Infrastructure in the News: October 8, 2010

According to Business Week politics is jeopardizing some high-speed rail projects and FInancial Times reported that Larry Summers called for infrastructure spending. More in this Infrastructure in the News.

National News

Streetsblog Capitol Hill: A National Infrastructure Bank: Can The U.S. Learn From Europe?
On Labor Day, President Barack Obama gave a speech n which he pushed for the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank. Legislation that would establish the bank was introduced over the summer in Senate Bill 1926, authored by Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. But the idea of an independent financing entity for large infrastructure projects originated in Europe. The European Investment Bank (EIB) was created in 1958 as part of the Treaty of Rome, which started Europe on the path towards economic integration.

The New York Times: The End of the Tunnel
The Erie Canal. Hoover Dam. The Interstate Highway System. Visionary public projects are part of the American tradition, and have been a major driver of our economic development.

Business Week: Politics Jeopardizing Some High-Speed Rail Projects
When President Barack Obama announced in January that 13 high-speed rail projects covering 22 states would share $8 billion in seed money, he spoke with optimism about easing highway congestion while bolstering the U.S. economy. Eight months later, some Republicans running for congressional or statehouses seats are singling out the funds, part of Obama's economic stimulus package, as a waste of taxpayer dollars distributed too widely to do much good. A more practical obstacle has also emerged: Freight rail carriers that own some tracks are resisting sharing their lines. '

Financial Times: Summers calls for infrastructure spending
Larry Summers, the outgoing director of the White House National Economic Council, said the US must ramp up spending on domestic infrastructure to drive the economic recovery.

State News

American City & County: Stimulus-funded transportation projects are leading to new hires
Funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) are helping improve the infrastructure and create new jobs, says a new report from the Washington-based American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). According to the AASHTO report, ARRA has created $5.4 billion worth of work that is under way on 4,200 mass transit projects, and 11,978 highway and bridge projects are being completed, totaling $24.1 billion.

Streetsblog Capitol Hill: How the Information Age Can Make Streets and Transit More Efficient
All of these transportation improvements are happening already – they’re examples of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that are being heralded in a new report s a way to set the bar higher for transportation efficiency. Transportation for America, ITS America and other groups have teamed up to urge Congress to include technological enhancements in its transportation policies. They’re hoping these changes can help us get more out of our streets without building sprawl-inducing highways.

American Rivers: Green Infrastructure Making Its Mark from Small Towns to Big Cities
At the end of September, New York City introduced a $1.5 billion plan to implement green infrastructure technologies across the city to help manage the stormwater runoff that overwhelms the city’s water infrastructure and causes an estimated 1.25 billion gallons of untreated sewage to flow directly into the city’s waterways every year.

The Denver Post: The risks of an aging water infrastructure
Every day, nearly 1,500 water mains break across the country. Most occur without any noticeable impact. But there's a greater impact than just the inconvenience of going without water for a few hours. These breaks are cause for alarm and pose a significant threat.

United Business Media: Rhode Island Faces $4.5 Billion Transportation Funding Shortfall Over Ten Years; Road and Bridge Conditions Face Increasing Deterioration Without Additional Funding
A new report finds that Rhode Island faces a $4.5 billion transportation funding shortfall over the next ten years. This occurs when nearly one quarter of state-maintained roads are in need of repair, nearly half of Rhode Island's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, congestion is increasing and the rural traffic fatality rate is more than three times higher than on all other roads in the state. The report, released today by TRIP, a Washington, DC based national transportation organization, finds that roadways that lack some desirable safety features have inadequate capacity to meet travel demands or have poor pavement conditions. These roadways cost the state's motorists nearly $1 billion annually and the average Providence area motorist pays $1,298 each year.

Technique: Public transportation crucial for growth
It is no secret that Atlanta’s infrastructure is falling apart. Look around at the crumbling bridges and roads, a sewer system that is falling in on its self and a transit system that is largely ineffective at transporting Atlantans to desirable locations. If Atlanta is going to continue to be a desirable point for people to live and the Southeast’s largest city and a business hub then we need to make better infrastructure and public transportation a higher priority.