Posted on Thursday July 16th by Jebediah Reed | 52
- Another turn in the long and winding road to the next transportation bill: The Senate Environment and Public Works committee voted to the current bill by 18 months, and excluded any adjustments or improvements. We’ll just say: Ugh. (NY Times)
- Illinois is kicking in $322 million for an overhaul of Chicago’s freight rail yards, one of the country worst logistical choke points. The $1 billion project will also substantially improve the prospects for high speed passenger rail in the Windy City. (WSJ)
- In other Chicago news: What’s that really tall building called? Wrong! It’s now the Willis tower, after some creepy British insurance conglomerate. The word “Sears” has been effaced from the structure and Mayor Daley will preside over a renaming ceremony today. (Sun Times)
- An economist debunks the four major arguments against a second stimulus package. “I don’t understand how one could have thought the first stimulus was needed, and further stimulus is not,” writes Justin Wolfers. (Freakonomics)
- Hundreds of homes in Amsterdam are being tricked out with smart grid technology which is expected to reduce energy consumption by about 14%. Much of the benefit of the smart grid seems to come from making people more aware of their electric use. [Insert joke about plug-in bongs here.] (TreeHugger)
- A breakdown of how Americans spend their money shows that transportation–at 18%–is the second largest expense behind housing (34%). “Housing,” however, includes all electric, gas and water bills–a combined are 7% of total income. (BoingBoing)
- This imaginative little bike gadget creates the appearance of your own bike lane when you ride at night. Not as good as the real thing, of course, but an interesting experiment in temporary virtual infrastructure. (H20 Visions)
July 16th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
I love the idea of the personal bike lane. Unfortunately, it’s only an idea right now (though I have heard about plans of an actual product…)
Second, while I am 100% for major infrastructure spending and rebuilding, I think it would be wise to wait on that second stimulus bill. If you remember, were on our third stimulus package to date. The first two were basically tax credit advances from GWB. The first two didn’t help make a lot of lasting jobs. So, lets take a breather, relax, and study the current bill. Then we can make sure to take the things that work well, and drop the things that don’t work as well.
July 18th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
“The $1 billion project will also substantially improve the prospects for high speed passenger rail in the Windy City.”
Yeah, cause having the President live in your state didn’t already put you at the top of the list.