Infrastructure

In an article for the Dallas Morning News, Tom Benning introduces Ashley Haire as the city of Dallas' new bike coordinator. Haire comes to the job of delivering more bicycle infrastructure to Dallas by way of Portland and TxDOT.

July 23, 2014 - Dallas Morning News

A deal may be near between energy and rail industries and the Department of Transportation to phase out the DOT-111 tank car—the same kind implicated in the horrific explosions of oil trains, particularly those carry Bakken crude from North Dakota.

July 23, 2014 - Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Bicycle facilities, such as contraflow lanes, extensions of bike lanes through intersections, and bike boxes, inched toward official approval from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

July 22, 2014 - Streetsblog USA

Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that people who live near bike lanes are more likely to exercise—45 minutes more exercise per week, in fact.

July 21, 2014 - road.cc

Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are pushing ahead with an ambitious plan for a pedestrian and bike connection between downtown Cleveland and the lakefront.

July 21, 2014 - The Plain Dealer

Google, partnering with the Environmental Defense Fund, has created a series of maps locating methane leaks around three cities in the United States. The question of just how much methane is leaking in a given city comes down to infrastructure.

July 19, 2014 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Powersource

A pair of articles explores the implications of data released in May by the U.S. Census about the increasing use of bikes among commuters. The articles, however, don't agree about the implications of the data for low income and minority citizens.

July 18, 2014 - Vox

In a segment The Daily Show calls "Shabby Road" (complete with photoshopped image of President Obama, Rep. John Boehner, Sen. Harry Reid, and Vice President Biden as the Beatles), Jon Stewart takes down Congress' inaction on the Highway Trust Fund.

July 18, 2014 - The Daily Show

California's Strategic Growth Council has begun to shape the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program around its new allocations of cap-and-trade funds. The first key public meeting on creating the program was July 10.

July 17, 2014 - California Planning & Development Repot

A pair of articles in the Times-Picayune, along with a new study from advocacy group Ride New Orleans, finds the transit system in New Orleans doing less with more.

July 17, 2014 - The Times-Picayune

Following the Rebuild by Design competition, which awarded $920 million in June, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced another $1 billion competition for innovative resilience projects in communities recently struck by disasters.

July 17, 2014 - Next City

By a vote of 367-55, the House passed Rep. Dave Camp's "pension smoothing" bill to provide ten months of funding for the deficit-plagued Highway Trust Fund through May. A long-term (five- or six-year) funding plan will be attempted then.

July 16, 2014 - Politico Morning Transportation

Helsinki, capital of Finland's, is working to create a "mobility on demand" system that integrates shared and public transit in a single payment network. The idea is that with such a system in place, residents would no longer need cars.

July 16, 2014 - Guardian Cities

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad supports the Keystone XL Pipeline, as do most Republican leaders. Then again, it doesn't go through his state. Not so for the newly proposed Bakken Pipeline that cuts across the heart of Iowa. No word on his position yet.

July 16, 2014 - The Des Moines Register

Bipartisan governors faulted Congress for failing to find long-term funds for the Highway Trust Fund, but how do their state records match their rhetoric aimed at raising federal gas taxes? Planetizen looks at some of the governors cited in the WSJ.

July 15, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal

After a two day hearing late last week, the Richmond Planning Commission approved a contentious $1 billion plan to expand a Chevron refinery located in the city. The plan still requires city council approval.

July 14, 2014 - San Francisco Chronicle

Patch bills advanced in the Senate and the House on Thursday that would keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through May 2015—good news for state DOTs that will see reduced federal reimbursements on August 1 unless a funding bill is passed soon.

July 12, 2014 - Politico Morning Transportation

Robert Puentes and Bruce Katz call for expanded partnerships to build the infrastructure of the future. These new partnerships will require customization by sector and the development of new models for revenue and risk sharing.

July 11, 2014 - ReNew Canada

A $10.7 billion funding plan to continue federal transportation spending at the current rate through May 2015 has been offered by Republicans in the House Ways and Means Committee. The General Funds transfer would be offset by "pension smoothing."

July 10, 2014 - Bloomberg News

Jillian Glover writes of her new perspective on what makes a city welcoming and safe for young families—the newest perspective, in fact. She's a new mother.

July 9, 2014 - Sustainable Cities Collective