Category Archives: Highways

DOT will take back seat to White House advisers on climate — LaHood

February 25, 2009 at 2:47 pm

(Source: ClimateWire via NYTimes)

The Transportation Department will follow the lead of the White House’s top climate and environmental officials when it comes to meeting President Obama’s global warming agenda, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said today.

LaHood told a group of state transportation officials that while he has already taken part in a number of meetings to discuss climate change legislation with Obama, DOT would likely take a back seat in the climate debate.

“We’ve really taken all of our cues from Carol Browner,” he said, referring to the White House coordinator for energy and climate issues.

LaHood said Browner and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson would most likely do the heavy lifting when it comes to meeting Obama’s climate goals. DOT is “in the room, we’re at the table, but we probably have less of a role than perhaps some of these other agencies do,” he said at the Washington forum.

DOT instead will focus on finalizing new corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standards for the auto industry.

LaHood said his agency was working to finish the rulemaking for model year 2011 by this April’s deadline. “We’re going to move that out the door,” he said. “We’re going with what the president asked us to do with respect to CAFE standards.”

Under the proposed rulemaking issued by DOT last year, carmakers would have to raise their fuel economy by 25 percent by 2015. The proposal would push automakers more than halfway to the minimum goal set by Congress of an average of 35 mpg by 2020.

Click here to read the entire article.

Read more Comments Off

Telebriefing: Transportation experts discuss transportation stimulus spending

February 25, 2009 at 2:21 pm

(Source: Transportation for America)

In a telebriefing last week moderated by Transportation for America campaign manager James Corless, a panel of transportation experts from range of backgrounds discussed the transportation infrastructure portion of the stimulus bill and what it means for the future of our transportation system.

The group of panelists – which included Meridian, Mississippi Mayor and rail advocate John Robert Smith, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials President Allen Biehler, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) General Manager and CEO Beverly Scott, and Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Rob Puentes – spoke optimistically about the potential for stimulus dollars to jump start the economy with investments in projects across the country and put a down payment on a balanced, 21st-Century transportation system.

A variety of transportation and infrastructure reporters, including Alex MacGillis of the Washington Postand Michael Cooper of the New York Times, were included in the call, and asked the panelists a number of questions about the logistics of spending the stimulus dollars, the impact it will have on reauthorization, and the how the stimulus compares to previous investments in infrastructure.

Click here to read the entire article and to listen/download this interesting telebriefing in MP3 format.

Read more Comments Off

Purolator USA White Paper: Cut Cross Border Logistics Costs

February 25, 2009 at 11:59 am

(Source: Outsourced Logistics)

There are six discussions of ways to better manage transportation and delivery costs in “Creativity and Flexibility are Keys to Managing Rising Logistics Costs,” a white paper from Purolator USA. With particular focus on cross border freight traffic between the US and Canada, as well as shipments moving within the US, here are a few suggestions from Purolator to aid in controlling costs while not sacrificing service or standards.

Rethink Shipping Options. For example, reserve air transport only for those shipments that are extremely time sensitive and must be delivered by a specific date. Weigh the costs and time window since there are available ground shipment options that might get the job done.

Take Advantage of Governmental Trade Program Incentives. There are programs beyond NAFTA offered by both the US and Canadian governments to help shippers widen their customer bases. They include the Non-Resident Importer and Duty Drawback programs, among others. These and other governmental matters are discussed in the white paper.

Click here to read the entire article.

Read more Comments Off

Austrian drivers cover 194m kms every day

February 25, 2009 at 11:38 am

(Source: Austrian Times)

New research has shown that Austrian drivers cover 194 million kilometres in their cars every day.

The Austrian Traffic Club (VCÖ) reported the figures today (Weds). It added that Austria’s 4.28 million registered cars carried an average of 1.3 occupants each day and emitted 28,000 tonnes of CO2, consuming 11.2 million litres of fuel daily.

VCÖ official Martin Blum reminded the public about the consequences of taking excessively-short car trips.

One in every 10 car trips, he said, covered a distance of less than one kilometre. “Fuel consumption is extremely high over the first kilometre. Consumption over the first kilometre averages the same as consumption of 20-to-25 litres of fuel over 100 kilometres. A breakfast roll obtained by a car trip to a bakery is very expensive,” he added.

Austrian churches are trying to lower the cost of travel by car by encouraging Austrians to engage in less of it during Lent, which begins today.

Austria’s Roman Catholic and Evangelical Churches are calling on Austrians to drive less during Lent, which lasts from 25 February to 11 April this year.

Click here to read the entire article.

Read more Comments Off

FedEx Chairman Fred Smith Favors Carbon Tax Over Cap-And-Trade

February 25, 2009 at 11:20 am
(Source: CNN)

 Congress should consider imposing a “carbon tax” to curb pollution and use the proceeds to reduce U.S. payroll taxes, FedEx Corp. ( FDX) Chairman and Chief Executive Fred Smithsaid Monday.

A carbon tax would be a much more efficient way to reduce pollution than a cap-and-trade system that would cap the emission of air pollutants and permit trading in pollution credits by firms that stay below the cap, Smith said in response to questions after a speech to the National Press Club.

Smith said a cap-and-trade approach can be gamed and hasn’t worked well in Europe, and that he favors alternatives such as a carbon tax, provided most of the revenue is used to lower payroll taxes. Proposals for a new tax based on vehicle miles traveled also are “ill-advised,” in his view, because they would unfairly penalize those with long commutes without getting at the heart of the problem.

Smith founded the Memphis-based shipping company in 1971 and now serves on the Energy Security Leadership Council, which issued recommendations last year to reduce U.S. dependence on imported energy.

Click here to read the entire article.

Read more Comments Off

Moving America: Transport Infrastructure at a Crossroads

February 25, 2009 at 11:15 am

(Source: Backgrounder, Council on Foreign Relations) 

 

Author: 
Robert McMahon, Deputy Editor

Introduction : 

Transportation experts view the call for dramatic federal government action in response to the economic crisis as an opportunity to overhaul the U.S. system of highways, bridges, railways, and mass transit. A series of sobering report cards from the American Society of Civil Engineers documents the inadequacy of this system. President Barack Obama took office pledging to act; his February 2009 stimulus package provides nearly $50 billion for transportation infrastructure. But many experts look beyond the stimulus and call for shifts in longer-term policy that will fundamentally alter the approach to planning and funding infrastructure and bolster U.S. competitiveness, quality of life, and security. In the past, the United States has revamped its transportationinfrastructure to build canals, transcontinental railways, and a federal highway system, in each case helping usher in periods of economic growth.

A State of Disrepair

A January 2009 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers on infrastructure, much of it involving the transportation sector, concluded: “all signs point to an infrastructure that is poorly maintained, unable to meet current and future demands, and in some cases, unsafe.” It found that aviation, transit, and roads, already rated abysmal four years ago, had declined even further. Lost time from road congestion, the report estimated, was costing the economy more than $78 billion dollars a year while nearly half of U.S. households still had no access to bus or rail transit.

Click here to read the entire article.

Read more Comments Off

ITS Canada Annual Conference and General Meeting 2009

February 24, 2009 at 2:19 pm
   
 
Home

ITS Canada Annual Conference and General Meeting 2009
    May 10 to 13, 2009 / Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
www.itscanada.ca/edmonton2009

 

Plans are now in high gear for ITS Canada’s Annual Conference 2009. 
The Conference will be held in the heart of downtown Edmonton. 
The theme of the event will be
“ITS – Transportation Solutions for Growth and Sustainability“.

Sponsor and exhibitor information is attached.

Book today to enjoy all the benefits of this event that draws international participation!
For questions, please call ITS Canada at (905) 471-2970.

 
Delegate Registration
Program
Technical Tour
Hotel
Exhibit
Sponsor
Social Events
Companions Program
 


[ipaper id=12791619]
Read more Comments Off

Strengthening Our Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future

February 24, 2009 at 1:46 pm

(Source: Brookings Institution)

Bruce Katz, Vice President and Director, Metropolitan Policy Program

National Governors Association Winter Meeting

FEBRUARY 22, 2009 —

Good afternoon everyone.   

I want to commend NGA and Governor Rendell for dedicating such a substantial portion of your winter meeting to the topic of infrastructure. This is a topic that is routinely relegated to specialists in the field – whether they are civil engineers, or heads of your state DOT’s, or advocates.

As national leaders like Governor Rendell and his co-chairs at the Building America’s Future coalition—Governor Schwarzenegger and Mayor Bloomberg—so eloquently and effectively point out is that infrastructure needs to be moved to the front burner of our national policy conversations. Not just as a problem that needs to be dealt with, but also as a key solution to the economic, energy, and environmental challenges we face and it’s a principle driver of our nation’s prosperity.    

It turns out that hard times are the right time to focus on infrastructure. 

Now there are those who naturally see the current situation and want to spend more to repair our deficient infrastructure, to address our major gateways and corridors, to make transit more the norm than the exception. 

But this is not just about more spending. First and foremost we need reform, then we need to invest.

So let me begin with my first point: after years and years of benign neglect, infrastructure is truly getting public hearing.

First, as we all know, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that the President signed into law last Tuesday provides a lot of money for infrastructure.

Click here to read the entire speech.
Power Point Presentations from this event are listed below:
[ipaper id=12791076]
Read more Comments Off

Training programmes for heavy motor vehicle drivers

February 24, 2009 at 1:12 am

(Source: Times of India)

MARGAO: Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) in association with the road safety cell of the Ministry of surface transport organized training programmes and heath camps for heavy motor vehicle drivers at various places in South Goa recently.  The free refresher training course cum health camp for drivers which concluded on Saturday at the Kings School, Mugalli-Margao, was supported by the regional transportauthority of Goa. 

Yogesh Ambe, general manager (road safety) WIAA, Mumbai, informed TOI that the central ministry had allotted grants to take up such courses for drivers in Goa. “WIAA conducted free health camps and training course for drivers of BPCL, HPCL besides drivers at mines in Maina, Shigao, Sanvordem and heavy vehicle drivers at Vasco and Margao, with the support of Baba Naik of Tata Motors. Health camps for vision, blood grouping and general health checks besides issuing a free personal accident insurance policy of Rs 1 lakh each to all participants,” said Ambe. 

Click here to read the entire article.

Read more Comments Off

Let’s Stimulate Smart Highways

February 24, 2009 at 1:05 am

(Source: Forbes.com)

California’s HOT expressways are on the rise but need our government’s financial support.

The “stimulus” legislation just signed into law by President Obama includes billions of dollars for transportation and infrastructure, with little regard as to whether the projects meet any serious national or regional need other than supposedly creating or “saving” jobs.

Like other goods and services in a market economy, transportation and infrastructure projects should respond to the public’s willingness to pay, not to politicians’ eagerness to spend. If the Obama administration really wants “change,” as it claims, it should change the way transportation projects are selected and financed, emphasizing market-based approaches. A good place to start would be with the $27.5 billion the stimulus bill proposes spending on highway, bridge and road projects.

If Washington insists on spending more on highways, it should at least spend it intelligently, rather than throwing it willy-nilly at projects politicians have declared “shovel-ready.”

An example of smart spending would be urban networks of “high-occupancy or toll” (HOT) expressways that accomplish specific objectives, such as increasing accessibility and reducing congestion and air pollution.

Click here to read the entire article.
Read more Comments Off
1 … 32 33 34 35