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International Lessons for Promoting Transit Connections to High-Speed Rail Systems

Wednesday, May 11th, 2016
Figure 1. Number of Urban Bus Lines vs. Population ÷ Number of HSR Stations

MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
The California High-Speed Rail (HSR) project has matured to the point that initial design of segments in the Central Valley was started in 2014, beginning the long process of completing the California HSR program. One significant concern that many communities involved in, or affected by, the California HSR project have is how to connect the new HSR passenger services to local urban transport, such as bus and light rail. The route and stations for the first segment of the HSR system are well known, but many questions remain about how HSR will be integrated into the existing (and future) California transportation system.

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Posted in Competitiveness, Global, High Speed Rail, Infra Views, Rail

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Wisconsin Transportation by the Numbers

Tuesday, May 10th, 2016
Cost to Wisconsin Motorists of Deficient Roads

TRIP
TRIP estimates that Wisconsin roadways that lack some desirable safety features, have inadequate capacity to meet travel demands or have deteriorated pavement conditions cost the state’s residents approximately $6 billion annually in the form of additional vehicle operating costs (including accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear), the cost of lost time and wasted fuel due to traffic congestion, and the financial cost of traffic crashes.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Funding, Highway, Infra Views, Local, Roads

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Cycling in the City: Cycling Trends in NYC

Monday, May 9th, 2016
Percent of Adult New Yorkers who Ride a Bike (NYC DOHMH)

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Understanding who is biking in New York City and how often they ride is incredibly valuable, but cycling demographics and trends are very challenging to evaluate. Historically, evaluation of cyclist activity in New York City was centered on counting the number of bicycles entering and exiting the core. However, cycling has grown and matured dramatically as a mode of transportation since the first counts were conducted in 1980. New Yorkers are using bikes for a much wider variety of trips, making it even more difficult to assess bicycle use in the City.

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Posted in Biking, Equity, Infra Views, Local, Public Parks & Recreation, Urban Planning

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CEMAC: 2015 Research Highlights

Friday, May 6th, 2016
Figure 1. Increase in global power generation, by source (1971–2013).

CLEAN ENERGY MANUFACTURING ANALYSIS CENTER
In 2015, CEMAC focused on four technologies: solar photovoltaic modules, wind turbines, automotive lithium-ion batteries, and carbon fiber. The studies on these technologies are summarized in the following section. During these more detailed analyses of our inaugural year, we gained preliminary insights into clean energy manufacturing overall; specifically related to its adaptation to global economic dynamics and the factors influencing the location of manufacturing facilities in a global world.

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Posted in Energy, Environment, Infra Views, National, Policy, Sustainability, Technology

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The Economic Value of Quiet Recreation

Thursday, May 5th, 2016
Tent pitched on U.S. public lands

THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS
Across all lands the BLM manages throughout the U.S., the BLM calculates there were over 61 million recreational visits and over 62 million visitor days in 2014. The bulk of this visitation occurred in the western U.S. and Alaska, with over 60 million visits to these BLM lands and over 62 million visitor days in 2014…We calculate that quiet recreation visitors to these BLM lands spent approximately $1.8 billion within 50 miles of the recreation sites in 2014. These expenditures resulted in overall contributions to the U.S. economy of approximately $800 million in personal income, $1.54 billion in value-added, economic output of over $2.8 billion, and nearly 25,000 jobs.

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Posted in Environment, Infra Views, National, Private Investment, Public Parks & Recreation

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Energy Infrastructure Update

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016
Energy Generating Highlights

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF ENERGY PROJECTS

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Grand Challenges for Engineering: Imperatives, Prospects, and Priorities

Monday, May 2nd, 2016
Wesley Harris

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
Robert Socolow observed that the 14 Grand Challenges fall into four categories. The first is sustainability—maintaining air and water quality, protecting freshwater quantity, preventing sea level rise, keeping forests and other ecosystems in good condition, and minimizing artificially triggered climate change. Next is personal and community health, because, he pointed out, “as individuals we can live fulfilling lives only if we are healthy.” But, he added, “people have a record of being dangerous to each other,” hence the third category, vulnerability and security.

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Posted in Equity, Global, Infra Views, Sustainability, Technology

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MIPRC Survey: Good News, Growth Potential for Passenger Rail

Friday, April 29th, 2016

MIDWEST INTERSTATE PASSENGER RAIL COMMISSION
The survey identifies strong support for passenger rail as an integral piece of the national transportation future, and even finds strong willingness to advocate on behalf of passenger rail. But the survey also shows that neither students nor – by inference – the general public are aware of the roles played by states and the federal government in funding Amtrak and in determining passenger rail routes and service frequencies. Thus we strongly recommend that a public education campaign be considered to clarify this point.

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Posted in Infra Views, Local, Public Opinion, Rail

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The Native-Born STEM Shortage

Thursday, April 28th, 2016
STEM-table1

AMERICAN ACTION FORUM
AAF finds that the U.S. will be short roughly one million U.S. citizen STEM workers by 2024. However, this shortage is not consistent across all STEM occupations…AAF projects a surplus of almost 400,000 U.S. citizen STEM workers in occupations related to computer, mathematics, and life, physical, and social science.

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Posted in Competitiveness, Employment, Equity, Infra Views, Jobs, National, Policy

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Cost of Congestion in the Trucking Industry

Wednesday, April 27th, 2016
Figure 1: United States NPMRDS Roadway Network

AMERICAN TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Trucks transported nearly 10 billion tons of freight representing over two-thirds (68.8 percent) of total domestic tonnage shipped1, and traveled more than 279 billion miles on the nation’s roadway network in 2014.2 Due to the critical role of safe and reliable truck movements in sustainable economic growth, it is essential to continually monitor and evaluate the efficiency of the national roadway system. A key impediment to nimble supply chains is the level of traffic congestion experienced on U.S. roadways, and the subsequent costs that are incurred due to this congestion.

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