Tag: Infrastructure: Page 40

Roadbuilding

Two students take top honors in ARTBA video contest

A high school student from Pennsylvania and an undergraduate student from Florida Polytechnic Institute were named winners of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) 4th annual “Student Transportation Video Contest.” The contest aimed to raise awareness about infrastructure issues by challenging students to develop a brief video exploring various topics relating to America’s transportation network.  Students […]

September 22, 2014

Business

Road builders, construction groups oppose bill to lower gas tax, surrender federal highway authority to states

Construction groups and transportation interests have written Congress to express opposition to the so-called “devolution” of the federal highway program and the proposed Transportation Empowerment Act. The bill, introduced in the House and Senate last fall, transfers almost all authority over federal highway and transit programs to the states over a five-year period. It would […]

September 18, 2014

Technology

New “bridge in a backpack” construction method saves Vermont town time and money

Those who have driven in the Fairfield, Vermont, area recently may have wondered what construction crews were doing placing hollow tubing over Wanzer Brook. Don’t worry, the crews weren’t going crazy. They were implementing a new bridge construction method dubbed “bridge in a backpack.” According to a report from the Burlington Free-Press, the hollow tubes are made of […]

September 16, 2014

Roadbuilding

Construction equipment among quickest recovering industries from recession

According to a new study of the construction equipment industry released Tuesday by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the industry was among the quickest to recover from the throes of the Great Recession and contributes nearly four times its market share in value to the U.S. economy. Sanctioned by AEM and authored by Inforum, an […]

September 10, 2014

Business

The LA Sheriff’s Dept. melted thousands of guns to recycle them as road construction material

Thousands of handguns, rifles and other weapons have been destroyed to eventually be used in construction of roads and bridges. Nearly 5,000 weapons were melted and converted into steel rebar as part of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s 21st annual Gun Melt event. More than 178,000 weapons have been destroyed as part of the event […]

August 28, 2014

Technology

How a robot designed for Disney could extend the lives of bridges by fighting corrosion

A new robot dubbed C2D2 developed by a team of Swiss researchers is able to move atop, underneath and across any surface, checking structural integrity as it roves, and could greatly extend the lives of bridges. Both de-icing salt and CO2 in the atmosphere corrode the reinforced concrete that most bridges are made of over […]

August 27, 2014

Business

Recent toll road poll proves nothing; private financing of public roads is still a bad idea

The Reason Foundation and the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates recently traded jabs over a poll that purports to show Americans prefer toll roads as a solution to our declining transportation infrastructure. Not unexpectedly, the Reason-Rupe Poll  found favor with Reason’s longstanding position advocating toll roads. The Alliance shot back with a press release citing a […]

August 22, 2014

Roadbuilding

Jason Carter pushing for transportation sales tax

Democrat Jason Carter is reviving the idea of a regional sales tax for transportation infrastructure improvements in Georgia. In 2012 Carter and Gov. Nathan Deal backed a sales tax increase for transportation, known as the T-SPLOST, but failed in most parts of the state despite support from a big part of the business community and many political […]

August 21, 2014

Business

Bursting bubble of big tobacco financing gives glimpse of road building’s future without a gas tax increase

Last week I wrote about how states that engage in public-private partnerships (P3s) and other types of debt and bond financing would create short term gains and long term disaster for the road building industry. This weekend I read an article on ProPublica, an independent journalism site, that shows how the exact same thing—only using […]

August 12, 2014

Roadbuilding

Toll roads, P3s and creative financing will bring short-term gain, long-term disaster for the road building industry

For the last half-century gas and diesel taxes collected at the pump have been the primary source of funding for almost all our highway infrastructure. But Congress hasn’t  increased the gas tax or adjusted it for inflation since 1992. Anti-tax advocates claim this as a victory, but it’s not. With the highway trust fund running […]

August 8, 2014

Business

Congressional showdown ends with Senate passing House’s $10.8 billion highway funding patch

The Senate on Thursday passed a 10-month funding bill that will prevent the Highway Trust Fund from going broke until the end of May. The bill was first passed by the House earlier this month, and is now just a presidential signature away from becoming law. The bill’s clearance in Congress comes after a showdown […]

August 1, 2014

Business

Senate passes highway bill with reduced funding; sends vote back to House with pressure for long-term solution

On Tuesday the Senate voted to pass a bill that would stave off the looming insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) after making key changes to the legislation that will send it right back to the House for another vote. The HTF is the primary source of federal funding for road construction and repairs. The […]

July 30, 2014