Infrastructure

California's Governor Jerry Brown unveils his administration's new plan in hopes of finally balancing the state's competing water interests. The cost? $14 billion over a decade.

July 29, 2012 - The New York Times

The historic rainstorm that struck the Chinese capital last Saturday washed away the gloss of decades of rapid growth, revealing the failures of its infrastructure and its leaders, write Jacob Fromer and Edward Wong.

July 28, 2012 - The New York Times

Calling it the "next phase of the Internet", Google announced the details of the roll out of its ultrahigh-speed Internet network this week, which will offer speeds 100 times faster than typical broadband connections to residents of Kansas City.

July 27, 2012 - The New York Times

Airplanes sink in melted asphalt, trains derail along kinked tracks, highways buckle over dry soil; these aren't scenes from a science fiction film depicting a future plagued by global warming. Climate change is here, and it's taxing our grid.

July 26, 2012 - The New York Times

Last week the Obama administration announced that approvals for seven critical infrastructure projects at five ports along the eastern seaboard will be expedited as part of their We Can't Wait initiative.

July 26, 2012 - Examiner

Continuing its 'Cities Project' and its focus on roads and motor vehicles, NPR goes to Syracuse, N.Y. to report on a 1.4 mile stretch of elevated Interstate 81 that runs through the heart of the city, and efforts to tear it down, maybe.

July 26, 2012 - NPR:All Things Considered

Winnie Hu reports on how the reopening of the 65th Street Rail Yard in Brooklyn last week is part of a wider, regional rail expansion effort that aims to revive the moribund industry in order to boost economic and environmental benefits.

July 25, 2012 - The New York Times

Transportation planners who thought the current job climate couldn't possibly get worse may want to ignore this piece. John Metcalfe reports on studies that show slime is just as effective in planning the path of an urban rail system as humans.

July 24, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Following precedents from other cities, San Francisco is looking to redesign its famous Market Street by removing automobiles, creating raised bike lanes, implementing faster transit, and making for a more inviting public space.

July 22, 2012 - Streetsblog

Over the past year and a half more than 40 street poles have suffered damages, Paul Chapman reports, as Aukland prostitutes employ the poles for exotic dances.

July 19, 2012 - The Telegraph

As America's beloved shopping mall enters its "golden years", Emily Badger considers the astounding anti-suburban ethos of its inventor, and what the future has in store for this "over the hill" retail development model.

July 17, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

When he took office last year, Rahm Emmanuel inherited a city in which a sheen of new projects hid a crumbling infrastructure. With a laundry list of initiatives, the mayor is intent on retaining the city's place amongst the world's great cities.

July 16, 2012 - The Guardian

Not only are transit systems subsidized, but so are America's roads. While some advocate for the reduction of road subsidies to better incentivize transit use, Josh Barro argues for more effective ways to make mass transit work better.

July 15, 2012 - City Journal

America's fundamental levels of governance are changing, writes Anna Clark in Next American City, who uses examples from Detroit and Cleveland to ascertain what the stakes are when cities cede public sector work to third parties.

July 15, 2012 - Next American City

Efforts to expand bicycle-friendly infrastructure across the country have revealed the importance of comprehensive planning. Peter DeMarco reports on ways in which planners in the Boston area are trying to fill in the gaps in their emerging network.

July 14, 2012 - Boston.com

Michael Kimmelman reports on the strong ties that exist between the economic and social well-being of a city and its architecture, infrastructure and public spaces, as evinced in Bogotá, Colombia.

July 14, 2012 - The New York Times

Jeremy Rosenberg examines why Thomas Jefferson may have had more of an impact on the development of Los Angeles than you might suspect. The city's street grid can be traced back to this American founding father.

July 13, 2012 - KCET

Milton Lindsay examines America's efforts to build a national system of high-speed trains and finds mixed results in the nation's eleven intended corridors.

July 13, 2012 - Next American City

Completed years ago, the true cost of Boston's "Big Dig" is finally being tallied. Unfortunately, for residents of Massachusetts, the tab is far from paid, imperiling funding for other necessary transportation projects, reports Eric Moskowitz.

July 12, 2012 - Boston.com

As plans progress in many large cities to cap their below-grade urban freeways, smaller cities, like Ventura, California, are looking to benefit from similar proposals.

July 12, 2012 - Ventura County Star