Infrastructure

Plans for a broad statewide highway project known as the Trans-Texas Corridor have been abandoned by state officials.

Eleven Amish families have sued their own town for religious discrimination in its building code.

Exactly a year after the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission released its report calling for a fuel tax hike, the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission calls for much of the same.

A new agreement has been made that would divert more freight train traffic through Chicago area suburbs. Local communities upset about the increased traffic are expected to challenge the decision.

This article from Wired looks at new plans to prevent massive flooding in the low-lying Netherlands.

After 4 years of construction, the first light rail line has opened in Phoenix. NPR looks at the new transit option for the sprawling desert city.

Obama has compared the size of the stimulus package he wants to the 1956 National Highway Act. If the states have their way, it may be just that -- a new highway bill with little left for transit.

California transportation officials are confident that federal support will back up $10 billion in recently approved bond sales to fund the state's proposed high speed rail system.

Montana is flush with wind power capacity and the state's governor wants $15 billion in federal funding to build the infrastructure to transmit it. But some worry the proposed grid would also expand coal-based energy production.

Gov. Schwarzenegger wants the California Environmental Quality Act- a requirement for major transportation projects- waived if he is to sign the $18 billion Democratic package that balances the budget and is crafted to circumvent Republican approval.

Matthew Ridgeway wonders if the infrastructure benefits of new streetcar projects- facade improvement, streetscaping, community investment- could happen with direct investment, leaving streetcars out of the picture.

Suisman Urban Design was hired to design a theoretical Palestinian State, in the hopes that the plan might encourage the peace process. The plan was released in 2005, and has been gaining traction and admiration ever since.

How well mayors and city officials deal with snowstorms is one of the best indicators of how well they can serve their cities, according to this article from Governing.

Infrastructure funding in California is grinding to a halt as two crises hit simultaneously: a political impasse unable to resolve a budget gap of $42 billion and a credit crisis leaving the state unable to sell its bonds.

In fact, says one planner, suburbs and exurbs can expect to see some of the biggest changes of all, at least from infrastructure and transportation funding.

Detroit's population is rapidly declining, but the answer to revitalizing the city may lie in part in urban farming.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger writes that the failure of the U.S. to invest in infrastructure is hurting the economy, and a massive investment is necessary.

There will be no infill development at Jefferson Park, near the University of Arizona, that increases density. The move contradicts the city's plan to achieve a more "urban feel."