Private investors are claiming that they can build a $3 billion, 220-mile high speed rail system in Indonesia by the end of 2011. But the plan may be too ambitious to pull off -- or just not a good idea in the first place.
The Infrastructurist digs into the plan to reveal questionable credentials, unrealistic cost-benefit analyses, and a generally ill-informed project.
"If built, the $3 billion 'Hydrogen Hi-Speed Rail Super Highway' (H2RSH) would shake up the transportation world, providing a material advance in the movement of both goods and people at an incredibly low cost and with few ecological consequences.
It sounds great, until you realize that the technology to be used for the line is untested and that some of the project's investors have allegedly scammed several communities in the United States with schemes to recycle garbage."
Read the full story: Is Indonesia Making a Potentially Disastrous Gamble With High-Speed Rail?
How Jakarta built the world's largest BRT system
Once known for total gridlock, the Indonesian capital has transformed itself into a public transit leader.
Jakarta's Suburb in the Sky
A rooftop housing development in the Indonesian capital takes the suburb to new heights.
Before and After Carpool Lanes
The Guardian shares news of a new study of a Jakarta lane that could prove that carpool requirements work to reduce driving and congestion.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
Boston has spent millions making the Green Line more accessible — and there’s no end in sight
While the city has invested millions into expanding and adding platforms to the Green Line to make it more accessible, new train cars set to arrive next year will be too tall for disabled passengers to board without raising the current platforms.
Idaho may see an 18% drop in federal surface transit funding — the largest estimated cut in the US
Transit systems in rural communities are much more reliant on federal funding to provide their services.
How ‘post-disaster gentrification’ alters neighborhoods after natural calamities
After hurricanes, fires or other calamities, the original residents of a community are often replaced by younger, wealthier residents.
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 Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello