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Monthly archive for March, 2009
Chicago Suburb Is Becoming A Slum
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] Today’s Wall Street Journal has a story about how former homeowners in the exurbs are becoming renters. The piece looks at the saga of one family (the Disciannos) in Plano, Illinois, a town about 50 miles west of Read more ›
You’re Hired! Four College Majors That Will Still Get You A Job, Even In Today’s Economy
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Wondering whether there are still any jobs worth getting after you slave away to earn your college degree? Let the Infrastructurist be your guidance counselor. We spoke with career specialists from a wide range of institutions of higher learning to Read more ›
Stimulus Money To Pay For Suicide Fence On Akron’s All-American Bridge
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] Symbolism can be merciless. Witness the city of Akron using $1.5 million in stimulus funds to install an anti-suicide barrier on the All-American Bridge. Last year there were two suicides from the Y-shaped span, a structure likely familiar Read more ›
Riding On A Barcelona Streetcar 101 Years Ago, And Maybe Seeing Hitler
Monday, March 30th, 2009
This is a lovely little film that I saw on TreeHugger this afternoon, but which comes from a site called “YouTube” (which seems to be a repository for many and disparate short movies.) The seven minutes of footage were shot Read more ›
Not Enough Stimulus In Your Life? Get The New “Transparent Gov” iPhone App
Monday, March 30th, 2009
Are you part of that special breed of Americans who want to bring the text of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with them everywhere they go? Are you part of that special breed of Americans who own Read more ›
LaHood’s Plane Evacuated Because Of Boxcutter
Monday, March 30th, 2009
The country’s top transportation official got to witness an airline security scare first hand last week. On Wednesday evening, Ray LaHood and 150 of his fellow passengers on a US Airways flight from Washington to Phoenix were hurried off their Read more ›
Yesterday’s News
Monday, March 30th, 2009
Mar 31: Concrete! Examining the state of the art in one civilization’s most useful and ubiquitous materials, including using coal ash in the mix and even a plan for carbon negative cement. (NY Times – Science) The US DOT announces Read more ›
Colonel Sanders On The Offensive Against Potholes
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Asphalt is apparently the hottest thing in viral marketing. KFC, an outfit best known for its chicken parts dipped in boiling oil, has announced that it will now also be doing repairs on public roadways. Beginning in Louisville, Kentucky, and Read more ›
Call For Photos, Videos and Descriptions of Local Infrastructure In Need of Repair
Friday, March 27th, 2009
In coming weeks, we’ll be focusing more on local problems and beginning to compile a national “to-do” list of public property in need of fixing. We’ll also start to look at how government at all levels is managing (or not Read more ›
Building A Subway Is 96 Percent Cheaper In China
Friday, March 27th, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] To give some sense of the pace of public works construction in China, the city of Guangzhou is planning to open 83 miles of new subway lines by the end of next year. Meanwhile, New York–a city of Read more ›
The World’s 7 Best High Speed Rail Networks
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Obama’s $8 billion gambit for high-speed rail in the stimulus package may be the country’s largest-ever investment in its railways, but America is still decades behind the curve when it comes to fast trains. We reviewed the state of the Read more ›
Yesterday’s News
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Mar 30: Bids from construction contractors on stimulus projects are coming in well below estimates. “Boy, it’s a great time to be putting projects out,” says one state transportation spokeman. (NYT) The AP surveys America’s high speed rail ambitions and Read more ›
Infrastructurist On Fox Business News
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
Your humble editor on FBN discussing Yonah Freemark’s list of seven new highways that shouldn’t be built.
When Are We Going To Start Talking About The Environmental Cost Of Solar?
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
The other day I saw this story come across the news wire: WASHINGTON (AP) — California’s Mojave Desert may seem ideally suited for solar energy production, but concern over what several proposed projects might do to the aesthetics of the Read more ›
The Train That Could Save Detroit
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
A frequent complaint about the current round of infrastructure investment is that we’re not thinking big enough — that there is no revolutionary equivalent of rural electrification or the Interstate system on the drawing board. Enter Michigan’s plan for a Read more ›
Giant Vegas Development Is Crapping Out
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Not shockingly, a $9 billion construction project that would give Las Vegas even more giant hotels, entertainment venues, and gambling floors is running into funding issues. The 19 million square foot CityCenter, the largest privately-funded development in US history, stands Read more ›
The Former USSR: Land Of Colorful Bus Stops
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
[SButtonZ button="digg"] Say what you will about America’s mortal enemy the former Soviet Union, but they built some wild bus stops. The series was shot by photographer Christopher Herwig. Click through for a few more samples:
For 14th Month In A Row, Americans Drive Less — Will The Trend Last?
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
In January, US motorists logged a total of 222 billion road miles. That’s 7 billion fewer–about 3% less–than in January 2008. Ohio saw a stunning 10 percent drop in vehicle miles traveled, whereas the western U.S. showed a fractional rise. Read more ›
Will There Ever Be Vertical Farms In Manhattan?
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Modern greenhouses, such as those that cover large portions of southern Spain, produce an increasingly significant percentage of the food that we eat every day. That’s because these “farms” are far more productive than traditional planted fields, using advanced technologies Read more ›
Down On The Dow? Consider Investing In Chinese Cement
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
China is undertaking a massive infrastructure spending stimulus of its own. A couple of well-placed fund managers thinks the situation offers a great opportunity to invest in cement makers. In recent years China has made and used nearly half the Read more ›
