Dive Brief: Cities are increasingly incorporating ideas for "green infrastructure" into their planning, but what they mean by that can be unclear and inconsistent within and across cities, according to recently published findings from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. The analysis of 122 plans from 20 U.S. cities found that 39%... read more →
Smart cities and the capabilities of connected infrastructure were a focal point of U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's virtual address to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week. "In our lifetimes, we could see truly smart cities built on the connected technology showcased at CES, where cars, buses and infrastructure all... read more →
Ahead of the anticipated January release of the U.S. Department of Transportation's first National Roadway Safety Strategy, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) is urging the inclusion of driver responsibility and behavior in a multi-pronged "safe system approach." The safe system approach, which has been proven in numerous countries around the world, acknowledges human error... read more →
Dive Brief: More than a third of the nation's 100 large cities have failed to establish overall community-wide climate goals, and just 19 of the 38 that have data available on their efforts to date were on track to meet their goals, according to the 2021 City Clean Energy Scorecard released Dec. 15... read more →
Dive Brief: Traffic congestion levels ticked up in 2021 but overall remain below pre-pandemic levels, especially in downtown areas, according to a report released Tuesday by transportation analytics company INRIX. The group’s annual global traffic scorecard found that U.S. drivers lost an average of 36 hours in traffic over the course of 2021, up... read more →
With muscle, power tools, and even a few cans of spray paint, three competing teams of young engineers and designers installed their prototypes Wednesday in the parking lane of South Second Street near Walnut. They had worked for months to conceive and build efficient and elegant corrals that would reclaim... read more →
Why are smart city leaders concerned about equity? Because injustice has been a feature of many cities from the very beginning. In what is now the county of Dallas, the first recorded commercial transaction took place on March 17, 1844, when an enslaved Black woman, named Jane, was sold to... read more →
For decades, rural communities have struggled to maintain crumbling roads and bridges in the face of shrinking tax bases and diminishing resources. COVID-19 has only made the situation worse, by halting infrastructure projects and diverting public resources away from repaving roads to public health. In theory, the $1.2 trillion infrastructure... read more →
There are potentially more than $200 billion in electric transportation investments contained in President Joe Biden's jobs and infrastructure plans, including purchase incentives that could immediately accelerate the United States' electrification plans, according to electrification advocates watching negotiations in Congress. The EV-related proposals include more than $100 billion in tax credits that could... read more →
Dive Brief: The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) late Friday with $550 billion in new federal spending. Coming nearly three months after the Senate sent the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill to the lower chamber, the 228-206 vote included 13 Republicans voting in favor and six progressive... read more →