The Connected Vehicle Trade Association in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Transportation and SAE International is hosting The FirstInternational Summit on the State of the Connected Vehicle with a Primary Focus on Policy and Strategy for Deployment. The first day will emphasis policy,funding, issues and strategies to accelerate deployments regionally andinternationally, and the second half day will address near term business opportunities. The Summit will be held on April 16-17, 2009 at Cobo Hall inDetroit, Michigan.  The Summit brings together senior executives and policy officials fromgovernment and industry with responsibility for the deployment and operation ofConnected Vehicle programs systems and products. Presenters from Europe,Asia and North America will provide perspectives from their respectiveregions. In addition, major corporate business leaders from automotive companies, the technology supplier community and communication companieswill discuss the business and partnering opportunities in this rapidly evolving environment. This event will bring together the international public and private sector leadership with responsibility for deployment in the connected vehicle environment. 

For more information, visit:  http://www.sae.org/events/scv/

(Source: Treehugger)

(Source: Wired Magazine, Transportation for America, Streetsblog)

From Wired Magazine via Aaron of Streetsblog comes this amazing map and video that shows a day of air travel over North America. Using data from the Federal Aviation Administration and a service called FlightView that tracks airline travel each day, artist Aaron Koblin created this Google map that shows 24 hours of airline travel on August 12, 2008.

There’s also a breathtaking movie version of this same map, that shows the flights in real time through the course of the day.

The sheer number of airplanes traveling over the United States is simply mind boggling. On this day chronicled in the map, the FAA tracked 205,000 flights in U.S. airspace. Anyone who has ever traveled by plane knows that we have plenty of air above our country, but the problem is the fact that too many of them need to be in specific pieces of air at the same time. Or traveling through the same crowded airports.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source:  Rocky Mountain Institute Via Tree Hugger)

(Source: USA Today)

But the oil industry is quietly sowing the seeds for a sharp run-up in gas prices once demand recovers.

Oil companies are slashing new investment and production far more sharply than analysts projected just a couple of months ago, a strategy analysts say could lead to shortages and higher gas prices when consumption rebounds. And, analysts say, a standoff between the oil giants and their suppliers over the cost of rigs, labor and other expenses could prolong the investment slowdown.

“The turnaround will probably come faster than people expect, and the supply won’t be there,” says Joseph Stanislaw, an adviser to Deloitte’s energy practice.

Oil companies are shaving exploration and production spending 18% this year, including a 40% drop in the U.S., according to new estimates by analyst James Crandall of Barclays Capital. In December, the firm said budgets would fall 12%, 26% in the U.S. Drilling in the U.S. is down 39% from its September peak.

New initiative to pioneer 21st century solutions via greater coordination and interdisciplinary collaboration

(Source: MIT News)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology today launchedTransportation@MIT, a coordinated effort to address one of civilization’s most pressing challenges: the environmental impact of the world’s ever-increasing demand for transportation. Building on MIT’s rich tradition of engineering research and interdisciplinary collaboration, the new initiative will knit together the wide-ranging, robust research already under way at the Institute and create new opportunities for education and innovation.

The program’s creation comes as the global movement of people and things becomes increasingly unsustainable — a problem that cannot be pinned on any one mode of transport. Two-thirds of the world’s petroleum consumption is taken up by transportation-related needs. Projections indicate that demand for petroleum, if unchecked, may outstrip supply within a few decades, while carbon dioxide output across the globe could triple by 2050.

“The global transportation challenge is as multi-faceted as a problem could be, and it is hard to think of an institution better equipped to tackle it than MIT,” said Dean of Engineering Subra Suresh. “By coordinating our own efforts and leveraging connections among faculty across our schools — from researchers exploring efficient new fuels to those studying transportation as a system to those rethinking how our cities are organized — we can make important and innovative contributions and encourage the rapid development of new ideas in sustainability, technology, business practices, and public policy related to all modes of transportation.

(Source: Street Films via Treehugger)

Thanks to Tree Hugger, Transportgooru got to know the biggest transit proponent that lives in the Western hemisphere.  I am proud to introduce you to the Bus Chick and her adorable family.  Meet Carla Saulter, aka Bus Chick (she has a blog on the Seattle Post Intelligencer’s website: Bus Chick, Transit Authority).  Check it out:

Car-Free and Loving It!

(Source:  Wall Street Journal)

President Obama and Vice President Biden spoke with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Tuesday at Transportation Department headquarters, where they announced the first batch of stimulus funds getting distributed. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. LaHood talked about spending stimulus money wisely, his opposition to an increase in the gasoline tax, new fuel emission standards and more. Below are edited excerpts from the interview.

* * *

The Wall Street Journal: What’s being done to ensure that the $48 billion going to transportation projects in the stimulus bill is spent wisely?

Mr. LaHood: Our people are in touch daily with these DOT secretaries. We generally, having worked with them for years and years and years, know what is fundable. It really falls under two categories. Projects that were started and then stopped because they ran out of money, and something that’s been sitting on a shelf in a DOT office because they didn’t have the money to fund it. Some of these, like the one we announced today (a road repaving project in suburban Maryland), have been in process…These are projects that these folks have known about and have been talking about for some time. This isn’t something brand new that’s been sprung up on them…I don’t think you’re going to see something weird pop up…It’s pretty traditional stuff. It really is.

WSJ: Are you concerned when you hear squabbles between mayors and governors over how to spend the stimulus money?

Mr. LaHood: [Cities] are concerned that 70% of the money is going to the states and they’re only going to get 30%…These disputes, look it, they’re going to take place….In the end, I’m not going to be able to change the idea that 70% of this is going to the states and 30% are going to them. I tried to make a case for them. But the way it’s designed here…it is what it is.

(Source: Washington Post)

In the viability plans General Motors and Chrysler submitted to support their federal aid requests, the companies pledged to try to meet new fuel economy standards. 

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source:  New York Times)

Kansas will widen U.S. Route 69 to remove a bottleneck outside Kansas City, along with three other expensive projects. Maryland will spend its money in smaller pieces, resurfacing dozens of rutted roads and highways. Colorado will build an interchange on Elk Creek Road in Jefferson County, complete with an underpass for the elk.

Click here to read the entire article.