Infrastructure and Transportation Archives

How Penn Station Access Will Transform NYC Regional Rail

New York City’s East Side Access project, which will bring Long Island Rail Road services into Grand Central Terminal and will be finished in December 2022, will receive a follow-up project. That project is Penn Station Access, which will bring Metro-North Railroad services into Penn Station. Together, the two rail projects will help connect both of New York’s long-disconnected rail terminals.

All Currently Proposed Interstate Highway Projects and Extensions

The Interstate Highway System is one of the, if not the, most important infrastructure projects in the United States, and it forms the backbone of the country’s transportation network. It consists of 70 primary and 323 auxiliary routes spanning over 48,000 miles of asphalt road and accounts for one-fourth of all vehicle miles driven. It is estimated that, since the network’s inception in 1956, it has fueled U.S. gross domestic product growth by 340%. Despite the network being declared complete in 1992, there are still plans to expand the network. This post discusses some of these expansion plans.

NYC’s Interborough Express Line One Step Closer to Reality

In a State of the State address on Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, announced a plan that would bring the Triboro transit line one step closer to reality by starting an environmental review. The plan, titled the “Interborough Express,” would stretch 14 miles and link Brooklyn and Queens, connecting with the Long Island Rail Road and up to 17 subway lines.

Let’s Get California High-Speed Rail Built

Welcome to Infrastructure Spotlight, a new series on Newshacker Blog examining major U.S. infrastructure projects in-depth. Today, we’re jumping back over to the West Coast to talk about California High-Speed Rail, a project that has long been in the works.

In November 2008, voters approved Proposition 1A. Thus was the birth of high-speed rail in California: the bill approved $9.95 billion in funding to the California High-Speed Rail Authority to link the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles via the Central Valley, with future extensions to San Diego and Sacramento.

Why Boston Must Build the North-South Rail Link

Welcome to Infrastructure Spotlight, a new series on Newshacker Blog examining major U.S. infrastructure projects in-depth. Today, we’ll be talking about a proposed project in the Boston area: the North-South Rail Link.

Like many cities in the Northeast, Boston’s commuter rail system is fractured into two halves due to a legacy of the system: the commuter rail system was built by multiple companies that were directly competing with each other. As a result, all of Boston’s commuter trains terminate at either one of the city’s downtown terminals: North Station or South Station, with no direct rail connection between the two train stations.

Why Kathy Hochul Should Reconsider AirTrain LaGuardia

Welcome to Infrastructure Spotlight, a new series on Newshacker Blog examining major U.S. infrastructure projects in-depth. We’re back in New York today discussing the AirTrain LaGuardia.

Now that Andrew Cuomo is no longer governor of New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is now in charge of all the problems plaguing the U.S.’s largest city and fourth-largest state. That includes all the problems the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing and all the other infrastructure projects currently under construction, such as East Side Access. One major thorn Hochul will have to fix is AirTrain LaGuardia.

Senate Passes Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and Preps For Partisan Bill

The Senate has finally passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill negotiated months ago and was at once on the brink of failure on Tuesday. The package includes $1.2 trillion of new spending on physical infrastructure, $550 billion of which is new spending. In a related move, Senate Democrats on early Wednesday morning passed a budget resolution allowing them to proceed on a $3.5 trillion partisan economic, infrastructure, and investment package.

Regional Connector: A Light Rail Tunnel Through Downtown Los Angeles

Welcome to Infrastructure Spotlight, a new series on Newshacker Blog examining major U.S. infrastructure projects in-depth. After visiting New York in the first post of this series, today we’ll be heading over to the West Coast to discuss the Regional Connector project in Los Angeles.

Mass transit in Los Angeles is fairly lackluster. A car is required to get around the city efficiently, and there are still many areas not served by the city’s subway and light rail network. However, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or LA Metro, is looking to change that. The Regional Connector, a light rail tunnel project under construction in Downtown Los Angeles, is the first step of that plan.

New York’s East Side Access Project Explained

Welcome to Infrastructure Spotlight, a new series on Newshacker Blog examining major U.S. infrastructure projects in-depth. The inaugural post is about East Side Access, a major passenger railroad project in New York City.

New York City is the American city with the highest mass transit ridership, with almost 57 percent of commuters making use of transit. This represents about one-third of all U.S. transit riders and two-thirds of all rail riders make trips to or from New York City. Therefore, it is important that the city’s railroad infrastructure is kept in good shape.

Senate Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill In Peril

It has been a long time since President Joe Biden first announced an infrastructure and jobs bill and over a month since a group of senators agreed on a bipartisan infrastructure package totaling $1.2 trillion, with $600 billion in new spending. Anything this large on a bipartisan scale is clearly fragile, and with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer trying to force a procedural vote on the bill on Wednesday, many Republican senators, including some of those who helped negotiate the bill, are having second thoughts.

Biden to Unveil Major Infrastructure, Jobs Plan

President Joe Biden is preparing to announce Wednesday the first half of his major infrastructure and jobs proposal during a visit to Pittsburgh. This bill, which includes major investments in utilities, transportation, and green energy, is expected to cost at least $2 trillion and will complement another bill (to be announced at a later date) on welfare and social issues, an area which the administration calls “human infrastructure.”

Pete Buttigieg To Become Transportation Secretary

On Tuesday, President-Elect Joe Biden officially announced that Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a leading frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic primaries, to become the next Secretary of Transportation, taking over the job currently held by Elaine Chao. The nomination is a significant one for America, for Biden’s cabinet, and for Buttigieg personally.

Why Is Mass Transit So Bad in America?

Mass transit networks are fast, ubiquitous, and cheap in many cities in places like Asia and Europe. Trains, buses, subway lines, streetcars…you name it, plow through the streets of busy cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, and Paris. But in the U.S., with the exception of a few cities like New York and Washington D.C., mass transit sucks. It’s expensive, infrequent, and coverage is extremely limited. Just why is mass transit so bad in America? Well, it has to do with history, culture, and city planning.

How the Interstate Highway System Changed America

If you’ve ever driven a car in the United States, there is a high likelihood that you have driven on an interstate highway before. The Interstate Highway System is a network of 48,000 miles of limited-access freeway roads that connect every state in the contiguous 48 together. One-quarter of all vehicle-miles driven are on interstate highways.