Infrastructure
Is Houston the next great sustainability hub?
Houston, Texas, the country’s fourth largest city, an oil-powered metropolis known for its seemingly unstoppable urban sprawl and car-centric culture, is undergoing a promising evolution in environmental and planning policies. For one, Mayor Annise Parker was appointed to the president’s national Task Force on Climate Change. Additionally, Houston was named as a Climate Change Preparedness Pilot, […]
Gov. Christie tries to use Port Authority funds for NJ… again
This past week brought news of multiple transportation developments in New Jersey — some being squashed, others being floated. The first, as New York Yimby reports, is a plan to extend the PATH rapid transit network from New York’s Penn Station to New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport that may be canceled. The second, as […]
NC to recommend new fees affecting developers, billboard companies
On Thursday, November 6, the North Carolina Board of Transportation will vote on recommendations to implement fees affecting developers and billboard companies. The board’s action follows its October 1 meeting, when Mike Holder, chief engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), recommended the fees. Currently, developers and outdoor advertisers pay fees to local governments for […]
How construction permits affect San Franciscans’ parking
Street parking is becoming an even hotter commodity in San Francisco, a city known for its scarcity of spots, reports SFGate. Why? A construction boom is the city is responsible for eating up parking spaces, as stretches of curbside parking are blocked off as tow-away zones for weeks and months at a time so that […]
Guardrails off the market due to safety & fraud concerns
A guardrail company will, for the time being, stop selling a product that has been found to impale auto occupants in crashes. Trinity Industries’ guardrails, which had already been banned in 13 states and counting as of last week, will be off the market until “further testing” can be done, reports the New York Times. […]
How traffic signals work
There’s an intersection you’ve never really noticed because its light always seems to be green when you blow through it, and there’s another that seems to have the longest red light in the world. Both experiences reflect intentional differences in the ways traffic signals work, and while it can seem like cars trump pedestrians and […]
Sen. Boxer (D-CA) speaks out on highway fund
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, announced in a recent letter that salvaging the Highway Trust Fund is a major focus of her office, reports the blog Better Roads. Boxer, in a letter addressed to Congressman Dave Camp, Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, and Congressman Sander Levin, reads, “Although Congress passed […]
