Infra Views

2017 Strategic 100: North American Infrastructure Report

Monday, October 3rd, 2016
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After years of underinvestment, infrastructure is having a moment in the policy discussion. Across North America, policy-makers are moving toward using public sector infrastructure investment as a strategy for promoting economic growth, while private infrastructure developers are seeking projects that yield healthy investment returns – returns that are harder to find over the long-term while low growth rates remain the dominant macro-narrative. This focus on infrastructure investment’s potential benefits is laudable, reflecting the advice of top economists and the emerging limits of other policy tools. Such investment, if well-targeted and well-executed, can be a path to achieve near-term economic policy objectives while dramatically improving the foundation for long-term economic prosperity.

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State and Federal Fuel Taxes: The Road Ahead for U.S. Infrastructure Funding

Thursday, September 29th, 2016
Table 1: Summary of state tax rates in cents per mile for gasoline, diesel, and E85.

Indexing fuel taxes to inflation in addition to imposing a states’ sales tax increases revenue significantly but suffers from a continuous decline in the long-run due to increased fuel efficiency. Our results indicate that although a mileage fee is politically and technologically difficult to achieve, it avoids a declining tax revenue in the long-run.

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22nd Annual Highway Report: The Performance of State Highway Systems

Tuesday, September 27th, 2016
Figure ES1: Trends in U.S. State Highway Performance, 1998–2013*

Reason Foundation’s 22nd Annual Highway Report tracks the performance of the 50 state-owned highway systems. States are ranked in 11 categories including Interstate and rural primary road pavement conditions, deficient bridges, traffic congestion, fatality rates, unsafe narrow rural arterial lanes, capital costs per mile, administrative costs per mile, maintenance costs per mile and total highway expenditures per mile.

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ACEC’S ENGINEERING INC. — Presidential Review: Which Candidate is Best for Business?

Monday, September 26th, 2016
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AMERICAN COUNCIL OF ENGINEERING COMPANIES (ACEC) By Alan Joch At a time of prolonged economic uncertainty, the stakes in this year’s election couldn’t be higher. Here’s a guide to help engineers weigh the industry impact of each candidate’s economic proposals As we near the 2016 presidential election, many executives remain concerned about the future strength […]

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Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies

Thursday, September 22nd, 2016
Figure 1. Transit corridor livability visioning and improvement process steps

While livability has received increasing attention in planning and policy circles recently, agreement as to how to define, measure, and create it has been elusive. This is especially true in terms of the livability benefits of transit investments. While livability definitions tend to boil livability down to serving diverse people with diverse opportunities (RITA Office of Research, Development, and Technology 2011), most have not been specific enough to measure it consistently and implement it effectively. Furthermore, getting specific about livability—particularly when focusing on the livability benefits of transit-supportive investments—may cause those who do not care for transit to dismiss it.

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Carbon-Cutting Success Stories

Monday, September 19th, 2016
With help from the New York Green Bank, Hunt Country Vineyards installed 348 rooftop solar panels. Credit: Joyce Hunt

Fortunately, leading states continue to prove that curbing dangerous carbon pollution can reduce the risk of global warming and benefit local communities at the same time. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have dramatically reduced dangerous power plant pollution, using tools including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a policy that limits pollution over time and makes polluters pay for the privilege of using the sky for waste disposal. Much of the revenue is then invested in clean energy programs, which have boosted the regional economy by nearly $3 billion.

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A Fork in the Road? The Outlook for Transportation Infrastructure in the City and County of Milwaukee

Friday, September 16th, 2016
Milwaukee, WI: Snapshot: Fiscal Outlook for Transportation Infrastructure Needs

While citizens have varying views and expectations regarding the role and responsibilities of local governments, most would agree that providing, maintaining, and updating public infrastructure is a fundamental governmental responsibility. On the local level, that responsibility extends from streets and buses, to sewer and water systems, to fire and police equipment, to parks and cultural facilities, to public buildings that citizens use to access government services.

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Private Mobility, Public Interest: How Public Agencies Can Work with Emerging Mobility Providers

Wednesday, September 14th, 2016
TransitCenter: State of Practice

Emerging mobility services like bikeshare, carshare, on-demand transit, and transportation network companies provide more transportation options for customers to choose how to get where they want to go.

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EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook

Tuesday, September 13th, 2016
U.S. gasoline and crude oil prices

Global consumption of petroleum and other liquid fuels is estimated to have grown by 1.4 million b/d in 2015. EIA expects global consumption to increase by 1.5 million b/d in 2016 and by 1.4 million b/d in 2017, mostly driven by growth in countries outside of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Non-OECD consumption growth was 0.9 million b/d in 2015, and it is expected to be 1.2 million b/d in 2016 and 1.3 million b/d in 2017.

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The Hidden Traffic Safety Solution – Public Transportation

Monday, September 12th, 2016
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Public transportation is one of the safest ways to travel. It is ten times safer per mile than traveling by car because it has less than a tenth the per-mile traffic casualty (injury or death) rate as automobile travel. Public transit-oriented communities are five times safer because they have about a fifth the per capita traffic casualty rate as automobile-oriented communities. In addition, crash rates tend to decline as public transit travel increases in a community. Contrary to popular perceptions, public transit travel is significantly safer than automobile travel.

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Dear Friends,

 

It is encouraging to finally see clear signs of federal action to support a comprehensive US infrastructure investment plan.

 

Now more than ever, our advocacy is needed to keep stakeholders informed and connected, and to hold politicians to their promises to finally fix our nation’s ailing infrastructure.

 

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Steve Anderson

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SteveAnderson@InfrastructureUSA.org

917-940-7125

InfrastructureUSA: Citizen Dialogue About Civil Infrastructure