(via Mashable)
Cool stuff.. You can be assured that state & city transportation officials around the globe (at least in the US) will be clamoring to test this new self-healing asphalt on their highways and city streets.
It should be maddening for any tax payer in the country to see how the public dollars are spent wastefully on projects that are not really benefiting the community. Today’s Washington Post story on one such wasteful spending measure shows how badly the lawmakers manage the money, despite the pressure to not do so from the administrations (incl. current and the previous administration ). It explores an obscure federal program established by Congress in 2000 allows tiny airports to draw $150,000 in federal funds every year. The article uses Oklahoma’s Lake Murray State Park Airport as a case study. This issue of wasteful spending takes added importance as the public are nervously watching what’s going to happen with the looming sequestration (scheduled to kick in on March 1) as the country is embroiled in a tough political battle to avoid further slide. Brilliant reporting.
And a few interesting nuggets from this Washington Post story:
Pres. Bush opposed continuing the program but the Tea Party dominated congress decided to continue with it.
via InsuranceQuotes.org
Here is a neat infographic that shows the benefits of moving towards autonomous vehicles.. Though some of the statistics seen in the graphic are old and needs revision (esp. fatality numbers, which continues to see a steady decline every year), it still reminds you of the sheer size and scope of the problems we encounter in the current scenario of human-piloted vehicles. Oh, Google Cars is not the only game in town when it comes to autonomous vehicles. Not anymore. Most auto OEMs are ramping up their research to make sure they remain relevant when Google’s project materializes. That said, the transportation systems that are currently developed for the coming decade looks quite promising!
TRB’s Technical Activities Division has an opening for a Senior Program Officer (SPO) to work in the areas of preservation and maintenance of transportation facilities, with an emphasis on highways. Specifically, the SPO will work in the areas of management, personnel, equipment, and materials for preservation and maintenance; preservation and maintenance of structures, bridges, pavements, roadsides, and signs/markings; corrosion; work zone traffic control; and winter maintenance.
Responsibilities include keeping abreast of issues and technical developments affecting the preservation and maintenance areas, providing staff support to TRB standing committees and the Operations and Preservation Group Executive Board; planning and delivering sessions and events for the TRB Annual Meeting program; planning and managing conferences; reviewing and processing reports and papers; traveling to state, local, and federal transportation departments, transportation-related industries, and universities to exchange information about problems and potential solutions and about current and proposed research programs; maintaining ongoing relationships with major TRB sponsors (including the state Departments of Transportation); developing new program areas; serving as liaison to TRB Cooperative Research Programs; responding to inquiries; and performing other related duties as assigned. Supervises work of support and other program staff associated with the projects.
A listing of minimum requirements, full job duties, and application information are available on the National Academies’ Office of Human Resources webpage.
Source: Center for American Progress
Amidst all the exhaustive and bitter political battles that rage day after day over the weak fiscal health of the nation, there are so many little things that slip away from the attention of tax paying public. And here is one such that I happened upon via twitter.
Guess what?
Just by eliminating a tax loophole that gives special treatment to corporate jets, for example—at a cost to taxpayers of $3.2 billion over 10 years – Congress could avert cuts that would cost thousands of jobs, hurt millions of disadvantaged students, and force hundreds of thousands of vulnerable families to lose critical nutrition and housing supports this year.
Information nuggets such as this make me wonder why our Politicians find it so difficult to act to avert painful cuts (in $$ that eventually affect middle and lower-income families) by taking a more balanced approach to deficit reduction. Corporations are people too? Not really (but the highest court in this land says otherwise). As CAP notes, “Unless Congress acts, on March 1 automatic and indiscriminate spending cuts will hit key programs, costing our economy more than 1 million jobs and cutting essential services for millions of low- and middle-income families.” That leaves me with this question: Will the politicians be rational for a change and do the right thing for the country? Or, will they continue to squabble and be addicted to doing their habitual partisan battles? Time will tell. Sigh!
Today TTI had released its latest edition of the popular product – Urban Mobility Report (2012). The 2012 edition introduced for the first time, a way to measure that degree of unreliability in planning a trip, as part of the annual Urban Mobility Report (UMR). The press release explains it succintly:
The Planning Time Index (PTI), a measure of travel reliability, illustrates the amount of extra time needed to arrive on time for higher priority events, such as an airline departure, just-in-time shipments, medical appointments or especially important social commitments. If the PTI for a particular trip is 3.00, a traveler would allow 60 minutes for a trip that typically takes 20 minutes when few cars are on the road. Allowing for a PTI of 3.00 would ensure on-time arrival 19 out of 20 times.
Access the whole report (PDF) by clicking the cover photo of the report below.
TTI’s 2012 Urban Mobility Report
As one would expect, the reactions for the report was mixed – both positive and negative from the transportation community. That said, here are some highlights from the 2012 UMR:
Congestion costs are increasing. The congestion “invoice” for the cost of extra time and fuel in 498 urban areas was (all values in constant 2011 dollars):
- In 2011 – $121 billion; In 2000 – $94 billion; In 1982 – $24 billion
Congestion wastes a massive amount of time, fuel and money. In 2011:
- 5.5 billion hours of extra time (equivalent to the time businesses and individuals spend a year filing their taxes).
- 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel (enough to fill four New Orleans Superdomes).
- $121 billion of delay and fuel cost (the negative effect of uncertain or longer delivery times, missed meetings, business relocations and other congestion-related effects are not included) ($121 billion is equivalent to the lost productivity and direct medical expenses of 12 average flu seasons).
- 56 billion pounds of additional carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere during urban congested conditions (equivalent to the liftoff weight of over 12,400 Space Shuttles with all fuel tanks full).
- 22% ($27 billion) of the delay cost was the effect of congestion on truck operations; this does not include any value for the goods being transported in the trucks.
- The cost to the average commuter was $818 in 2011 compared to an inflation-adjusted $342 in 1982.
English: Traffic congestion on southbound Interstate 95 in Baltimore, Maryland, near milepost 50. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Congestion affects people who travel during the peak period. The average commuter:
- Spent an extra 38 hours traveling in 2011, up from 16 hours in 1982.
- Wasted 19 gallons of fuel in 2011 – a week’s worth of fuel for the average U.S. driver – up from 8 gallons in 1982.
- In areas with over three million persons, commuters experienced an average of 52 hours of delay in 2011.
- Suffered 6 hours of congested road conditions on the average weekday in areas over 3 million population.
- Fridays are the worst days to travel. The combination of work, school, leisure and other trips mean that urban residents earn their weekend after suffering over 20 percent more delay hours than on Mondays.
- And if all that isn’t bad enough, folks making important trips had to plan for approximately three times as much travel time as in light traffic conditions in order to account for the effects of unexpected crashes, bad weather, special events and other irregular congestion causes.
Congestion is also a problem at other hours.
Approximately 37 percent of total delay occurs in the midday and overnight (outside of the peak hours) times of day when travelers and shippers expect free-flow travel. Many manufacturing processes depend on a free-flow trip for efficient production and congested networks interfere with those operations.
(source: Frost and Sullivan)
The chart below came to me via twitter and I felt compelled to share.. As the pace of technology deployment accelerated in the automotive market , one of the directly impacted segments was the carsharing business. What used to be a small segment dominated by ZipCar has now burgeoned into a full blown industry and more new participants are entering the fray with bold new ideas. It is only going to get better in the days ahead as the technology matures and more people decide to ditch their personal vehicles and opt for “renting” by the hour (i.e., sharing).
The USDOT ITS Joint Program Office recently published “An Open Dialogue On The Draft Focus And Themes For The Next ITS Strategic Research Plan,” available at http://www.its.dot.gov/strategicplan/. The purpose of this document is to establish a starting point for creating the next ITS Strategic Plan. The goal of presenting themes is to enable continuity of the current research programs while establishing new or redefined goals and objectives to meet emerging research needs. The themes fall into three broad categories:
We invite the community to consider providing input to the draft themes by visiting http://itsstrategicplan.ideascale.com/. The USDOT is seeking your input on the following key questions, although other input is highly welcome:
· What technological changes will occur in the near future that will impact transportation?
· Are the themes outlined here addressing the technological and societal changes that affect transportation?
· Are there other themes we should be considering? If so, why?
· Are there themes that should not be considered, or moved to a different timeframe?
· What is the appropriate federal role in technology and transportation that best assists the private sector and travelers at large?
Your input is requested no later than Friday, March 15, 2013. Your attention and consideration of this request is greatly appreciated.
(Image Courtesy: veterinarytechnicianschools.com)
Every year, the United States spends billions in medical, road-repair and vehicle costs due collisions between vehicles and animals, not to mention the trauma of all of the human and animal lives that are lost. But is anything being done about this problem? The professionals use their expertise to help shrink the number of animal-vehicle collisions (AVCs) and the resulting horrific consequences. This infographic gives some background on the problem of AVCs and presents some of the solutions currently deployed to mitigate this growing problem.
Image Courtesy: Veterinarytechnicalschools.com
