should be a state and/or federal matter will pose the biggest challenge to your city?” Importantly, this question did not query mayors about challenges to their cities generally, which was explored in last year’s report.
ADVANCED ENERGY ECONOMY
The pages of this report are filled with technologies that deliver a variety of benefits to our energy system and enable a transformation that will result in reliability, affordability, consumer choice, and innovation across the board. This transformation is well underway in every state across the country as utilities, businesses, and customers embrace the advantages of advanced energy.
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD
This study reviews the demand for interregional travel in the United States and the uncertainties that arise in supplying transportation services and infrastructure to accommodate it. Consideration is given to relevant experience in other countries, especially in providing intercity passenger rail. A central finding is that appropriate analytical tools and up-to-date data on long-distance travel in the United States are lacking, which complicates decisions about how to invest in the country’s interregional corridors in ways that will serve future travelers most effectively and further other policy goals such as protecting the environment, enhancing safety, and curbing energy use.
AMERICAN ACTION FORUM
Written by Emil H. Frankel
n its re-affirmation of a continuing federal role in surface transportation, FAST Act is an important statute. However, this legislation continues a trend toward a growing dependence on general funds for these programs and stagnation in the general level of federal funding for surface transportation. The inevitable result is a growing burden on states and localities to address the needs of an aging, deteriorating, and often-congested national surface transportation network.
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