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Monthly archive for September, 2011
Clinton Global Initiative: To Bounce Back From Disaster, We Need Resilient Infrastructure
Friday, September 30th, 2011
This is a guest post by Benjamin Preston. The next big terrorist will be Mother Nature — or so said former Al Jazeera English news talk show host Riz Khan at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual conference last week. From Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Could Model Airplanes Be Terrorist Weapons?
Friday, September 30th, 2011
• If you outlaw model airplanes, only outlaws will have model airplanes: The recent arrest of the man who plotted attacks on the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol using remote-controlled model planes has many wondering if model airplanes can be Read more ›
Rush-Hour Read: Should the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Be Approved?
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
What’s the right balance to strike between growing the economy and protecting the environment? That’s at the heart of a fierce debate about whether the U.S. government should approve a controversial $7 billion oil pipeline between Canada and the U.S. Read more ›
What Does the Sherman Minton Bridge Say About U.S. Infrastructure?
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Remember the Sherman Minton Bridge, the pathway over the Ohio River connecting Louisville, KY, and New Albany, IN that was “indefinitely” closed due to dangerous cracks? It’s hard not to draw immediate parallels to the tragic collapse of the I-35W Read more ›
The Daily Dig: What’s It Like to Live on a Landfill?
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
• These stunning pictures reveal the life 2,000 families have working and residing on Jakarta’s largest landfill. (Guardian) • A proposed pipeline from Russia to South Korea might soon be underway in a surprising agreement between North and South Korea. Read more ›
Shovel-Ready Series: The Five Non-Highway Projects We Should Build Now
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
The need for job-creation has become critical, and the President has said he wants to use infrastructure to accomplish it — specifically, by offering federal funding to projects in order to get them underway. But which projects? And where? Last Read more ›
The Daily Dig: After More Deaths, Is China’s Rail a Complete ‘Train Wreck’?
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
• Another train crash happened in China yesterday, this one involving a collision between two subway cars, one of which was stopped underground. (USA Today) • Are deadly train crashes too costly a price for speedy development in China? (NPR) Read more ›
Rush-Hour Read: How Tysons Corner is Becoming a Real City
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
To Washington, D.C., residents, the mention of Tysons Corner, Virginia, brings to mind images of vast highways, major shopping centers and corporate office parks. Now ambitious Northern Virginia officials hope to transform Tysons into an actual city. The expansion of Read more ›
The World’s 12 Most Beautiful Train Rides
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
Trains are becoming one of the world’s most popular forms of transportation, and the focus is typically on their function — whether it’s the new technology and growing speed of high-speed rail or the overcrowding in commuter trains. But what Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Which Cities Have the Worst Air Pollution?
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
• It’s now possible to see which places have the best and worst air pollution with the first global survey of air pollution released by the World Health Organization. (AP) • A city at the tip of North Korea is Read more ›
Dispatch from the Clinton Global Initiative: Mega Cities, Mega Challenges
Monday, September 26th, 2011
This is a guest post by Benjamin Preston. As the world’s population approaches 7 billion, half of us are living in urban areas–up from 3% 200 years ago. If all goes according to prediction, that number will pass 70% by Read more ›
The Daily Dig: The New Way to Smuggle Drugs Is…Submarines?
Monday, September 26th, 2011
• A drug smuggling submarine worth $2 million and belonging to narco-terrorists was seized by the Colombian police. (BBC) • Texas needs to come up with a new plan to build infrastructure that will allow the state to have enough Read more ›
What’s It Like to Get Stuck in a Train?
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
As the world’s population continues its inexorable move toward cities, and as public-transit ridership continues to rise, there’s a common experience that’s bonding all urban commuters: Getting stuck in a train. It’s one of those unique modern constructs that few Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Please Welcome the World’s First 3-D Printed Car
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
• 3D printing is now a reality, and the world’s first printed car has just arrived. (SmartPlanet) • Criticism is being fired at a new art project called Nowhereisland. The project involves finding an Arctic island that has recently been exposed Read more ›
Rush-Hour Read: How Automation Leads to More Aviation Accidents
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
After every airplane crash, investigators hunting for the cause look at all the evidence to try to discover what went wrong. Often it’s mechanical, weather, or human error that causes the crash. For the third category, authorities are increasingly finding Read more ›
Shovel-Ready Series: The 5 Bridges Obama Should Build Now
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Today, President Obama will visit a bridge in Cincinnati (that’s in dire need of repair, as many U.S. bridges are) as a backdrop to the public push for his new jobs bill, which includes $50 billion in spending on highways, Read more ›
The Daily Dig: A Chinese City Disappears Overnight
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
• A city in China the size of L.A. “disappears” overnight due to re-zoning laws. (NPR) • More space is needed in the U.S. detainee facility in Afghanistan. The U.S. is planning an expansion from 3,500 beds to 5,500 and Read more ›
Rush-Hour Read: How the Weak Housing Market Hobbles the U.S. Economy
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
As the economy continues to languish, one question that should get more attention is: how will the prolonged weakness of the housing market affect Americans? For one thing, there seems to be clear evidence that housing is holding back the Read more ›
Are Lawsuits the Final Nail in the Coffin for California High-Speed Rail?
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
California’s high-speed rail project is fast becoming the “Waiting for Godot” of modern transportation. There’ve been the fights over planned routes, the disputes over the actual costs, the hubbub over the ridership estimates, and even charges that the body running Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Jailtime for Man Who Supplied Inferior Concrete to D.C. Bridge
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
• 1.3 million people were told to evacuate in Japan as typhoon Roke nears, threatening heavy rains and landslides. (ScientificAmerican) • Cutting corners: a man pleads guilty to using inferior concrete on the Woodrow Wilson bridge in Maryland. (WaPo) • Read more ›
