Posted on Thursday June 11th by Jebediah Reed | 88
- Bowing to political and financial constraints, French president Nicholas Sarkozy has shelved some of the more dazzling schemes to recreate Paris as showpiece green city. Instead he’s focusing on transportation infrastructure. Particularly figure-8 shaped infrastructure. (NYT)
- Read my lips: No new gas taxes, Ray LaHood again promises in an interview with the Financial Times. Not his call though, we suspect. (FT)
- In Italy, a new privately-owned high speed rail company will start service between Naples and Turin in 2011. The fleet of “stylish, candy-apple-red” trains will be known as Italo. Fares will be competitive with those of the state company. (InTransit blog)
- “Honey, I shrunk the reactor!” A new design for tiny “modular” nuclear plants promises electricity that’s as cheaper or cheaper than coal, but without all the emissions. The big hurdle is getting government certification. (Environmental Capital)
- No, this will not be the Summer of George — rather, it will be the Summer of Road Work. Tom Vanderbilt has a primer. One tip: you’ll have the best luck driving through construction zones when the pylons first go up, as congestion tends to get worse over time. (Slate)
- Green jobs are not just a mirage–this share of the workforce has been growing faster than the national economy over the past decade. And some of those hippie green collar types earn as much as $111,000. (LA Times)
- Denver’s Union Station (it’s the kind for trains) will get $18 million in stimulus funds to update it as a transit hub. But that’s a drop a $480 million bucket for the facility. (Examiner)
- Proponents of the much-mocked floating train to Disneyland vow to fight on even without Harry Reid’s support. Losing their most powerful backer is just a bump in the, um, road. (Las Vegas Sun)
