Posts Tagged ‘T.S.A.’

The Evening Dig: Behold, the Monster Train

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010


• Union Pacific has quietly been setting records, running a “monster” freight train from Dallas to Long Beach. And monster it was: The train’s length was a solid 3.5 miles. (PopMech)

• A car you can take on the train? Custom car-maker Rinspeed has announced the development of the  Urban Commuter, is a custom built electric car that is “designed to be easily loaded on special rail transport cars for long trips.” (CNET)

• Add to the list of massive TSA fails: A developmentally-delayed four-year-old was on his way to Orlando with his parents, to celebrate his birthday at Disney World. To correct his malformed legs, he wears metal braces — a fact that airport security objected to, and demanded he remove the braces and walk on his own through the metal detectors. (Philly Inquirer)

• New life for nuclear? Obama announced today that the federal government has approved a $8.3 billion loan guarantee for construction of two new nuclear reactors in Georgia — though don’t expect construction to start soon, since the reactors are still in the design stage. (NYTimes)

• Score one for New York City’s planned Moynihan Station — the project has received $83 million in federal grant money from the Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. (Streetsblog)

• Here’s a classic unintended consequence of the new rule fining airlines for leaving passengers on the tarmac: Airlines simply canceling flights rather than risk having to pay. (Seattle PI)

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The Evening Dig: Debacle in Dubai

Monday, February 8th, 2010

• America 2050 has created a video depicting a fictional White Sox fan’s 300-mile journey to Detroit’s Comerica Park, as part of its “A Better Tomorrow” project to visualize America’s future communities and transportation systems. (America2050)

• The epic Burj Dubai-cum-Burj Khalifahas unexpectedly closed just a month after its elaborate opening, causing doubts about whether the permanent occupants will be able to move in as scheduled. The reason for the quick closing? Partly electrical problems, but the chief cause remains a mystery. (AP)

• But things aren’t all bad in the UAE: Dubai residents Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry have created the Land Art Generator Initiative and launched an international design competition for the best “outdoor public art work that is conceptually engaging while at the same time produces real, usable renewable energy.” In other words,they’re looking for designs for “aesthetic power plants.” (Treehugger)

• TSA debacle of the day: A security breach this morning led officials to taser a man and shut down and evacuate the McNamara Terminal at the Detroit Metro Airport. The breach was reportedly a passenger who passed through security gates but had no luggage or ticket.  (Freep)

• And a mysterious person scaled the massive Manhattan Bridge today! Here’s wishing him/her a safe climb. (Gothamist)

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The Morning Dig: The Undoing of Erroll Southers Edition

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Erroll Southers, Assistant Chief of Airport Police Division• Erroll Southers, whose nomination for TSA chief was flushed away by a Republican opponent of collective bargaining, says he “became a political football, in a game that had nothing to do with increasing our security posture.” (Foreign Policy)

• Budget cuts forced Virginia to close 19 highway rest stops this summer, but a new governor is resuscitating them. An “adopt a rest stop” fund program will help pay for them, and non-violent inmates will staff them. (WaPo)

• Apparently, parking a car can really bring out the defeatist quitter in us. A phenomenon occurs whereby drivers will assume there’s “nowhere to park” when coveted curbside spots are taken, and attempts by planners to compensate can be seriously misguided. (How We Drive)

• Patrick Smith takes the TSA to task for its “mindless and hysterical” response to the Haitian man who “opened the wrong door”/”breached security” at JFK last weekend. Our society is in a “confused and panicked” state. (Ask the Pilot)

• A $90 billion investment could allow the eastern U.S. to get 20% of its electricity from wind by 2024, but in order for the investment to make sense, we have to replace 22,000 miles of power lines. (Reuters)

• Will more HSR in Britain increase or decrease demand at Heathrow? Politicians on both sides want the trains, but are opposed in their explanations. (Times)

• Believe it or not, eight developments around the world stand to surpass the Burj Dubai as the tallest building in the world. Click through for a slide show. (Popular Mechanics)

• If you happen to have an outrageous amount of money burning a hole in your pocket, Captain Chesley Sullenberger’s Airbus A320 is up for auction, engines not included. (WaPo)

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The Morning Dig: Move Over Dubai Edition

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

masdar• Forget Dubai — Abu Dhabi is emerging as the new architectural powerhouse in the UAE. And the centerpiece is Masdar, an entirely carbon-neutral city that is currently under construction. Here are initial pictures from the nearly-complete Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. (Building.co.uk)

• What will it take to fix air travel in the U.S.? And once we’ve figured out what it takes, will we be able to do it? (USA Today)

• Meanwhile, Obama’s embattled nominee for TSA leader, Erroll Southers, has withdrawn his name from consideration. Southers’s confirmation has been blocked by Republicans who fear he would allow TSA employees to engage in collective bargaining with the government. (AP)

• Do mandatory bike-helmet laws for children discourage biking? A new working paper called “The Intended and Unintended Effects of Youth Bicycle Helmet Laws” draws some surprising conclusions. (Freakonomics)

• The 2010-11 budget that New York Gov. Paterson has proposed would include $3.46 billion less for transportation funding (so $8.8 billion total), primarily because of non-recurring revenue from the federal stimulus program and the 2005 bond act. (RecordOnline)

• And finally, a slideshow of the work of Lina Bo Bardi, the innovative Italian architect who made an indelible mark on Brazil’s mid-century design. (Dwell)

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The Evening Dig: Cory Booker Shovels Snow Edition

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

800px-cory_booker• It’s not every day you Tweet and the mayor of your city shows up at your door. But in Newark, Cory Booker arrived with a team of volunteers after a woman used Twitter to tell him that her father needed help shoveling his driveway. (HuffPo)

• Four train cars crashed into a Holiday Inn in Helsinki after they became detached from the rest of a nearly empty train and failed to brake as they descended a hill. No serious injuries were reported. (AP)

• Denver is making strides towards a “Living Streets” planning philosophy that not only caters to all forms of transportation, but also takes into consideration the role of planning in job creation, public health, and commercial development. (Washington Park Profile)

• The Obama administration’s imposition of new security rules on 14 mostly Muslim countries is drawing widespread criticism. “T.S.A. does not profile,” said a T.S.A. spokeswoman. (NYTimes)

• In other T.S.A. news, a new iPhone app lets users anonymously report problems with airport security officials and security procedures on the spot. It’ll be fully operational in a few weeks. (Wired)

• A Republican Senator is calling for a review of the “Cash for Clunkers” program. It was “inherently risky,” he says, and there hasn’t been any accounting of its administrative costs. (DetNews)

• A report says public transportation projects create twice as many jobs per dollar than road and highway projects do. The construction and maintenance of vehicles may play a role, as both require enormous man-hours. (GOOD)

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