(Source: AASHTO)

On September 8, ten states shared the national spotlight, as AAA, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced the top ten finalists in the2009 America’s Transportation Awards competition.

(Source: NPR’s Talk of the Nation)

This evening I was listening to an interesting piece (click here to listen to the audio) on NPR’s Talk of the Nation hosted by Neal Conan.  The program’s guest was Chris Steiner, author of this book: $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better, who says our lives would be a lot happier and healthier if gas prices rose into the double digits.

Image Courtesy: NPR

Last year, gas prices soared over four dollars a gallon and Americans responded by driving a hundred billion fewer miles than the year before. Right now, at $2.50 a gallon or so, things seem back to normal. But writer Christopher Steiner argues that’s a delusion. He thinks we need to prepare for life at six, 10, even 20 dollars a gallon, prices which will change a lot more than our driving habits. They will transform what we eat, where we live, and how we view the world. And while there will be losers, he believes the airline industry will largely disappear, for example, for the most part, he asserts our lives will be better.

The following excerpt from his book paints a scary (and also good) picture:  Many people, quite understandably, don’t consider the implications of expensive gasoline so grand. The fact remains that the price of oil will inevitably rise, however. Two simple factors are responsible: first, we’re running out of oil (albeit slowly) and second, world demand will continue to rise for decades. We use six barrels of oil for every one we find. Half of the world’s petroleum comes from 3% of its oil fields — and those fields are old. The average age of the world’s 14 largest oil fields: 50 years, the exact age when most fields’ productions start an irreversible ebb. On the demand side, consider this: There are 1 billion people on the globe living what would be considered an American-style life, including ourselves. By 2040, that number will triple. The world’s burgeoning middle class will demand oil and it will get oil. Steady price increases are academic. Economics 101: Supply down, Demand up = higher prices.

The changes to our society will begin at $6 per gallon and continue on from there, affecting things far beyond the kinds of cars we drive and how often we drive them. America’s obesity rate will fall. Mass transit will spread across the country. Plane graveyards will overflow. We’ll lose the option to cheaply travel by plane, but high-speed train networks will slowly snake state to state. Disneyworld will lock its gates, Las Vegas’ strip will shrink to half its size. Our air will be cleaner. Cities like Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee will revive at $12 per gallon, their streets rife with commerce, people and stores. The exurbs of America, where we’ve poured so much of our wealth during the last several decades, will atrophy, destroying the equity of those who held fast. Wal-Mart will go bankrupt at $14 per gallon and manufacturing jobs will return to the U.S. en masse. When gas reaches $16 per gallon, Michael Pollan will get the food world he lobbies for in The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

Recently, NY Times has also reviewed Mr. Steiner’s work.  Writing about this NY Times review on his blog, Mr. Steiner says ” The Times neither praised the book nor panned it. The review proceeded as cautious and as neutral as would seem possible, with a bit of skepticism tossed in. It was reviewed in the Business Section, however, not in Styles or Books, so that may explain the stern pragmatism of the reviewer.”

Here is an excerpt from NY Times review:  “The book’s arguments are sometimes overstated in hyperbolic prose. In the chapter about the end of the airline industry as we know it, it says that some companies will be “permanently torpedoed” by high gas prices. It warns that a “giant herd of people” will lose their jobs. And it says that our grandchildren will “undoubtedly gawp in awe” when we recount our childhood trips to Disneyland. Well, that’s something to look forward to in our old age.”

If you are one of  those people who have already read his book, let us know what do you think.  Worth a buy??

Click here to read the entire transcript from this interview.

(Source: Washington Post)

Today the Washington Post had an interesting article about the burgeoning bike scene in Los Angeles, California.   It was a surprise to learn that there is such a good environment for biking in a city that has been known for its congested traffic and notorious drivers.   Here are some extracts from Amanda Abrams’ special report to the Washington Post:

I should’ve been warned by the reaction of my sister, a 12-year L.A. resident and non-cyclist, when I told her I was planning to spend a few days riding around the city while visiting her. “No way,” she had said incredulously. “The cars here are insane. You have no idea.”

Ah, but I did have some ideas. In spite of its reputation as the country’s car mecca, I’d heard that L.A. was home to a burgeoning bike scene. And as a dedicated bicycle commuter in Washington, I figured “if they can do it, I can do it.”

Despite all the talk of L.A. being a sprawl of neighborhoods connected by freeways, and Angelenos’ perverse pride in living in a place where “no one walks,” it is, in fact, a genuine city. Close inspection of my road map showed an endless grid of quiet residential streets leading to bigger arterial roads, some of which, according to a Los Angeles Department of Transportation bike map, had bike lanes. Bingo. From there, it was no sweat to outline a variety of routes that could get me around the city without harm to life or limb.

(Source: Greenwire @ New York Times)

According to a Center for Public Integrity report released yesterday, there are nearly 1,800 special interest groups lobbying Congress on the transportation bill, ranging from local officials and planning agencies to real estate companies, construction firms and universities. In the first half of this year, the groups employed more than 2,000 lobbyists and spent an estimated total of $45 million on their transportation lobbying.

The road to reforming the nation’s transportation systems looks to be a long and winding one.

Once lawmakers decide when to move forward with the sweeping overhauls they promise, they will need to find a way to pay for it. And once that difficult task is accomplished, the debate will only grow more complicated.

Many in the transportation community agree the next multi-year surface transportation bill needs to significantly boost federal funding for the nation’s roads, rails and bridges. But the consensus soon begins to crumble when the issue turns to how to pay for the overhaul — with lawmakers loath to tell Americans they will need to foot the bill and the rest of the transportation community agreeing that is the only option to pay for it (E&E Daily, Sept. 15).

But even off the Hill, where key players agree massive reform is needed to make the system more performance-based and effective, there is no consensus on exactly what that new system would look like and what those performance goals should be.

Many of the goals discussed at the invitation-only event are conflicting by nature. The usual suspects include the funding ratio for highways and transit systems, and the rate of return that individual states see from taxes they pay to finance the nation’s road and rail work.

Robert Atkinson, who chaired one of two congressionally created blue ribbon panels to examine transportation investment needs, said his panel, the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, did not even broach the subject of where the increased investment should be spent in its report.

According to government estimates, the transportation sector accounts for roughly a third of U.S. carbon emissions, and Democrats have vowed to recast the nation’s roads and rails in a “greener” light.

But many state highway departments that had previously voiced support for the new environmental focus are now worrying that the emissions goals may grow overly ambitious and threaten to deliver another blow to both the economy and their efforts to repair and replace crumbling roads and bridges (Greenwire, Aug. 27)

Congress must also decide whether or not to welcome the private sector into the transportation field by giving firms long-term leases on public roads and bridges, effectively turning public infrastructure into a private product.

Click here to read the entire article.  For those wondering what is in the minds of our lawmakers drafting the reauthorization bill, here is congressman Oberstar’s handwritten scrap-paper version (pulled right from the House T&I Committee website, which has a lot of interesting materials to read on this subject).  Though it is not very detailed, it offers a general sensing of the direction he is taking (e.g., consolidating the existing behemoth (108 programs) into 4 categories to simplify the mgmt. structure, adding Office of Livability & Office of Expedited Project Delivery to the FHWA, etc.)

Image Courtesy: USDOT

(Source: USDOT Press Release)

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced the agenda  for the Distracted Driving Summit on Tuesday (shown below), September 30 and Wednesday, October 1. Over 200 safety experts, researchers, elected officials and members of the public will gather in Washington, D.C. to share their experiences, provide feedback and develop recommendations for reducing the growing safety risk that distracted driving is imposing on our nation’s roads.

The Distracted Driving Summit will bring together respected leaders from around the country for interactive sessions on the extent and impact of the problem, current research, regulations, best practices and other key topics. The two day Summit will feature five panels – on data, research, technology, policy, and outreach – with a range of experts discussing each topic.

• The Summit will begin with a context setting panel where participants will examine the scope of the issue and the various distractions that exist, followed by a panel that will review currently available research.
• Day one wraps up with an examination of distractions caused by technology and efforts made to assess and reduce negative effects caused by current and planned devices. Panelists will also consider technology that can prevent the consequences of driver distraction.
• Day two features a review of legislative and regulatory approaches for dealing with distracted driving; evaluations of the impact of such measures; and enforcement issues. Members of Congress and their staff will also have the opportunity to contribute to the discussion.
• Day two concludes with a discussion with teens about their experiences with distracted driving followed by an examination of various public awareness initiatives and research regarding the effectiveness of these efforts.

To accommodate the strong response, the Summit will be available live by webcast and members of the public will be given the opportunity to submit questions online for each individual panel discussion. The complete agenda and additional information about the Summit can be found at http://www.rita.dot.gov/distracted_driving_Summit/ .  Also, you can follow the latest developments via twitter @ distractdriving

————————————————————————————————————————————

Distracted Driving Summit
September 30 – October 1, 2009
Renaissance Hotel, 999 9th Street NW, Washington, DC

Agenda Is Subject to Change

Wednesday, September 30

DOT Welcome and Summit Opening
Peter Appel, Administrator
Research and Innovative Technology Administration

Opening Address
Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation

Panel: Driver Distractions and Inattention – Definitions and Data
A context-setting panel on the definition of distracted driving (what it is and what it is not), data on the extent of the issue, the types of distractions across surface modes of transportation.

Moderator:       Victor Mendez, Administrator, Federal Highway Administration

Speaker:           Dr. John D. Lee, Professor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Speaker:           Kristin Backstrom, Senior Manager, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
Speaker:           John Inglish, General Manager, Utah Transit Authority
Speaker:           Bruce Magladry, Director, Office of Highway Safety, National Transportation Safety Board

Panel: Research Results – How Risky is Distracted Driving?

This panel session will review what various research – experimental research, industry self reporting, collision studies, and observational studies– tell us about the nature of the problem of distracted driving.

Moderator:       Rose McMurray, Acting Deputy Administrator, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Speaker:           Dr. Ann Dellinger, Lead, Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention Team,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center of  Injury Prevention and Control
Speaker:           Dr. Tom Dingus, Director, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Speaker:           Dr. William Horrey, Chair, Surface Transportation Technical Group,
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and Research Scientist,
Center for Behavioral Sciences, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety
Speaker:           Dr. Key Dismukes, Chief Scientist, Human Systems Integration
Division, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Research Center

Panel: Technology and Distracted Driving
This panel will focus on distractions caused by technology and on efforts that have been made (or are needed) to assess and reduce the negative impact of distractions caused by current and planned devices.  It will also consider technology that can prevent the consequences of distraction.

Moderator:       Peter Appel, Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration

Speaker:           Dr. David Eby, Research Associate Professor and Head, Social
and Behavioral Analysis, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute
Speaker:           Rob Strassburger, Vice President, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
Speaker:           Steve Largent, President and Chief Executive Officer, International Association
for Wireless Telecommunications Industry
Speaker:           Michael Petricone, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Consumer Electronics Association
Speaker:           Rod MacKenzie, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of
Programs, Intelligent Transportation Society of America

Thursday, October 1

Congressional Presentation

Panel: Legislation, Regulation and Enforcement of Distracted Driving
This panel session will review legislative and regulatory approaches for addressing distracted driving; evaluations of the impact of such measures; enforcement issues; and public attitudes towards the issue.

Moderator:       Peter Rogoff, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration

Speaker:           John D’Amico, Representative, Illinois General Assembly
Speaker:           Bruce Starr, Senator, Oregon Senate and Executive Committee Member of the National Conference
of State Legislatures
Speaker:           Steve Farley, Representative, Arizona House of Representatives
Speaker:           Major David Salmon, Director, Traffic Services Division, New York State Police
Speaker:           Vernon Betkey, Chairman, Governors Highway Safety Association
and Director of the Maryland Highway Safety Office

Youth Program

Panel: Public Awareness and Education
This panel will review initiatives to increase public awareness of safety issues such as distracted driving, and will review research regarding the effectiveness of such efforts.

Moderator: Ron Medford, Acting Deputy Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Speaker:           Sandy Spavone, Executive Director, National Organization for Youth Safety
Speaker:           Chuck Hurley, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer,  Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Speaker:           Ann Shoket, Editor-in-Chief, Seventeen Magazine
Speaker:           Janet Froetscher, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Safety Council
Speaker:           Dr. Adrian Lund, President, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Secretary LaHood
Closing Remarks and Action Plan

(Source: FHWA Office of Planning, Environment and Realty)

(Source: New York Times; Mail Online; Heavy Lift)

For hundreds of years, mariners have dreamed of an Arctic shortcut that would allow them to speed trade between Asia and the West. Two German ships are poised to complete that transit for the first time, aided by the retreat of Arctic ice that scientists have linked to global warming.

The ships started their voyage in South Korea in late July and will begin the last leg of the trip this week, leaving a Siberian port for Rotterdam in the Netherlands carrying 3,500 tons of construction materials.

Russian ships have long moved goods along the country’s sprawling Arctic coastline. And two tankers, one Finnish and the other Latvian, hauled fuel between Russian ports using the route, which is variously called the Northern Sea Route or the Northeast Passage.

But commercial ships have always been thwarted by the dangerous pack ice, as have those attempting the more famous Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific over the top of Canada.   The Northeast Passage has been frozen solid for centuries, but as global warming pushed back the ice, Russia made repeated attempts to get ships through in the last 20 years.

The Bremen-based project and heavy lift shipping company, Beluga Shipping,succeeded in sending two merchant vessels – Beluga Fraternity and Beluga Foresight –  through the formerly impenetrable Northeast Passage from Asia to Europe.

Image Courtesy: New York Times via Mail Online - The fabled Northeast Passage

Both vessels had set sail in July from Ulsan in South Korea, to enter the Northern Sea Route via the inspection point at Vladivostok in order to deliver their project cargoes further into the region than any other merchant vessel had been able to do before. Now, 44 cargo modules with single weights of 200 tons or more have been discharged offshore onto barges using the ship’s onboard cranes for on-transport to Surgut.

The two ships will now head to Rotterdam via Murmansk to unload the remaining 3,500 freight tons of construction parts packed in wooden boxes.

During the passage through the East Siberian Sea, the Sannikov Strait and the Vilkizki Strait, the Beluga vessels followed in a little convoy behind Russian Atomflot-ice breakers 50 Let Pobedy and Rossia. Small icebergs, icefields and iceblocks were safely negotiated.

Lawson W. Brigham, a professor of geography at the University of Fairbanks who led the writing of an international report on Arctic commerce, the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, confirmed that the passage of the two German ships appeared to be the first true commercial transit of the entire Northeast Passage from Asia to the West.

He credited Beluga for taking on both the summertime Arctic waters, which still pose threats despite the recent sea-ice retreats, and Russian red tape, a maze of permits and regulations.  “This may be as much of a test run for the bureaucracy as for the ice,” said Dr. Brigham, an oceanographer who is a former Coast Guard icebreaker captain.

Transit Oriented Development Panel

Hosted by Womens Transportation Seminar (WTS), Washington DC Chpater

September 15, 2009

This panel will focus on recent and anticipated changes in national and state-level legislation and policies that facilitate stronger transportation-land use coordination in the planning process, with a focus on encouraging transit oriented development.

Featured Speakers:

Amy Inman,  Senior Planner, Department of Rail and Public Transportation

Christopher Patusky, Director, Office of Real Estate, Maryland Department of Transportation

Mariia Zimmerman, Vice President for Policy, Reconnecting America

Serving as Moderator for the Panel:

Susan Borinsky, FTA Associate Administrator for Planning and the Environment

WHEN:

WHERE:

METRO:

PROGRAM FEES:

$30 WTS Members ; $60 Non-Members; $15 Students

RSVP:

We urge you to RSVP now and reserve your seat.* Seating is limited, and priority will be given to WTS members.

The Saudi government is building a $1.8 billion monorail to ferry pilgrims among the holy sites of Mecca, Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah. Once complete, the Saudis estimate 53,000 buses will disappear from the city’s crowded roads, promising a safer, more comfortable pilgrimage. (FYI – For those not in the know, Monorail is a single rail serving as the track for a wheeled or (magnetically) levitating vehicle, has been rapidly paving its way as a modern urban transit system, providing the most-sought-after transportation solutions for a built-up congested city.)

The monorail will be built over the next four years, with the first segment — roughly 35 percent of the project, by one estimate — opening in time for this year’s Hajj between November 25 and 29. Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims must complete if they have the means and ability to do so, is the fifth Pillar of Islam and as such attracts a staggering number of pilgrims.

Arab News quotes Dr. Habeeb Zain Al-Abidine, the Deputy Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Secretary-General of the Commission for Development of Makkah, Madinah and the Holy Sites , saying that a feasibility study conducted by an international company had proposed five monorails linking the holy sites.  The project is expected to facilitate the transportation of more than three million pilgrims between the holy sites.  “The feasibility study suggested the second monorail be built two to three years after the construction of the first one,” he said, adding that a single monorail would cost SR4 billion. The first monorail beginning from Mina will transport nearly one million pilgrims including 360,000 Arab pilgrims. The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the Ministry of Transport and the Higher Commission for the Development of Makkah and Madinah have all reviewed a study of the project and welcome it. The study was prepared by the International Transport Projects Company, which is now contacting Saudi authorities to obtain the appropriate license to implement the project.

The Arab News also says that Makkah monorails will be 8 to 10 meters above the ground to ensure smooth flow of pedestrians and vehicles.  “The monorail project will help withdraw about 53,000 buses and other vehicles being used by pilgrims coming by land from within the Kingdom and neighboring GCC countries,” the report said.

The committee said the monorail would pass by three stations in Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina. The last station in Mina will be on the fourth flour of the Jamarat Bridge.   Controlled access to the monorail is intended to avoid accidents such as the tragedy at Mina in 2006, when more than 350 people died in a stampede after two busloads of pilgrims disembarked at the entrance to the Jamarat Bridge holy site. Trains on four elevated tracks will carry as many as 20,000 pilgrims an hour in an orderly fashion.   The project also includes parking facilities so that pilgrims can park their cars at the entrance of Makkah and then board the monorail.

Wait!  This is not the only rail activity happening in Saudi Arabia.  It is interesting to note how the Saudi Government is making strategic investments in rail projects arond the country.  Back in April, Arab News published an article about the Saudi Government’s plan for expanding the railway network across the country and beyond.  The Kingdom’s railway expansion envisages 3,900 km of new track. In addition to the Landbridge Project linking the Kingdom’s east with its west, two other major new rail projects are moving closer. These include a 450-km high-speed Haramain railway to link Jeddah with Makkah and Madinah.  

Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf announced plans to establish a new railway system linking the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emriates.   “GCC leaders have given preliminary approval for the project. The final decision will depend on its feasibility,” Al-Assaf said.

Talking about Chinese role in building railway infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, the other rail project is 275-mile high-speed rail system linking Mecca and Medina through Jeddah to be built by China Railway Engineering.  China’s involvement in both projects  (HSR and Monrail) reportedly was clinched during Chinese Prime Minister Hu Jintao’s visit to Saudi Arabia in February, during which representatives of Chinese Railway Corp. met with Saudi Prince Miteb bin Abdulaziz, chairman of the commission for developing the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.  (FYI – The Mecca deal highlighted the growing role of China in Saudi Arabia’s plan to commit 450 billion riyals (S$180 billion) to major infrastructure, education and new cities projects over the next five years.  China is already one of the top buyers of oil from Saudi Arabia, importing 36 million tonnes of Saudi crude last year, according to Chinese figures.)

Mansour Al-Maiman, secretary-general of PIF and chairman of Saudi Railway Company, said the North-South Railway would be ready next year for the transportation of minerals. He said the passenger railway linking Riyadh, Sudair, Qassim and Hail would be floated for tenders within a few days, adding that the work on the project would be completed by 2012.  Once complete, the North-South rail link woulc connect mineral-rich Jalamid belt with smelters in Ras Al-Zour near the eastern industrial city of Jubail.

The North-South Railway is given priority due to its importance to industrial development. It is integral to planned phosphate and bauxite mining projects in the north of the country that will link up with processing and smelters on the Gulf coast.  French defense group Thales and construction giant Saudi Binladin Group were awarded an SR1.7 billion ($453 million) contract to build signaling, ticketing, communications and security systems for the 2,400-km long North-South Railway.

The Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark

1 South Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63102

IBTTA and ITS America Join Forces on Sustainable Transportation and Facility Maintenance

Register today for this groundbreaking joint conference, Sustainability, Social Responsibility, Energy Conservation and Fall Maintenance, October 4-6, 2009 at the Hilton Hotel in St. Louis.

Agenda highlights include:

• Congressman (MO-3rd) Russ Carnahan;
• “Four Legs” of Sustainable Transportation presented by John Charles, President & CEO, Cascade Policy Institute and his expert panel, including Allen Biehler, President of AASHTO and Michael Replogle, Global Policy Director of ITDP;
• Dennis Archer, Chairman, Dickinson Wright, PLLC, and Former Mayor of Detroit will discuss the role of the federal government in promoting sustainable transportation policies for metropolitan areas;
• Views of the FHWA and the US DOT ITS Joint Program Office on operational strategies, policies and supporting ITS Technologies and their impacts on climate change;
• 21st Century Roadway Maintenance and more.

Meeting Host: The Missouri Department of Transportation; Organization Sponsors: AASHTO, The Bipartisan Policy Center and the Missouri Valley Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

Supporting Organizations

Visit IBTTA’s website for information on registration, hotel reservations, exhibiting or sponsorship.  Show below is the conference agenda.