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Monthly archive for April, 2010
The Week in High Speed Rail: Another Day, Another Arbiter of Doom for California
Friday, April 30th, 2010
• California state auditor Elaine Howle is pulling a Cassandra — predicting that the state may not be able to complete its planned high-speed rail system — which is set to break ground in 2012 — due to poor planning Read more ›
The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, Shown in Graph
Friday, April 30th, 2010
CLICK TO ENLARGE The oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico is now ballooning into a full-fledged environmental catastrophe, one that could eclipse the Exxon Valdez. New reports claim that the spill is five times worse than first thought, and Read more ›
The Morning Dig: A Dying Subway Driver Saves His Passengers
Friday, April 30th, 2010
• The Dead-Man feature of subway cars was used, reportedly for the first time, when the motorman of a NYC subway car enabled it — apparently, as he was dying from a heart attack. (NYT) • Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Read more ›
How Much Time Do Americans Spend on Elevators? A Ton
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Elevators are a staple in modern urban life — without them, our system of city planning, not to mention our way of life, would be virtually impossible. But how much time do Americans spend waiting for, or standing in elevators? Read more ›
The Morning Dig: Offshore Wind Gets a Major Boost
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
• Finally, Cape Wind off the Massachusetts coast is approved. (NYT) • A new bridge between Detroit and Canada is in the works. (AP) • A new report looks at which cities in the United States have clean air. (AP) Read more ›
Today’s Battle in the War Over Urbanism’s Future: The Montreal Interchange
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
In its Turcot Interchange, Montreal claims to have the “world’s busiest bridge,” with more than 300,000 drivers crossing it daily. Whether or not that statement is accurate, there’s no denying that this West Montreal structure connecting Highways 15, 20, and Read more ›
Who’s to Blame for Our Crumbling Roads & Bridges? Democracy, For One
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
We’ve discussed how democracy has played a major part in our failure to have a modern rail system. And like it or not, our electoral system has had a bigger role than most people would like to admit in contributing Read more ›
The Morning Dig: How Bike Trails are Expanding in the U.S.
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
• NPR has an in-depth look at possible federal plans for a bike-trail network around the nation. (NPR) • An author looks at what Australia’s suburbs should be transformed into. (SMH) • A new technology generates small amounts of energy Read more ›
Truckers v. Bicyclists: The Online Battle
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Right now, there’s a spat playing out on the Internet between the trucking industry…and bicycle advocates. Truckers v. bicyclists? Really? Yes, really. Part of the problem stems from the discrepancies in growth between the two parties: In the new post-crisis Read more ›
Amtrak Runs Its First Biodiesel Train
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Amtrak has begun testing out its first train to run entirely on biodiesel fuel, as part of a year-long experiment to see if the train can handle the alternative fuel long-term. The train chosen for the job is the Heartland Read more ›
The Morning Dig: An Update on the Bay Bridge Construction
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
• 60 Minutes has a great piece on how San Francisco is racing against time to finish the new Bay Bridge before a major earthquake eventually hits. (CBSNews) • Sci-fi blog io9 looks at the 10 weirdest urban ecosystems on Read more ›
Bring on the Bikes! Cycling Rises 28% in New York City
Monday, April 26th, 2010
We’ve addressed New York City’s increasing focus on cycling on the policy side. And man has it worked. As Gothamist reports, biking and public transit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives has released an annual estimate on bike ridership using DOT data. Read more ›
How Much Gas Does Your State Use Per Person?
Monday, April 26th, 2010
CLICK TO ENLARGE While states with the highest populations unsurprisingly tend to use the most gas, the real fuel efficiency picture comes when you examine each state’s fuel consumption per capita. With that factor added, a very different scenario emerges: Read more ›
The Morning Dig: Is a Major Tower at Ground Zero In the Works?
Monday, April 26th, 2010
• Building a single, giant tower, to be called One World Trade Center, at Ground Zero is now back in favor. (NYT) • Could fixing Detroit provide a model for other U.S. cities? (TIME) • NPR looks at a new Read more ›
The Week in High Speed Rail: Science Approves of California’s Rail Plan
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
• The state of U.S. rail right now: A (very thorough) rundown of what’s happened so far. Best quote: “The key to going fast is not going slow.” (WaPo) • Britain’s peer-reviewed Journal of Choice Modelling has published a paper Read more ›
Why We Need Tire Efficiency Labels Now (And When We Can Expect to See Them)
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
When it comes to tires, the government has had trouble merging technology with accurate consumer information. Virtually every driver knows that putting energy efficient tires on a car may be the quickest way to increase its gas mileage, but as Read more ›
The Morning Dig: NYC’s Pedestrian-Friendly Street Experiments to Expand
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
• The Bloomberg administration is proposing to turn part of 34th street of Manhattan into a pedestrian plaza, encouraging walking and helping buses evade congested traffic. (NYT) • Buying carbon offsets does not reduce global warming, according to a newspaper Read more ›
Glenn Beck Takes on Passenger Rail, and No One Wins
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Following a long tradition of sane and coherent arguments, Glenn Beck yesterday chose to take on trains. Somehow trains are likened to Nazis, and the free market, and more Nazis. Apparently, in Europe trains were built to carry royalty but Read more ›
Total Damage from the Volcanic Ash Cloud: A Graphic Depiction
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
CLICK TO ENLARGE Flights to Europe are running (at last) and passengers are bidding a happy adieu to their airport cots and McDonald’s vouchers. So now that the crisis appears to be abating (assuming another volcano doesn’t decide to spew Read more ›
The Morning Dig: Europe’s Green Energy Problems
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
• Green energy, and in particular off-shore wind farms, hits some roadblocks in Europe. (
