What do you see if you go 100 feet directly below New York’s Grand Central Station? WNYC has put together an impressive gallery of pics offering a sneak peek inside the construction of the MTA’s new commuter rail terminal, which is scheduled for completion in 2016. When it’s finished, the system will connect four out of eight Long Island Railroad tunnels, sending them to a central hub in the West Wing of Grand Central Terminal.
Image Courtesy WNYC
• Just how dysfunctional is New York’s MTA? The Daily News offers a rundown, summing it up with this: “The MTA lists 92 separate telephone numbers that the public can call to get information. One would seem sufficient. Make it MTA-HELP.” (Daily News)
• It’s getting close to HSR stimulus time! So will Texas pocket any of that federal cash? Governor Rick Perry isn’t holding his breath. (Dallas News)
• While rescue teams and Haitian residents are working around the clock to find survivors and restore order, some Haitians are already turning their focus towards rebuilding. (NY Times)
• Forget China and France — should we be looking to Spain to figure out how best to build (and finance) a U.S. HSR system? (PBS)
• Are smart grids really such a good idea? Could the idea of so much interconnectivity in fact be dangerous? One blogger makes his case. (Energy Collective)
• Workers in Cambodia have removed 300 land mines and 30,000 rounds of ammunition from the country’s roads, and then laid down a thick layer of asphalt. The country, which was torn apart by the devastating rule of the Khmer Rouge, is halfway through a major road-building spree, with 10 projects totaling over 730 miles of pavement. (NY Times)
• And over in recession-battered Las Vegas, the monorail has filed for bankruptcy, citing the impacts of decreased ridership. (Transit Wire)
• In the LA Times’s list of “What works and what doesn’t in America,” the “what works” list is filled with descriptions of our spirit and cohesiveness as a civil society. The “what doesn’t” list covers…pretty much all of our infrastructure. (LA Times)
• Get ready for those JFK delays! The airport’s longest runway is about to shut down for four months. (NY Times)
• GE Transportation has inked a deal to sell 50 diesel-powered freight locomotives to Brazil’s largest sugar and ethanol producer. (BusinessWeek)
• The American Planning Association tackles the question, “How do we protect pedestrian access between public sidewalks and buildings?” (APA)
• Despite scientific findings that the environmental and health consequences of coal mining in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and southwestern Virginia are “”pervasive and irreversible,” the EPA will let it continue. (McClatchy)
• A day in the life of Delhi Metro commuters: Hot, slow, and crowded. (Delhi Walla)
• When it comes to investing, should infrastructure be a distinct asset class? (iStockAnalyst)
