Could Texas high-speed rail hit a speed bump this session? The Texas Tribune » High-speed rail developers have been eyeing a 240-mile stretch of mostly rural land sandwiched between the urban hubs of Dallas and Houston for years. Their goal: buy it up and build America’s first bullet train. But several rural landowners don’t plan on giving up their private property without a fight. And their supporters in the Legislature have filed so many bills that could disrupt Texas Central Partners LLC’s plans that there’s an entire subcommittee tackling the ongoing battle over the multibillion dollar project. Michelle2019-04-25T09:23:44-08:00April 25th, 2019|High-Speed Rail, Texas|
Flint Receives $77 Million to Fund Water Infrastructure Improvements The Root » The Flint, Mich., water crisis has weighed heavily on the hearts of those of us within the black community. But five years after its onset, it would appear that the city is now one step closer to finally leaving its deadly water infrastructure in the past. Michelle2019-04-25T09:52:32-08:00April 18th, 2019|Drinking Water, Flint Water Crisis, Michigan|
Infrastructure Policy On Tap When Trump, Pelosi Meet Again Transport Topics » Amid growing pressure from the transportation community, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intend to meet again soon to discuss infrastructure policy. Their objective is to ultimately agree on the terms of a measure to arrive on the president’s desk, ideally by this summer. Michelle2019-04-25T09:34:50-08:00April 17th, 2019|Trump & Infrastructure, U.S. News|
‘A fiasco from the beginning’ — Caltrans’ costs soar on $1.1 billion San Francisco tunnels The Sacramento Bee » Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated when the California Transportation Commission voted, despite a host of warnings, to pay a contractor more than $1 billion to build two tunnels and a stretch of road outside San Francisco nine years ago. Now the project, known as the Presidio Parkway, is more than two years late and $208 million over budget. When the commission approved another $34 million in delay-related spending last month, two commissioners who originally opposed the project lamented their predictions had come true. “This has been a fiasco from the beginning,” Commissioner Bob Alvarado said at the March 14 meeting. Michelle2019-04-17T13:43:26-08:00April 10th, 2019|California, Highways, Presidio Parkway, Public-Private Partnerships|
With 100 People Per Day Dying in Crashes, Lawmakers Weigh Road Safety Options Route Fifty » Safety advocates and others are urging Congress to take steps to curb motor vehicle crashes, which kill thousands of Americans each year, as discussions get underway about reauthorizing a major piece of federal highway legislation. Michelle2019-04-25T09:47:26-08:00April 9th, 2019|Roads, U.S. News|
Paving ahead: Model aims for infrastructure preservation MIT News » Researchers at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub have proposed a new approach to long-term highway preservation that abandons rigid maintenance schedules in favor of a system that accounts for a number of factors, from the road’s design, materials, deterioration rate, and more. Their method then employs an algorithm to determine the most efficient timing and method to preserve the highway surface. Michelle2019-04-18T10:13:14-08:00April 8th, 2019|General Interest|
