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 →
Like any city, Boston is ever-changing. Old buildings come down, new ones go up. Public transit snakes through the city. Everything from schools to grocery stores to trees dot the landscape. For years, the city has wanted to capture all of this in a digital 3D model that could help... read more →
Dive Brief: Advocates for safe and equitable walking infrastructure shared their experiences working for reforms to longstanding jaywalking laws during a virtual event hosted last week by America Walks, a national nonprofit focused on mobility justice. California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Virginia have each recently taken up this issue, with different aims and outcomes. Cities including Kansas City, Missouri,... read more →
It's been over half a year since the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) became law, and local officials are continuing to allocate, process, distribute, and make sense of how the tranches of millions of federal dollars individual cities are receiving will impact municipal operations and residents’ quality of life in... read more →
Columbus, Ohio, wrapped up a federal grant-funded program earlier this year that allowed the city to roll out advanced smart technology, with a focus on helping its underrepresented communities. The state capital beat out more than 70 other U.S. cities to win up to $50 million in public and private... read more →