Historic Agreement Reached in Paris to Reduce Global Climate Emissions
December 17, 2015
This week more than 190 countries adopted the most ambitious climate change agreement in history. The Paris Agreement sets up a long-term framework to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and should keep global temperature rise below the 2 degrees Celsius tipping point. Implications for infrastructure and the civil engineering profession are profound: the plan will......
FAST Act Summary Part Four: Rail
December 16, 2015
This is the fourth and final in a series of summaries posted over the past two weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The first part explored the law’s funding and the future fiscal health of the Highway Trust Fund. The second part......
FAST Act Summary Part Three: Transit
December 14, 2015
This is the third in a series of summaries over the next few weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The first part explored the law’s funding and the future fiscal health of the Highway Trust Fund. The second part described the highway......
Infrastructure in the News: States Plan Ahead
December 12, 2015
With the holidays around the corner and a long-term transportation bill signed into law, this week’s headlines have centered on states’ reactions to the funds they have been granted from the FAST Act. In New Mexico, the state delegation announced that more than $11.5 million will be available to rebuild infrastructure damaged by severe storms......
Alabama’s Infrastructure Grades Are In
December 10, 2015
The inaugural Report Card for Alabama’s Infrastructure, released today, reveals that Alabama’s aging infrastructure needs attention, especially its dams. As the only state without a dam safety program, Alabama does not have a complete inventory of all the dams in the state. Without this, Alabama is unaware of its dam safety risk. At the last......
FAST Act Summary Part Two: Highways
December 09, 2015
This is the second in a series of summaries over the next few weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The first part explored the law’s funding and the future fiscal health of the Highway Trust Fund. The next sections will focus on......
FAST Act Summary Part One: The Funding
December 06, 2015
This is the first in a series of summaries over the next few weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The next sections will focus on policy changes to highways, transit, and federal passenger rail programs. The backbone of federal transportation funding is......
Infrastructure in the News: Infrastructure on the FAST track to improvement
December 04, 2015
The bipartisan Congressional approval of the FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) and the release of Hilary Clinton’s infrastructure proposal make this week a busy one indeed. After numerous short-term transportation bill patches and long hours of negotiating, Congress has finally approved a five-year, $305 billion highway, transit and railway authorization bill that President Obama......
Obama Set to Sign 5 Year, $305 Billion Transportation Bill
December 04, 2015
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate both approved a five-year, $305 billion highway, transit and railway authorization bill. The overwhelming, bipartisan vote was 359-65 in the House and 83-16 in the Senate. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law later on today. Thank you, infrastructure supporters, for contacting your......
Congress Takes First Step to Develop New Water Resources Bill
November 23, 2015
Several members of Congress from the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee gathered in New Orleans earlier this month to listen to stakeholders offer their wishes for a new water resources bill the Committee has pledged to introduce in 2016. Spearheaded by freshman Congressman Garrett Graves (R-LA), T&I Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Water Resources......