Infra Views


The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Until now, little has been known about the climate change reductions that might be offered by reusing and retrofitting existing buildings rather than demolish- ing and replacing them with new construction. This groundbreaking study concludes that building reuse almost always offers environmental savings over demolition and new construction. Moreover, it can take between 10 and 80 years for a new, energy-efficient building to overcome, through more efficient operations, the negative climate change impacts that were created during the construction process.

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Active Transportation Beyond Urban Centers: Walking and Bicycling in Small Towns and Rural America

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY
Some commentators and decision-makers have long assumed that biking and walking are strictly a “big city” phenomenon, and that rural America can’t benefit substantially from bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure. Previous research has found that rural Americans walk and bicycle at 58 percent of the rate that urban Americans do. However, the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) tell a different story.

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Congestion in America A Growing Challenge to U.S. Energy Security

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

SECURING AMERICA’S FUTURE ENERGY
In February 2011, the Energy Security Leadership Council released a report entitled Transportation Policies for America’s Future. The report examined the challenges facing the U.S. transportation system in the 21st century and provided a vision and accompanying recommendations for a more efficient, analytically thorough, and market-driven approach to national transportation policy. Most importantly, it emphasized the crucial interaction between transportation policy decisions and the energy security challenge posed by U.S. oil dependence.

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2012 Pocket Guide to Transportation

Monday, January 30th, 2012

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration produces the Pocket Guide to Transportation as a compact resource that provides snapshots of the U.S. transportation system and highlights major transportation trends.

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High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION
The HSIPR Program was created to help address the nation’s transportation challenges by making strategic investments in an efficient network of passenger rail corridors that connect communities across the country. These investments focus on three key objectives:

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Biking and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

ALLIANCE FOR BIKING AND WALKING
Government officials working to promote bicycling and walking need data to evaluate their efforts. In order to improve something, there must be a means to measure it. The Alliance for Biking & Walking’s Benchmarking Project is an ongoing effort to collect and analyze data on bicycling and walking in all 50 states and the 51 largest cities. This is the third biennial BenchmarkingReport. The first report was published in 2007, the second in 2010, and the next report is scheduled for January 2014.

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The Impact of Residential Growth Patterns on Vehicle Travel and Pollutant Emissions

Friday, January 20th, 2012

THE JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT AND LAND USE
In light of the increasing reliance on compact growth as a fundamental strategy for reducing vehicle emissions, it is important to better understand how land use-transportation interactions influence the production of mobile source emissions. To date, research findings have produced mixed conclusions as to whether compact development as a strategy for accommodating urban growth significantly reduces vehicle travel and, by extension, mitigates environmental impacts, particularly in the area of air quality. Using an integrated simulation approach coupled with long-term land development scenarios, we conducted an assessment of the impacts of different long-term primarily residential growth patterns on vehicle travel and pollutant emissions in the eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley region in central California.

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Can Public–Private Partnerships Fill the Transportation Funding Gap?

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION
Given tight federal budget restraints and shrinking transportation trust fund revenues, states and the federal government need to find alternative financial resources to finance needed transportation infrastructure projects, especially maintaining and expanding the capacity of the Interstate Highway System. Increased use of public–private partnership contracts (P3s) promises to help finance some of the needed infrastructure projects, but the federal government needs to allow states more freedom to use P3s, and states need to adopt the policies and practices needed to use P3s effectively.

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ACCESS Magazine: Issue 39

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
During the last half of the 20th century, cities and towns across America were built primarily for one transportation mode: the automobile. Much of this development occurred on the urban periphery, creating the suburbs that are now home to more Americans than either traditional central cities or small towns. Today, while federal transportation policies and urban planners have shifted toward promoting a more multi-modal form of development, the legacy of the postwar era remains: thousands of suburban neighborhoods poorly served by any mode of transportation other than the automobile.

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Infographic: How Much Fuel Does it Take to Power a Lightbulb for a Year?

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

GOOD.IS

View full infographic (GOOD.is): How Much Fuel Does it Take to Power a Lightbulb for a Year?
About GOOD.is
www.good.is
“We are people, businesses, moms, kids, artists, organizations, policymakers, students, teachers, and engineers. All united in one simple idea, each elevated by being connected. Let’s do what works and never default to what doesn’t. Join [...]

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