Infrastructure in the News: May 25, 2012

BAF IN THE NEWS

Government Technology: If gasoline prices reach $5 per gallon, how many additional riders will hop on public transit?
http://www.govtech.com/newsletters/Question-of-the-Day-for-052412.html
According to a new report from the American Public Transportation Association and Building America’s Future, if gasoline prices reach $4 per gallon, transit ridership is predicted to increase by nearly 1 million additional riders each weekday; if gasoline prices reach $5 per gallon, ridership is predicted to increase by more than 3 million additional riders each weekday; and a gas increase to $6 per gallon would equal nearly 6 billion additional public transit riders per weekday.

NATIONAL NEWS

The Hill: Retailers call for freight policy in highway bill
http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/shipping-and-cargo/229427...
Any new federal surface transportation bill that emerges from the committee of lawmakers conferencing on the measure should include provisions establishing a national policy for freight movement, a group of organizations invested in the shipping and retail industries said Thursday. The Freight Stakeholders Coalition, which was form to press lawmakers to consider freight issues in the proposed highway bill, called on lawmakers on the 47-member transportation conference committee to include a 10-point freight policy that was adopted by Senate in its compromise version of the highway bill.

Washington Post: Letter: An infrastructure decline can’t be denied
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-infrastructure-decline-cant-be...
Columnist Ezra Klein’s challenge to the notion of American decline [“America in decline? Not likely,” news, May 18] omitted the obvious decline in the nation’s man-made and natural infrastructure. Thoughtful Americans know that we face a staggering infrastructure deficit regarding our roads, bridges, water systems and waterways.

The Tennessean: Congress' gridlock wears on Tennessee roads
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120525/OPINION01/305250035/Congress-...
Whether you drive a truck, an SUV or a hybrid, whether you live in a congested city or sprawling countryside, you either use roads and bridges to get to work, see family and travel, or you rely on the food and other goods that are brought to your town on our roads and highways. In America, it’s very hard to get away from roads. But right now, there’s a growing concern that we are not going to be able to keep them in working condition.

STATE NEWS

New York Times: When a New Transit Project Is Announced, Expect Delays
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/when-a-new-transit-project-...
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority let it be known the other day that its plan to have the Long Island Rail Road run into Grand Central Terminal was way over budget and behind schedule. Let’s look back as well as ahead. In the dim recesses of history, meaning 1993, plans were unveiled for a new Pennsylvania Station in the colonnaded General Post Office on Eighth Avenue. That space, which has come to be known as Moynihan Station, in honor of the late New York senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, is intended to be an elegant replacement for the catacomb that is the existing Penn Station. The new station, it was said in 1993, could be built for $315 million and be finished by 1999.

Capital New York: Bloomberg says the M.T.A. needs more money
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2012/05/5988211/bloomberg...
Mayor Michael Bloomberg this morning said subway stations don't need restaurant-style letter grades, as some in the City Council have proposed. What they need is more money, much as taxi drivers do. Asked about yesterday's proposal that the M.T.A. post letter grades based on factors like subway-station cleanliness, the mayor said, "You know, I'll tell you what I really think. I think we should have a consistent source of funding for the M.T.A. so [chairman] Joe Lhota can do what he's supposed to do and what he's tried to do, and that is get us better bus and subway service throughout the whole region. We had a plan, if you remember."

The Nashville City Paper: Dean unveils $297.7M capital plan heavy on infrastructure
http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/dean-unveils-2977m-capit...
Mayor Karl Dean provided specifics Thursday on his proposed $297.7 million capital-spending plan, which he plans to officially file in the form of a bond resolution on Friday. “This plan takes care of the basics of the city, such as renovating and expanding our schools, repairing roads and building sidewalks, and improving our fire halls and police infrastructure,” Dean said in a statement.