Highway Expansion
Basics
In Push For Jobs Bill, Obama Picks the Wrong Bridge to Highlight
President Obama chose the home turf of two of his principal political opponents to highlight the need for more infrastructure investment in the U.S. Standing beneath the Brent Spence Bridge, which connects Cincinnati (the home city of House Speaker John Boehner) with Kentucky (the home state of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell), Obama made his demand of Congress: "Rebuild this bridge!"
September 22, 2011
Exxon: ‘One Mega-Highway, Please.’ Texas: ‘Coming Right Up’
It's generally difficult to determine exactly how and to what extent the shadowy hand of Big Oil is at work in our publicly funded infrastructure decisions.
September 13, 2011
Can High-Speed Rail Reduce Air Travel and Highway Expansion?
Yesterday, Miller-McCune’s Michael Scott Moore accused Southwest Airlines of helping to bury a potential Texas bullet train 15 years ago.
June 9, 2011
Existing Roads Slide Into Decrepitude as States Splurge on Highway Expansion
Got a road that needs fixing in your state? Don't hold your breath. Chances are your state DOT has been busy building new roads, while neglecting maintenance.
June 1, 2011
Study: Building Roads to Cure Congestion Is an Exercise in Futility
We hear it all the time: The road lobby insists that the only way to reduce mind-numbing traffic congestion on the roads they built is to build new roads. Federal funding gives huge blank checks to state DOTs, which tend to prioritize road building over transit, bridge maintenance or anything else. But mounting evidence suggests that building new roads won't do anything to alleviate congestion.
May 31, 2011
Questionable Highway Projects Escape Budget Scrutiny in Wisconsin
A $125 million "road to nowhere." Another $100+ million for a bypass around a town of 2,711. Welcome to the era of "fiscal austerity" in Gov. Scott Walker's Wisconsin.
May 25, 2011
Third Houston Outerbelt Would Turn Prairies Into Texas Toast
There's a place just outside Houston where the vinyl siding and attached garages thin out and recede into grasslands.
April 28, 2011
Put Your (Transportation) Money Where Your Mouth Is, Gov. McDonnell
On Earth Day last Friday, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell issued a “transportation challenge” to the people of his state: to “try a form of transportation other than driving alone once every two weeks.” The language he used would please any reformer:
April 26, 2011
Scott Walker’s “Broke” Wisconsin Breaking the Bank for Highways
This article was written by Steve Hiniker, executive director of 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin, and was reprinted with permission of that organization. It originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
April 22, 2011
The Columbia River Crossing: A Highway Boondoggle in Disguise
The Columbia River Crossing is a mega-project by any standard. A bridge replacement, a highway widening, and light rail project wrapped into one, the CRC is a proposal to span the distance between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. With a $3.2 billion price tag -- by conservative estimates -- it would be the largest public works project the region has ever undertaken.
April 14, 2011