Infrastructure in the News: May 22, 2012

NATIONAL NEWS

Christian Science Monitor: US Chamber to Congress on transportation bill: You're doing it wrong
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2012/0521/US-Cha...
The Chamber of Commerce’s top brass has a message for Congress on transportation: You’re doing it wrong. “What we lack is anybody of any party willing to address the fundamental problem called money,” said Bruce Josten, the chamber’s executive vice president for government affairs, during a breakfast for reporters sponsored by the Monitor Monday. Mr. Josten and Chamber CEO Tom Donohue expressed exasperation at how Congress has attempted to fund long-term investments in America’s infrastructure and said congressional delay is costing jobs.

Associated Press: Romney faced leadership test in Big Dig tragedy
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ROMNEY_BIG_DIG?SITE=ORROS&SECT...
The Big Dig collapse offers insights into the kind of leader the expected Republican nominee would be if elected president. Romney has made his management skills a major selling point in his presidential campaign. Yet his stiffest leadership test as governor produced mixed results. Romney was praised, even by some Democrats, for his energetic, take-charge management style. But he also drew criticism for playing to the media and dodging personal blame.

Transportation Issues Daily: What Big City Transportation Officials Want in Transportation Bill
http://www.transportationissuesdaily.com/what-big-city-transportation-of...
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) was founded to help key large cities have a “meaningful political and technical relationship with each other on transportation-related issues, and to develop a stronger critical relationship with USDOT. NACTO “encourages the exchange of transportation ideas, insights, and practices among large central cities while fostering a cooperative approach to key national transportation issues.”

DC Streetsblog: House Members Try to Work Their Will in Conference
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/05/21/house-members-try-to-work-their-wil...
The 47 members of the transportation bill conference committee have a lot on their plates: The Senate’s MAP-21 bill includes many provisions Republicans don’t like, the House slapped controversial “poison pills” onto its non-bill, and chair Barbara Boxer wants this all wrapped up in a few weeks.

INRIX: Traffic Scorecard
http://inrix.com/scorecard/
The INRIX Traffic Scorecard provides a comprehensive analysis of the state of traffic congestion across the U.S. Click on any of the interactive charts and rankings to produce customized data views.

Handy Shipping Guide: Transport Infrastructure - the Big Stumbling Block for the Freight and Logistics Industry
http://www.handyshippingguide.com/shipping-news/transport-infrastructure...
Those outside the country often view the USA as a hotbed of activity where the go ahead attitude means that problems are tackled head on and little things like problems on the highways and transport routes are swiftly solved by applying common sense and apparently limitless funds to resolve the situation. In the UK for example road haulage and freight interests often bemoan the slow pace of infrastructure development and the lack of funds available.

STATE NEWS

Atlantic Cities: What Really Matters for Increasing Transit Ridership (FL)
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/05/what-really-matters-inc...
Looks can, of course, be deceiving. As it happens, Broward County has one of the strongest transit systems among other mid-sized metro areas in the United States (population: 1 to 5 million). Compared to 26 other bus-only metros in its class, Broward trails only Orlando and Las Vegas in terms of cost-effectiveness, outperforming higher-profile places like Austin, Charlotte, Indianapolis, and Phoenix. Its buses are full, as measured by per capita ridership, and they've stayed that way in recent years, even as transit in general has struggled.

Streetsblog Network: How Much Will $6 Billion Improve Access to Jobs in Metro Atlanta?
http://streetsblog.net/2012/05/21/how-much-will-6-billion-improve-access...
We’ve written a few times about how transit referendums need a simple, to-the-point message summarizing what voters can expect to receive in return. Here’s how they’re doing it in Atlanta. In their quest to win voter support for a $6 billion funding package that would be split about evenly between transit and roads, proponents have settled on the phrase ”Let’s Untie Atlanta’s Knot.” Equating the ballot measure to a referendum on Atlanta’s notorious congestion woes seems like a smart idea.

Wall Street Journal: New York's Last Cross-Harbor Railway Chugs On as Alternative to Trucks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230344840457741218064690826...
In 2008, when NYNJR was drowning in red ink, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey bought the railroad for $15 million. The authority has $100 million in federal funding (still unspent) and a grand plan to get trucks off the roads by putting trains back on the water. Given NYNJR's green advantages, it's no wonder that "it couldn't be left to die," as Mark Hoffer, a Port Authority official puts it.

New York Times: L.I.R.R. Plan for East Side Needs More Time and Money
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/nyregion/lirr-east-side-access-plan-to...
Creating a Long Island Rail Road link to the East Side of Manhattan will take six years longer to accomplish than originally expected and will cost nearly $2 billion more than the initial estimate, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said Monday. The new completion date for the project is August 2019, and officials put the cost at $8.24 billion, up from an estimate of $6.3 billion in 2006. The 2006 estimate came after $2.6 billion in federal financing for the ambitious project was announced, and transportation officials said then that they thought the project would be finished by the end of 2013. It has been delayed a number of times.