infrastructure
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Aerialist flies high above New York's Williamsburg Bridge [VIDEO]
The performance that aerialist Seanna Sharpe gave on the Williamsburg Bridge last night is unlikely to achieve the iconic status of Philippe Petit's high-wire act between the Twin Towers. But for 15 minutes, dozens of New Yorkers stood enthralled as she twirled and swooped above them.
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New transportation bill strays offtrack
A transportation bill should make investments in infrastructure repair, not cut funding.
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500 MW of distributed solar could have prevented blackout that affected 55 million
The massive blackout of 2003, which affected 45 million people in the northeast United States and 10 million more in Ontario, could have been prevented by just 500 megawatts of distributed solar, says John Farrell of the Institute for Local Self Reliance. For reference, California installed almost 200 megawatts of distributed solar in 2010 alone.
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Are energy subsidies really in danger?
Has energy-subsidy reform become more likely in recent days and weeks? That would be nice, but don't hold your breath.
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Crazy Europeans think people are more important than cars
All across Europe, urban policy is shifting to favor humans over automobiles. What are they thinking? The New York Times takes a look.
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Bike lanes create jobs
The title of this post should really be "Bike lanes create jobs, duhhhhhhhhhh." A new study from the University of Massachusetts is only the latest evidence that bike infrastructure projects create more jobs than road infrastructure -- but the message hasn't gotten through to everyone, so with UMass' help we'll just keep beating that horse. Anyway, the latest study shows that bike and pedestrian projects generate 46 percent more employment than roads. So, you know, no big deal, just HALF AGAIN AS MANY JOBS.
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Pipeline industry funded two-thirds of pipeline safety studies
Wondering whether natural gas and oil transportation pipelines are safe? Why not ask a neutral objective party -- like, say, the pipeline industry? The federal government’s Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is supposed to study and regulate pipeline safety. But as the San Francisco Chronicle discovered, in practice, the agency tends to hand that responsibility back over to the pipeline industry.
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Make cities, not war
Mayors from around the country are wondering why we're building bridges in Kandahar when bridges at home are falling to pieces.
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Older Americans could be stranded without better transit
As the huge baby boom generation gets older, our auto-dependent society will have to adapt, a new report argues.