Highway Expansion
Streetsblog Basics
T4A: One in Nine American Bridges Structurally Deficient
There's a new report out on the state of America's bridges, and with it a new raft of disturbing statistics. Nearly one in nine, or 11 percent, are structurally deficient -- meaning a bridge inspector has rated a major component of the structure to be in poor condition. The average age of a bridge in the United States is 43 years; the average design life, 50 years.
June 20, 2013
Streetfacts: Roads Are a Money Losing Proposition
The majority of the roads and highways built in America are simply bad investments. Continuing this pattern will only ensure that wasteful projects consume larger chunks of our federal, state, and local budgets, without addressing the real need for transportation options.
April 22, 2013
Will Big Highway Projects Have to Consider Climate Change?
Since 1970, the National Environmental Protection Act has required federal agencies to consider the impacts of their projects on air, water, and soil pollution -- but not on climate change.
March 21, 2013
Is ASCE Failing to Tell America to Spend Wisely on Infrastructure?
The American Society of Civil Engineers released its new report card for U.S. infrastructure yesterday. The topline grades: The country’s “GPA” has gone from a D four years ago to a D+; roads have gone from a D- to a D; transit has stayed steady at a D; and rail made the biggest leap, from a C- to a C+.
March 20, 2013
Virginia’s Transpo Future: Charge Drivers Less to Build More Roads
Congratulations are owed to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. He's scored a victory on his transportation funding plan, cementing his legacy (though infuriating conservatives, including his hand-picked successor). His achievement is being called the first bipartisan initiative to pass in Virginia in decades. And what does this great deed accomplish? Secure revenue to fuel a new era of wasteful road-building in the commonwealth of Virginia.
February 26, 2013
Midwest Govs Go All Out to Raise More Money for Highways
We've been watching how governors around the country are getting extra "creative" as they try to keep their transportation budgets solvent. Yesterday we witnessed an excise tax on bicycles floated in Washington State.
February 22, 2013
Gary Toth: TTI Congestion Scores Prove Road Expansion Isn’t the Answer
In response to our critique of the Texas Transportation Institute's congestion rankings, which take traffic delays out of context and risk being used to justify road expansions, former New Jersey DOT leader Gary Toth raised this question: What if, instead of getting frustrated with the report, we reframe its interpretation?
February 7, 2013
The Revolving Door: TxDOT’s Phil Wilson, “Revolver in Chief”
This is the final installment in our three-part “Revolving Door” series about how cronyism in state DOTs leads to wasteful highway building. The first part profiled Ohio DOT chief Jerry Wray and the second part looked at Oklahoma DOT boss Gary Ridley. Both Wray and Ridley left the DOTs to work as asphalt industry lobbyists, only to return to the public sector later on.
February 1, 2013
The Revolving Door: Oklahoma’s Gary Ridley – Asphalt Lobbyist, DOT Chief
This is the second installment in our three-part "Revolving Door" series about how cronyism in state DOTs leads to wasteful highway building. The first part profiled Ohio DOT chief Jerry Wray, who has switched back and forth between working directly for the asphalt industry and shoveling money to the asphalt industry as a public official.
January 30, 2013
The State DOT Revolving Door: Meet Jerry Wray, Ohio’s “Asphalt Sheriff”
One of the top goals of the national transportation reform movement is to get state DOTs to spend their money more wisely. The feds distribute tens of billions of dollars to state DOTs each year with very few strings attached. But for every state like Massachusetts or Tennessee that's decided to shift toward building walkable streets and away from highway construction, there are plenty of state DOTs that continue to build very expensive, sprawl-inducing roads, even though they can't afford to maintain what they already have.
January 29, 2013