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How much time do Americans spend commuting in traffic? And how much worse has it gotten since 1997? The above diagram by Martha Kang McGill shows the number of hours a single driver wastes annually due to road congestion. The orange line indicates the loss or gain in wasted hours from 1997 to 2007. When it comes to worsening traffic, Texas is a clear winner, with Houston and Dallas both gaining around 20 hours in lcommuting time. All data is from the Texas Transportation Institute’s 2009 Urban Mobility Report.

• Every 120 seconds, a water main bursts somewhere in the U.S. Here’s an inside look at the terrible condition of the nation’s sewage systems. (NY Times)

• China’s development strategy of “If you build it, they will come,” continues unabated when it comes to air travel — though for the time being, there are barely any passengers at many of the Middle Kingdom’s airports. (LA Times)

• A few Parisian metro stations have gotten an IKEA makeover: Commuters can lounge around on comfy sofas while waiting for their train. (Fast company)

• Australia is seeking solutions to a growing population and diminishing water resources.  Some of the country’s best architects are designing radical changes to the urban landscape. (Reuters)

• HSR is taking off like crazy in Spain, resulting in political and economic benefits (as well as lots of saved time for travelers). (NYT)

• A real-life Clash of the Titans as Airbus takes on Boeing on its home turf: The European firm wants to begin selling planes to the U.S. Department of Defense. (Seattle Times)

• British Airways employees are set to begin striking on March 20th. Company officials say service will continue for most long haul flights, and that contingency plans will allow it to fly 60% of its customers. (BBC)

• Foreign high speed rail train makers vie for the chance to go to Disney World. (Businessweek)

This week, the New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg takes on nuclear energy — specifically, how the ideologies of anti-nuke nuclear winter have gradually lost ground to the realities of global warming in recent years, to somewhat confusing results. While the partisan lines are drawn — Republicans tend to favor nuclear power, Democrats not so much — the liberal world of environmental activists is beginning to swing decidedly pro-nuclear. As Hertzberg notes:

Such founding fathers of the environmental movement as Stewart Brand, the creator of the Whole Earth Catalog, and Patrick Moore, an early stalwart of Greenpeace, now support nukes. James Hansen, the head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a climate-change prophet, favors the so-called fourth-generation nuclear systems, which would substantially reduce the amount of nuclear waste. Hans Blix, the former U.N. chief weapons inspector, is another supporter. So, within limits, are liberal senators like John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. And so is President Obama.

Nuclear has certainly been back in the spotlight, culminating last month when the Obama administration announced that $8.3 billion was going to the construction of two new nuclear reactors in Georgia. But despite its growing political support, the so-called “nuclear power renaissance” remains bogged down by a major PR problem. Think about it — what’s the immediate association you have with nuclear power? Chances are it involves words like “Three Mile Island” or “Chernobyl” or “that nasty piece of green radioactive waste that goes down Homer’s shirt in the Simpsons‘ opening credits.”  The (few and far between) failures of nuclear have been vastly and relentlessly publicized, and always with a smorgasbord of scary-sounding buzzwords etched into our collective memory: Disaster! Meltdown! Radiation!

Still, as Hertzberg points out, whether or not nuclear can overcome its bad image, there are plenty of hurdles to prevent it becoming a primary energy source for the U.S. — the largest being the up-front costs of building new plants. Reactors can run $6 billion to $8 billion apiece, and though their operating costs are low, that kind of price tag can be prohibitive, particularly in a wretched economy. Oh, and there’s also the small matter of where to dump all that toxic waste. Still, compared to the emissions-belching alternatives like oil and coal, CO2-free nuclear energy may be our best long-term option.

We’ve written about floating airports, and there are reports of man-made floating islands to fight rising sea levels. But floating skyscrapers? That’s what Malaysian designer Sarly Adre Bin Sarkum suggested at this year’s eVolo Skyscraper Competition, which seeks to find “outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the use of new technologies” and “change the way we understand architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments.” Click through our gallery of the remarkable structures that won special mentions and prizes, with designs ranging from vertical prisons to buildings made of steel nesting to towers that filter the air around them.

All photos are courtesy of the 2010 eVolo Competition.

• Major broadband initiative to be unveiled in Washington this week.  After falling behind countries like South Korea in terms of high speed internet access, the U.S. might soon get a serious connectivity boost. (Reuters)

• Here comes China! The global superpower — and high speed rail world leader — is planning to bid on major U.S. HSR projects. (AP)

• Also in China news, new metro stations are springing up like daisies — no surprise, since the country responded to its post-crisis collapse in exports by boosting its infrastructure. (Reuters)

• Lies and half-truths are flying around the divvying up of California’s dwindling water supply. Conservative lawmaker Tom McClintock seems to have learned nothing from the destruction of the state’s salmon stock. (LA Times)

• A Philly corruption tale as old as time: local politicians and a bridge construction company have been caught in a contributions-for-contracts scheme. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

• A Chicago resurfacing project is set to create “the ultimate bottleneck” on the road to Wisconsin. (Chicago Tribune)

• OPEC is meeting this week in Vienna. The cartel is going to address production quotas, which will have an effect on world energy costs. (Marketwatch)

• For all you high flying readers out there, the world’s best airport lounge has been named! Take a guess to where it is. (Morning Herald)

• Infrastructure in Sport News: One billion pounds will be invested to revitalize one of Manchester’s poorest areas. Sheik Mansour of Abu Dhabi, who is the owner of Manchester City Football Club, has proposed a plan for the revitalization of Eastlands. (Manchester Evening News)

• How many people used China’s new Wuhan-Guangzhou line during the Chinese New Year festival? More than a million, and that’s just during the first 26 days of the 40-day event. Trains were 98% full. (Economist)

• London to…Beijing? China has announced that it’s in negotiations to build high speed rail lines to several European countries, including the U.K. The expansion plans also extend into Southeast Asia, connecting Singapore and Vietnam. (Budget Travel)

• Did Ray LaHood royally tick off the entire airline industry by telling them, “Let me give you a little bit of political advice: Don’t be against high-speed rail” at the FAA’s annual forecasting conference? (WSJ)

• Author Christian Wolmar writes an op-ed in the New York Times arguing that the Acela should be made into a model project to demonstrate that we can successfully get HSR going in the U.S. (NYT)

• On this topic, the New Republic brings up a good point: In the Northeast, Amtrak and state governments own the actual rails. But in most of the country, Amtrak and commuter train services run under agreements with freight railroads — which hold a dedicated right-of-way that’s not going away. (TNR)

• We’ve discussed some of the ways that planning for HSR can go very wrong. Here, the CHSR Blog offers an example of doing it right. (CHSRB)

• Remember that $810 million in federal money for an HSR line between Madison and Milwaukee? Sounds great — once they figure out where it’s gonna go once it arrives in Madison. (Wkowtv)

• But will California HSR plans plow straight through certain hard-won plans for commuter rail? (AP)

It’ s been a rough year so far for train-related deaths in the Northeast. There were the two teenage girls killed by an Acela train near Philadelphia — both teens jumped on the tracks in an apparent suicide. This week saw two more deaths in New Jersey, with both victims being struck and killed by separate trains — the first was Amtrak’s Keystone 642, which hit someone in Mercer County near the Hamilton Township station, while the second was a New Jersey Transit commuter train that killed a man near the East Orange station. Yesterday, Manhattanites were shocked to hear that a 48-year-old woman had been crushed by a 6 train on the Upper East Side after jumping on the tracks to retrieve her gym bag. To make matters worse, at the time the police were already investigating the death of a 50-year-old man who was hit and killed by a train in Brooklyn.

There will likely be repercussions from this string of deaths — lawsuits, claims of negligence, jobs potentially lost, safety review boards created. But while the sudden string of well-publicized deaths might spur some backlash, it’s tough to argue that much more could be done to keep incidents like this from happening. For starters, there’s the fact that many train-related deaths — like those of the teen girls in Pennsylvania — are suicides. According to a recent study, around 300 to 500 people per year die by deliberately jumping in front of trains.

So can measures be taken to prevent these suicides? There’s the option of erecting barriers, or other physical deterrents — though the counterargument to that is that someone who wants to end his or her life won’t be stopped by a barrier along the train tracks. Still, the Boston Globe reports that there’s “significant evidence that taking away or obstructing the means for people to kill themselves can defuse self-destructive impulses, which often occur in moments of extreme anguish or stress.”

Unfortunately, even if some highly-populated regions decided to erect barricades around the tracks, there’s virtually no way it could be done along all of the 215,000 miles of train track in the U.S. Meaning that all a suicidal person would need to do would be to head to a portion of the track that had no barrier. Some advocates are suggesting testing barriers in locations where they could be most effective — presumably, the most highly-populated areas like the Northeast. Other measures are being tried: Sign campaigns have been sprouting up at commuter rail stations, including notices listing a toll-free suicide hotline, but so far their effectiveness has not been studied.

Still, the sad reality remains that for those seeking to end their lives, trains are an option. Though despite the recent spate of deaths, accidental or no, lets not forget that train fatalities still don’t hold a candle to cars.

• Here are five automotive technologies to look for in the near future. They run the gamut run from alternative fuels to self-driving models (KITT, anyone?). (HowStuffWorks)

• Continuing on the theme in a more novel way, a Volkswagen that runs on coffee grinds has been engineered by a British scientist. But can the Car-puccino be a viable method of transportation? (USA Today)

• An 11-year-old has won the ultimate contest prize: He’ll be pushing the button to dynamite Texas Stadium, former home of the Dallas Cowboys.  According to reports, he is “real excited.” (Dallas News)

• California legislators fight over Proposition AB 32, with opponents arguing over whether the carbon-cutting measure will create or destroy jobs. (LA Times)

• The politics in Cyprus are diverting attention from a growing water crisis.  Solutions are complicated, to put it mildly. (BBC)

• A critique of the new bike lane feature on Google Maps — though, despite the criticism, the author sees potential for the app in the future. (PC World)

• The 100 years war between GE and environmentalists about the dredging of the Hudson goes on. Somewhere, Jack Welch is cringing. (Times Union)

• Republicans in the House of Representatives are pushing an earmark ban, many of which are pet infrastructure projects in a politicians constituency. If only George Carlin were still alive.  (Politico)

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While Americans may be concerned with safety in air travel, the real danger, as we all pretty much know but forget regularly, is motor vehicles. Somehow our brains are able to conveniently parse and suppress the fact that our chances of dying behind the wheel (or even just in the passenger seat) of a car are around 1 in 100 — compare that to your 1 in 52.6 million odds of being killed on a single airliner trip.

So just how does the U.S. compare with the rest of the world when it comes to traffic-related deaths? This amazing infographic offers an impressive amount of information on international motor vehicle deaths, including how traffic fatalities play out among richer and poorer countries. Right now, road accidents are the ninth leading cause of death in the world — by 2030, they’re projected to be the fifth. Still not sold on public transit?

Image: NGHealthCareEurope

• Village Voice legend Michael Musto extols the virtues of biking in New York City, including getting around town on an ugly bike no one would want to steal. (Streetfilms)

• Mr. Villaraigosa goes to Washington: The mayor of L.A. is heading to the District to lobby for funds to pay for a much needed expansion of the L.A. rail system. (Washington Post)

• The toilet of the future is coming to America. New bathroom technology comes equipped with heated seats, flushing options, and sound effects. (MSNBC)

• Pictures of the the world’s first solar “Power Tower” have been released. The Andalusian structure can power up to 6,000 homes. (CNN)

• Silicon Valley is becoming the sticking point of California’s High Speed Rail Project. The tunnel-versus-above-ground debate in the area rages on. (San Jose Mercury New)

• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) helps out Yerevan’s metro. A $20 million loan will overhaul the Soviet-era system. (Eurasianet.org)

• Budget cuts in Chicago are causing riders to switch from buses to trains, and the Windy City is looking at how to cope with reduced public transport service. (Chicago Breaking New)

• Puerto Rico has big P3 plans: A new airport, schools and highway are slated to be constructed by means of Private-Public-Partnerships. (Reuters)

When it comes to travel, Americans appear to value safety over convenience — at least, according to the answers of the 1,007 people who took an online survey about it.  According to the latest poll by HNTB Corp., what Americans want most when it comes to aviation infrastructure improvements is anything that will make us feel safer, both in terms of air traffic control and potential acts of in-air aggression (aka terrorist attacks). More than 62% of respondents said they care most about improvements to either in-flight or pre-flight safety, as opposed to a mere 21% that said they valued overall travel convenience, or the 12% that valued sustainability.

These results aren’t all that surprising, given the rash of safety-related incidents that have resulted in massive media coverage. There was the Christmas Day bombing attempt (which, studies now show, would not have been successful even if the bomber had managed to detonate his device) as well as the near-collision in Denver, and of course the small children making air-traffic control announcements at JFK. But as so many studies have shown, the relationship to how safe we feel versus how safe we actually are is skewed by all sorts of kinks in human perception. Which isn’t to say that air travel is as safe as it could be, or that our attempts to up safety levels have been effective and efficient (take a close look at the security theater going on in the average U.S. airport, and that notion flies out the window). 

Still, the fact remains that on the whole, air travel is remarkably safe. What it is not is efficient — both in terms of travel times and in environmental impact. The efficiency problem is exemplified by the recent announcements by airlines that they’ll cancel flights rather than risk falling victim to the new federal fine that penalizes airlines for keeping passengers on the tarmac for three hours or more. Not a half hour, or even an hour. Three hours. That this new rule would be such a threat to major airlines is a definite sign that something is rotten in the state of air travel, besides just TSA.

Granted, this isn’t to say we shouldn’t take action to increase basic safety, such as the following:

A major component of future aviation infrastructure improvements is the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen, a satellite-based digital navigation and communication system designed to replace radar-based systems introduced in the 1940s. It has the potential to make modern air travel safer, more secure and more reliable. Currently, more than half of Americans (53 percent) support such a change.

Image: Cartoon News Magazine

• Just how is the U.S. “No-Fly” list (which has nearly doubled in size since Christmas) created? The AP investigates. (AP)

• In other airline news, the TSA’s new fines for keeping passengers on the runway for more than three hours have brought about a classic unintended consequence: Continental is saying it will cancel flights rather than risk the fines, meaning even more problems for travelers. (AP)

• Israel and Syria finally agree on something: Both countries decidedly want their own nuclear power. (JTA)

• Slate wants you! Show off your brilliant ideas for creating a cheaper, more energy-efficient human existence by participating in “The Efficient Life” contest. (Slate)

• Seattle’s Community Transit, which serves most of the city’s northern suburbs, is shutting down completely on Sundays, after a vote by the Community Transit Board. So what will happen to people who need to get to work that day? (Seattle Transit Blog)

• High speed rail promotes social cohesion? A European study on locations with accessibility may offer key insights  into the American HSR network’s likelihood of success. (Brookings Institute)

• Nord Stream engineers hit a treasure trove of European History: A 1,000 year old Viking vessel is found, but there are no plans to raise it, as well as a number of other ships. (Der Spiegel)

• The growing pains of Spain’s solar industry are exemplified in the town of Puertollano. (New York Times)

• Communities around the country are pulling out all the stops to land Google’s fiber optic network.  In particular, Greenville, South Carolina is feeling lucky. (LA Times)

Detroit is becoming the prototype for a dying American city. As the Mayor enacts radical plans to bulldoze whole neighborhoods in a desperate attempt to save others, the city is reaching a critical point in its history, and no precedent exists for how to save it. Caught in the center of this turmoil and plan for destruction-in-hopes-of-recreation is a key landmark: Michigan Central Station. Abandoned for decades — the last train pulled out of it more than 20 years ago –this once-stunning building has become just another of the scores of abandoned structures. But despite the corrosion and dilapidation that have plagued the station, it remains a unique and stunning reminder of a once-thriving city.

Still, like so many buildings, the station was slated for demolition, and according to a report from the New York Times, exists only because of  a lawsuit to have it preserved as a historic landmark (not to mention the city’s $400 million budget deficit). So is it a symbol of urban decay and the inexorable decline of American infrastructure that should be bulldozed so the city can start anew? Or a priceless relic of a golden age in architecture and prosperity, that should be restored and put to good use? Here are some photos, to help you make up your mind.

• Old nuclear weapons are heading south — to South Carolina, to be exact — for retirement.  And the plutonium within these weapons could potentially power Tennessee — assuming we process it successfully. (Newsweek)

• The policies that created urban sprawl must end: A look at anti-city bias and its impact on development. (Boston Globe)

• A Miami architect is working with a building materials manufacturer to design and provide prefabricated, hurricane-resistant homes for displaced Haitians. (New Urban News)

• Remember that shiny new metro system in Dubai? The city is on track to increase their mass transit population from 6% last year to 30% in 2020. (Trade Arabia)

• Ten top European companies unveiled their plan for a $46 billion super grid for the soon-to-be-tapped-out North Sea.  Wind will play a vital role in powering the U.K., Germany and Norway. (UPI)

• Plenty of sunshine, but how to harness it? Africa has the potential to power itself with an energy resource out of the reach of foreign interests. The only problem is (Global Geopolitics)

• A new bill seeks to address the unending housing mess in the U.S. More than five million homes are still in danger of foreclosure. (New York Times)

• Fan-favorite Tesla makes a Wall Street Journal top ten list. A clutch of SoCal solar companies also get a nod in the paper’s first ever survey of Clean Tech companies. (Wall Street Journal)

We’ve barely begun the new decade, and already billions are being handed out for major transit projects around the country. But before we leap off the cliff into new territory (read: HSR) it’s not a bad idea to take a look back at what our time, efforts, and money have yielded in the last ten years — and how much we’ve gotten for each buck.

Here are the most expensive transit projects of the past decade, detailed in all their glory (or ignominy). Click the picture below to start the gallery.

Global warming has hit the courts: Victims of Hurricane Katrina have filed a class action lawsuit against large oil companies claiming that Big Oil’s “operation of energy, fossil fuels, and chemical industries in the U.S. caused the emission of greenhouse gasses that contributed to global warming,” according to documents reviewed by the AFP. The plaintiffs are residents of southern Mississippi, which was pretty much destroyed when Katrina came through.

The lawsuit isn’t new — the plaintiffs first first filed suit a couple weeks after the storm hit in August 2005, likely to avoid any statute of limitations issues — and when it was first filed, the district court tossed it out, ruling that the issue was “a debate which simply has no place in the court.” Three federal appeals court judges held in October of 2009 that the case could be heard — but now the court is demanding a new hearing, this time with nine judges.

These plaintiffs might have a case. They certainly have clear and provable damages — the storm annihilated entire towns in Mississippi. But the massive gaping IF in this lawsuit is the plaintiffs’ ability to draw a direct link between the damage caused to their lives and property, and the actions of Big Oil. Doing this involves decisively linking a load of other very difficult and full-of-variables items, including:

1) Proving that the storm was caused/exacerbated  by global warming;

2) Proving that the damage was a direct result of this increase in the storm’s severity, and not the negligence of city, state, and federal officials who failed to build and maintain adequate infrastructure;

3) Proving that, if the storm WAS caused by global warming, Big Oil’s actions were a primary cause of said warming, as opposed to the myriad other causes of carbon emissions.

And on and on — you get the idea. Picture years of depositions, entire warehouses of documents, and utterly befuddled jurors who can’t really be expected to parse the nuances of climate science and politics (the two are hopelessly intertwined at this point - they can’t be separated). All of which adds up to collective time, money, and resources that might be better spent focused on rebuilding efforts and initiatives for alternative energy and emissions reduction. 

There’s also the long-term effects to consider if the plaintiffs actually win — would it open the doors for every storm victim in the country to sue Shell and Chevron?

In need of an overhaul

• Today’s metaphor for America’s decline: The U.S. as LAX.  Thomas Friedman makes a salient point. (Fresno Bee)

• An international incident over full body scanners: A parliamentary delegation of Pakistani officials refused to go through scanners at Washington’s Dulles Airport, instead electing to return to Pakistan. (Press TV)

• The U.S. DOT shut down Tierra Santa Inc., the bus company involved in a crash that killed six people in Arizona last week. The company had a number of shady dealings, including a poor safety record and improper authorization to transport passengers over state lines. (LATimes)

• The fits and starts of Philly’s urban regeneration (Philadelphia Inquirer)

• Time for New Deal 2.0?  American mayors want a remake of the FDR-inspired plan to tackle unemployment and infrastructure problems. (Wall Street Journal)

• A random act of kindness is recognized by a Boston commuter. (Christian Science Monitor)

• If sustainable design wins out, tourists could enjoy a Central Asian Switzerland. (Eurasianet)

• While many in Africa go hungry, foreign countries are increasing their hold on the continent’s arable land for the benefit of their own populations. (Guardian UK)

• Kudos to Bloomington High School South for their “Calories to Kilowatts” program.  The Panthers have a gym that’s absolutely electric. (AP)

• Conclusions from the High Speed Rail 2010 conference in Orlando: HSR’s success in the U.S. lies in “effectively promoting and selling it as a safe, convenient, environmentally friendly mode of transportation.” Yeah, that and actually providing the product we’re selling. (Ledger)

• In response to claims that it exaggerated projected ridership and went through a flawed peer-review process, the California High-Speed Rail Authority on Thursday published an eight-page response defending their model, which forecasts that 41 million people will ride the L.A.–San Francisco line by 2030. (MercuryNews)

• “America’s foray into high speed rail should include NYC.” Ahh if only! (PennLive)

• Ray LaHood’s visit with Senate appropriators got testy yesterday, when Republican Sen. Kit Bond tore into him to defend the White House’s plans for sustainable development and high speed rail. LaHood stood fast and held his own. (StreetsBlogDC)

• Wait, campus protests for…public transit? Students at the University of Oregon rallied this week for light rail, drawing praise from a State Representative who’s working with the Oregon Legislature to find funding for rail-line repairs and increase train speeds to 65 miles per hour. (KMTR)

• Wisconsin’s largest business groupgot itself into some hot water with claims that the $823 million awarded to Wisconsin and Minnesota by the federal government “made some sense.” The only problem? Both leading Republican gubernatorial candidates are pro-halting HSR if tawpayers wind up having to pay any operating costs. (JSOnline)

In Quilmes, Argentina, a town of 500,000 people in the province of Buenos Aires, artist Tito Ingenieri decided to build his house using a unique form of recycled materials: Used glass bottles. He began collecting bottles from trash dumps, and pretty soon local residents and merchants were saving their discarded bottles to give to him. He then used his booty, which eventually totaled over 6 million bottles, to construct a house. The cement base gives it strength, and the house itself has grown to a mini-compound with a built-in weather service — when a storm is coming, Ingenieri says, the bottles make whistling noises to alert him. Not exactly the modular mansions of notoriety for upper-middle-class Americans — but it’s certainly easier on the planet.

(Hat tip: Huffpo)

We’ve done quite a few galleries of amusingly defaced street signs. And while we like to celebrate their tongue-in-cheek lets-all-laugh-at-ourselves humor, we do have to acknowledge that the message printed above  (itself on a defaced street sign — such is the age of irony) is important: Defacing street signs, particularly Stop signs and other road safety signs, is illegal and potentially dangerous for drivers and pedestrians. And since March is National Collision Awareness Month (and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is quick to remind us all that around 102 people died in auto crashes per day in 2008 – one every 14 minutes!) we want to formally state that we at The Infrastructurist do not condone the defacing of public street signs, no matter how witty, zingy, or hilarious the results may be.

Of course, should individuals ignore our recommendation and continue to vandalize signs, we’ll keep on printing them…but we’ll feel slightly guilty about it.