Government / Politics
First Span of Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge Opened Last Night
The westbound 3.1-mile span from Tarrytown across the Hudson River to South Nyack in Rockland County stands adjacent to the 62-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge that will be dismantled next year. The new $3.9 billion bridge was built on-time and on-budget.
Fire Tests Enable New Timber Typologies
After a long time lost in the woods, architects and engineers are rediscovering timber. Recent fire tests have demonstrated that timber can be a viable building material and meet existing code requirements.
AVs and Real Estate - A Guide to Potential Impacts
AVs are more than a transportation issue and will have significant impacts on real estate. Expect AVs to affect parking, sprawl, housing prices, and transit.
Using Drones to Inspect Urban Building Façades
Many cities require the owners of multistory buildings to regularly inspect their façades, looking for problems that may lead to injury or property damage. Drones can potentially help ease the process and cost of doing so.
Praise for Gov. Andrew Cuomo from New York Times on Cordon Pricing
Thanks to the governor's support, there is reason for optimism that a plan to charge motorists entering Manhattan below 60th St. and toll the East River bridges will have a better outcome than Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan did in April 2008.
An Investigation Into Trump and Carson's HUD
You might have been waiting for this article, and its many revelations about life inside the Department of Housing and Urban Development, since January or November.
Putting Teeth into the California Housing Accountability Act
A 35-year-old law is not living up to its moniker, the 'anti-NIMBY law'. A bill co-sponsored by a group associated with the YIMBY movement would fine cities $10,000 per housing unit if they fail to comply with the law.
Two Housing Bills Will Exacerbate California's Housing Shortage
SB 35 (Wiener) and AB 199 (Chu) make it more costly to build housing by requiring prevailing wages where applicable, pleasing construction unions but making affordable housing less affordable, opines CALmatters political columnist, Dan Walters.
Could Public Art on Utility Boxes Displace Communication?
There will be important functions in public space that are not always “art” whose value is not in proportion to their prettiness.
More Signs of Trouble for Trump's Infrastructure Plan
Streetsblog USA ponders whether President Trump's $1 trillion big-ticket legislative item was dead before arrival.
Is the Era of the 'Free' Freeway Coming to an End?
No one's suggesting that freeways will be converted to tollways, but a pattern is emerging that when freeways are widened, express lanes, financed in part by user fees, are being added rather than mixed-flow lanes. Case in point: the Inland Empire.
Lax Regulation of Texas Air Polluters
Regular "emissions events" at Texas heavy industrial facilities cause a lot of unauthorized pollution. But few consequences mean the companies responsible don't have to crack down.
One Way Washington Could Move Forward on Infrastructure
The WIFIA federal loans program provides start-up capital to local water infrastructure projects. The program is designed to encourage experimentation and cost-effective construction strategies.
Car Crash Reporting Guidelines Prepare for Self-Driving Vehicles
The Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria's latest edition has new instructions for reporting the emerging sector of autonomous vehicles.
County Gas Taxes at Work in Florida
The Jacksonville City Council's decision in 2014 to renew a six-cents county gas tax is paying big dividends for road construction in Duvall County, Florida. Every county in Florida has a gas tax from five cents to a maximum 11.9 cents per gallon.
Trump's Infrastructure Plan Slow to Materialize Despite New Executive Order, Flow Chart
The original purpose of President Trump's press conference were lost as the discussion devolved.
Charlottesville and the 'War Against Public Space'
A think-piece published by CityLab argues that public space, and the ideals it embodies, are under threat from the racist groups that gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend.
Six States Considered Laws to Make it Legal to Run Over Protestors This Year
A day of reckoning has come for state lawmakers who proposed protections for motorists who attack protestors from behind the wheels of their car. A tragedy at protests in Charlotte has cast new light on the dangerous potential of such laws.
California's Housing Bills Fall Short
Three bills at the top of the Democratic leadership's housing agenda will have little impact on the state's chronic housing shortage according to multiple analyses, and wouldn't affect the outcome of a Bay Area mega-development controversy.
Virginia's New 395 Express Lanes Guaranteed to Fund Public Transit
The $500 million, eight-mile extension, mostly paid by private funds and express lane tolls, broke ground August 9. Transurban, the private company in the public-private partnership, will pay $15 million annually for public transit improvements.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
