Marking the beginning of an intensive pre-election campaign, President Obama unveiled what he called “a bold new vision to renew and expand America’s investment in transportation infrastructure”…The plan would: (1) abolish modal “silos” by combining roads, transit, railways, airport development and the air traffic control system (NextGen) in a single consolidated transportation infrastructure investment plan; (2) integrate high-speed rail (HSR) into the surface transportation program thus ensuring a sustained commitment to a national HSR program over the next six years; (3) establish an Infrastructure Bank to fund investments of national and regional significance; (4) streamline the surface transportation program by consolidating the many different programs and use analytical measures of performance to identify and prioritize investments of critical importance to the nation’s economy.
View this complete post...Archive for the ‘Private Investment’ Category
Chicago’s Plans for a High-Speed Airport Link Revived Thanks to Investor Interest
Monday, August 23rd, 2010Chicago, perhaps like no other city in the United States, has set itself apart as a center of trade, and recently that has been expressed in the growth of its two airports, O’Hare and Midway. With the resurgence of passenger rail promoted by the Obama Administration, it may be able to reassert its dominance in that field; it will sit at the confluence of three upgraded intercity rail lines already at least partially funded: One to St. Louis, another to Detroit, and a third to Milwaukee and Madison.
View this complete post...The Globalization of Traffic Congestion
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010IBM
The question now is: what is to be done? More fuel efficient cars, more public transportation, more ridesharing, more telecommuting are all good steps – but hardly enough. And it is clear that the traditional remedies for road congestion – adding a lane or building a new road – have proven to be just a temporary fix before congestion returns. Technology can help. For the first time in history, digital and physical infrastructures are converging. As a result, we are now able to understand large, complex systems that previously resisted investigation – systems as diverse as waterways, oilfields, and transportation networks.
An Alternative Development Scenario for San Diego County
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION
GREENINFO NETWORK
In order to protect natural systems and rural landscapes, as well as to ensure urban growth occurs primarily in incorporated areas, it is reasonable for the County of San Diego to consider a growth alternative in its General Plan process that reduces by approximately two-thirds the number of housing units current proposed for unincorporated areas and to re-allocate these units to cities within the County. Such a scenario would, by 2030, still leave substantial residential capacity in cities for future growth needs…The San Diego County proposed General Plan Update has been used, in consultation with CNFF, to determine what growth might be redirected. Data from the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), has been used to assess the feasibility of allocating that increment of growth to existing cities.
View this complete post...Guest on The Infra Blog: Ronald DeFeo, Chairman and CEO, Terex Corporation
Thursday, June 24th, 2010Ronald DeFeo is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Terex Corporation. Terex Corporation is a manufacturing franchise serving the construction, infrastructure, quarrying, recycling, mining, shipping, transportation, refining, utility, and maintenance industries.
View this complete post...Is the High Speed Rail Program At Risk?
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010Ever since President Obama announced his high speed rail (HSR) program initiative and Congress approved $8 billion to fund it as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009, many States have lined up to stake out a share of the new money. States that had been working on high-speed rail plans for years saw it as an opportunity to finally bring their projects to fruition, while others scrambled to get rail corridor planning underway so that they too could qualify for a share of the pie. The prize looked particularly attractive because the dollars will flow directly to the recipient states without requiring a local match.
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