Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Bond Buyer reported that most of the nation's mayors want an emphasis on streets and bridges over highways in the new "highway bill" coming from Congress and according to the HIll the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, John Mica, is worried transit systems will be targeted for bin Laden retaliation. Find out more in this Infrastructure in the News.

 

National News

Business Week: LaHood betting on US transportation bill this year
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood expressed confidence Monday that the promise of jobs will help ensure passage of a funding measure this year for this aging chunk of the nation's infrastructure, despite the divide in Congress over government spending and the federal debt. 

The Bond Buyer: Mayors Urge Spending on Streets, Bridges in Highway Bill
A majority of the nation’s mayors want the new “highway bill” coming from Congress to emphasize streets and bridges over highways and to provide financing tools, such as BABs, TIFIA loans or a national infrastructure bank.

Washington Post: If only speculation explained gas prices
Speculators are an easy bad guy, says Michael Greenstone, an energy economist at MIT. “They’re a malevolent other. They’re thought to produce nothing of value, and so blaming them has a long and rich history.” But it’s worth understanding what exactly you’re saying is happening when you place the blame on speculators. “Speculators make money by pulling oil off the market, putting it in inventory, and selling it later,” Greenstone continues.  

New York Times: Officials Blow Up Mississippi River Levee
The Mississippi River, already at record levels here, keeps rising, fed by punishing rains. As the flood protection systems that safeguard countless communities groan under the pressure, federal officials executed a fiercely debated plan to destroy a part of the levee holding back the river in the area Mr. Bennett calls home for the greater good of the region. 

Associated Press: Tornadoes: FEMA seeks to redeem agency reputation
By Monday afternoon, FEMA officials reported they opened 11 disaster recovery centers in Alabama and nearly 18,000 households in the state had already registered for FEMA assistance. The agency also said more than $2 million had been approved so far for temporary housing and home repairs late Monday and more than $1.1 million via a joint state-federal program for disaster-related needs. It said some 1,500 households in Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee had registered for FEMA assistance and officials were rushing to dole it out. 

The Hill: Rep. Mica worried transit systems will be targeted for bin Laden retaliation
The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said his thoughts immediately turned to the safety of America's transportation system after President Obama announced the killing of Osama bin Laden. 

Grist: Dr. Grist's four-part prescription for managing climate change
That's not pessimism -- it's just not the kind of thing that can be "solved." It's already underway. There's enough carbon stocked in the atmosphere to keep the temperature going up for decades even if we cease polluting entirely, which isn't going to happen. Climate change won't be solved, it will be managed, by us, by our kids, by our grandkids. As presidential science advisor John Holdren is fond of saying, we'll end up with some mix of mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. What's left to us is the ratio. 

FastLane: On Amtrak's 40th, celebrating a historic past and anticipating a bright future
On May 1, 1971, the National Passenger Rail Corporation--known today as Amtrak--took over most of America's passenger rail service.  Forty years later, Amtrak is still going strong.  In 2010, Amtrak carried a record number of passengers, serving nearly 29 million passengers on more than 300 daily trains in 46 states and the District of Columbia.  This year, they're on track to break that record. 

Streetsblog Capitol Hill: NACTO Releases Reader-Friendly Design Guide for Bike-Friendly Streets
Now transportation planners can take advantage of a printable version in the traditional design guide format. NACTO officials hope transportation professionals around the country make a home for it on their bookshelves, next to the old standbys like the Mannual on Uniform Control Devices and AASHTO’s Highway Safety Manual.

AltTransport: Biking Makes Our Streets Safer
New York City’s attempts at spurring daily bike ridership have often come into conflict with more traditional expectations for what an urban streetscape should look like and do. As this New York Magazine cover article explains, bikes are the city’s “last culture war,” and have led to several high-profile clashes between those who believe that the city should aggressively push for sustainable modes of transportation, and those who point out some of the unintended consequences of bike lanes—they’re ugly, detractors claim, they slow down traffic, and they’re bad for pedestrians' safety.

Daily Journal: Obama transportation secretary promotes sector's promise of jobs, rail proposal at conference
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood expressed confidence Monday that the promise of jobs will help ensure passage of a funding measure this year for this aging chunk of the nation's infrastructure, despite the divide in Congress over government spending and the federal debt.

Alaska Dispatch: ONEOK Partners to Build New Natural Gas Liquids Pipeline and Fractionator to serve the Gulf Coast Market
"These projects will accommodate the growing NGL supplies in the Mid-Continent and elsewhere and help alleviate the infrastructure constraints between the Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast markets, while meeting the requirements of natural gas processors and NGL customers," said Terry K. Spencer, ONEOK Partners chief operating officer.  

 

State News

Peninsula Clarion: New trucking regs could raise prices in Alaska
New federal regulations to reign in the number of hours truckers can drive would raise transportation costs in Alaska, despite the fact that the state is exempt from these rules, said a top trucking company official.

San Francisco Business Times: High-speed track alternative eyed
The high-speed rail system may scrap a plan for a $6.1 billion rail line through the Bay Area in favor of a much-cheaper alternative using two Caltrain tracks between San Francisco and San Jose, the Palo Alto Daily News reports. 

NBC Los Angeles: Rail Fun: National Train Day
Trains are not your average get-us-from-point-A-to-point-B transportation. They're often mythologized -- the romance of the rails, the historic Harvey Girls, the wide-open adventure -- even while they remain an everyday part of many lives.

Daily Local News: Labor issues stall transportation partnerships bill
The state House is expected to vote today on a measure allowing the state to lease roads and mass-transit operations to private companies with the goal of raising much-needed revenue for infrastructure improvements.
High-speed rail officials said they’re considering running bullet trains on the tracks that Caltrain already uses instead of building 4 brand-new tracks to save money.  

Orlando Sentinel: SunRail polls high, slim majority back DPAC, says advocacy group
Three out of four Orlando voters back the SunRail train commuter effort, while a slim majority want the proposed $383 million Dr.Phillips Center for the Performing Arts built, according to a poll by Floridians for Responsible Policy. 

Tampa Bay Online: HART decides to focus on bus service instead of light rail
The Hillsborough Area Rapid Transit board voted today to wind down planning and exploration of possible routes for light rail and instead focus on the agency's core of bus service. 

Access North Georgia: Deal signs reservoir bill
Gov. Nathan Deal has signed legislation that paves the way for public-private partnerships to build reservoirs and other water infrastructure projects. 

Streetsblog Capitol Hill: Will Kids in Strollers Get the Heave-Ho on Boston Buses
Turns out, people hate strollers. The MBTA’s general manager, Richard Davey, recently told a Boston Herald held, “The number-one complaint that I have received since I have been here is strollers.” As such, the MBTA is considering a rule that would require parents to fold up strollers on buses, and potentially trains. 

Streetsblog Capitol Hill: Bike Month Begins, Minneapolis Brings Home Cycling Gold
Despite having the coldest winter weather of any major U.S. city, Minneapolis has the second highest rate of bike commuting in the country, after Portland. Ridership throughout the city is up 21 percent since 2007 and in some neighborhoods, it’s up as much as 132 percent. Clearly, chilly Minneapolis has become a hot place to ride a bike. 

Vegas Inc: The DesertXpress media event was a dud. Trouble for high speed rail?
Here’s the checklist for a recent press conference designed to boost public confidence in a $6 billion high-speed rail line being built between Las Vegas and Southern California: 

New Jersey: NJ Transit tightens security after Osama bin Laden death
New Jersey's largest transportation network has beefed up security in response to the news that U.S. forces tracked down and killed terror mastermind Osama bin Laden. 

Bloomberg: Christie Says New Jersey Won't Repay US $271 Million in Tunnel Funds
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he won’t return $271 million in federal funds for a canceled commuter-rail tunnel to New York, a decision that may cost the state $52,000 a week in interest.  

New York Times: City Prefers Its Own Transportation Census, Thank You
“One of the strengths of New York is we have a variety of options of how we get around,” she added. “We can take the bus, take the train, we can walk, take a bike. In a lot of places, there aren’t that many options. When the census asks, ‘How do you get around?,’ if you take the train three days a week, or bike three times a week, that’s not counted.”  

AltTransport: NY Republican State Senators Trying To Revive East River Bridge Tolls
A group of Republican state senators in New York are trying to resurrect one of their state's pernnial political losers: tolls on New York City’s East River bridges. The tolls would be an obvious but still-controversial solution to one of the city’s most flagrant cases of free rider-dom, a phenomenon for which The Economist’s online economics dictionary offers the following definition:

Bucyrus Telegraph Forum: Lawmakers shouldn't decline grant from high speed rail
Where are the jobs? The new Republican majority in the N.C. General Assembly promised just that if elected. As of now, there have been more than 420 bills introduced and not a single job created or even suggested. In fact, many of the bills actually eliminate jobs. The most obvious job killer yet is HB422. This bill is to reject a $480 million grant from the federal government for improvement of infrastructure and high-speed rails. It outright kills the creation of 4,800 new, good-paying jobs. 

FastLane: FAA grant helps Portland Jetport add innovative geothermal heating, cooling system
America's families aren't the only ones feeling the pinch of high fuel prices.  Businesses and large facilities like airports with rising heating bills are seeing their bottom lines squeezed.  Now, President Obama knows there's no silver bullet to bring gas prices down overnight, but we can help give families and enterprises options to reduce their dependence on imported foreign oil. 

WDTV: Rockefeller's Plan to Upgrade Transportation Systems
Senator Jay Rockefeller appeared at a conference in Charleston Monday to preach the importance of upgrading our transportation infrastructure.

The Digitel Myrtle Beach: Myrtle Beach Hosts Transportation Conference
US Department of Transportation Deputy Administrator Therese McMillan says President Barack Obama plans to double the transportation budget. In 2010, there was $11 billion in the budget. In 2012, he wants $22 billion. McMillan says the president believes transportation creates jobs and it helps people get to those jobs. It's also one of the many ways President Obama hopes we can climb out of the recession, McMillan says.

Transportation Nation: Bikeshare Popular Transport to Osama D.C. Rally
John Lisle of the District Department Of Transportation tells Transportation Nation that, as of 1 p.m., fewer than a dozen bikes remained unreturned. Nothing to be alarmed or worried about, he says. Bikeshare members have up to 24 hours to return a bike before it is considered stolen. 

Washington Examiner: No plan for late Metro trains for Nats games
In the past, the District has footed the bill. But the sides are disputing who pays the approximately $90,000 in overtime for train operators, station managers and transit police this baseball season.