The Daily Dig - ‘Pick Up My Trash, Robot!’ Edition

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• An important story in the NY Times describes how cities are getting shortchanged on  stimulus funds. State governments seem to be satisfied to direct the money to rural projects that are ultimately less stimulative than those in urban areas. It’s a continuation of a longstanding distortion in US transportation spending. (NYT)
• Popular Mechanics offers 10 lessons we have learned from past rail accidents in the past century. For instance, “dead man’s controls” are a must. Also: make sure your conductors are getting plenty of shuteye and don’t carry nuclear waste through urban tunnels. (Popular Mechanics)
• We hear about gridlock on the highways, but Richard Florida highlights the possibility that bottlenecks in our freight networks might be the biggest threat to globalization. Of course, trade volumes have fallen off a cliff in the last year, but a legitimate concern if we ever plan to resume buying Chinese crap in dumbfounding quantities… (Atlantic)
• Wonkery: Yonah Freemark and Ryan Avent debate the relative merits of tolling–for example, a mileage tax figured by a gubmint chip in your car–as a way to fund transportation infrastructure. Yonah says: Regressive! Ryan says: Not so much! (Transport Politic, The Bellows)
• The US is decades behind on passenger rail. Boo hoo, right? Not at all, says IBM’s rail guru. It gives us a chance to learn from everybody else’s screw ups and missteps, which is a “great position” to be in. (Forbes)
• Over in Italy there’s a robot with eyes (they don’t work, except for cuteness) that picks up your trash and sorts out the recyclables and compostables. It’s green — literally! And probably totally useless too, but still, everybody loves an adorable green robot. (Inhabitat)