Category: Transportation
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The Dangers of the Biking Craze
By Peter Galuszka There is no question that bicycling is a hot trend, favored by fitness advocates and Smart Growthers alike. What’s not to like? Bikes don’t pollute, don’t require expensive parking lots and provide riders with lots of flexibility not to mention muscle and cardiovascular workouts. You hear a lot about it on this…
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How IT Is Revolutionizing America’s Transportation Systems
by James A. Bacon Recent innovations in technology and social networking are transforming America’s transportation landscape, concludes a report by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group, “A New Way to Go.” Smart phones and mobile connectivity have made possible a whole range of new services that allow people — especially the young people…
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How about a Road Realignment and Closure Commission?
by James A. Bacon Out in Brainerd, Minn., Chuck Marohn is still thinking outrageous thoughts about transportation. Indeed, some of his ideas are so beyond the pale that even I haven’t thought of them — and I pride myself for spitting on the conventional wisdom. While virtually everyone else in the world is worrying about…
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So Much to Blog About, So Little Time…
Here are some great stories today that I just won’t have time to do justice to: UVa Board of Visitors lead the way in state political giving The Daily Progress Highlight: Current board members at Virginia’s 10 largest public, four-year institutions have shelled out about $9.5 million in state political contributions over the last 20…
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Leveraging Port Activity for Economic Growth
by James A. Bacon With military spending throttled by sequestration, the Hampton Roads economy needs help. The logical place to turn is the Ports of Virginia, which are well positioned, thanks to their deep channels, to benefit from the widening of the Panama Canal in 2015. How can Virginia and the Hampton Roads region leverage…
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The Debt Vise Tightens
by James A. Bacon Moody’s Investor Service may revise its rules for rating municipal bonds, and the news could be bad for states and local governments with large unfunded pension liabilities. The company is proposing to increase the weighting of pension liabilities and other long-term debts from 10% to 20% in its scorecards for General…
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Reinventing the Research Triangle Park
by James A. Bacon Fifty-five years ago, North Carolina business and government leaders were worried about the Tarheel state’s economic competitiveness. They set aside a tract of land half the size of Manhattan located between three research universities — Duke, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State University– and opened up the Research Triangle…
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Bicycle Commuting up Nine Percent
I was driving through one of Henrico County’s most heavily traveled intersections at Parham Road and Patterson Avenue a few days ago when I encountered a remarkable sight: two bicyclists waiting at the stoplight. They weren’t riding together. One was traveling north on Parham and the other heading east on Patterson. That location is the…
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Virginia Beach Light Rail Proposal Just Chugged Past the $1 Billion Mark
It will cost $1.05 billion to extend the Tide light-rail line from Norfolk all the way across Virginia Beach, according to an updated estimate by Hampton Roads Transit. That’s $200 million more than a 2011 estimate. The new analysis reflects inflation and a more detailed analysis of the cost to build seven bridges crossing roadways…
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Technology, Metrics and ROI
Now that Virginia has about $800 million-per-year more to spend on transportation construction projects, what’s next on Virginia’s transportation agenda? We’ll have more money to spend, but how will we spend it? House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, has some heretical notions. While praising the bipartisan achievement in 2103 of increasing transportation tax revenues, he…
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Why Bundling Parking Costs… Well, a Bundle
When you subscribe to a cable TV service, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a fan of Sean Hannity or Rachel Maddow, you’ll get a package that includes access to FOX News, MSNBC and CNN, not to mention a host of other channels that you may or may not ever watch. Even if you find Hannity…
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The Case for Interstate Tolls
Virginia faces a $13.6 billion price tag (net present value) to reconstruct its aging interstate highways, estimates Robert W. Pool Jr., with the Reason Foundation in a new study, “Interstate 2.0: Modernizing the Interstate Highway System via Toll Finance.” The cost nationally of reconstructing the Interstate system is estimated to cost $589 billion (in 2010…
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Coming to Virginia: Connected Vehicles
Over the next couple of years, a consortium of Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia and Morgan State University will conduct 19 research studies of “connected vehicles” in real world traffic conditions. The work is almost ready to begin in Northern Virginia. Writes Jenifer Joy Madden with Greater Greater Washington: Researchers have attached tracking equipment…
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Civic Elites Prefer Density, Transit in Richmond
In May about 300 people gathered at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center to participate in a Reality Check visioning exercise for the Richmond region. Everyone crowded around tables and placed Lego boxes on maps to indicate where they thought 450,000 new people and 200,000 new jobs expected for the region ideally should be located should…
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Setting Priorities at DOT
This piece, written by Charles L. Marohn, president of Strong Towns, addresses many of the issues we discuss on Bacon’s Rebellion — how to prioritize transportation spending. Appearing originally in the Strong Towns blog, it is republished here with permission. — JAB Last week I was asked to privately comment on a priority ranking system…