John LattaRoadbuildingSo we leave the kids debt AND crumbling infrastructure?Failure to spend $157 billion between now and 2020 to upgrade the U.S. infrastructure, including surface transportation, aviation, waterways, the electrical grid and sewers, could lead to losses of more than $3.1 trillion in gross domestic product and $1.1 trillion in total trade — as well as a loss of 3.5 million jobs, according to […]January 16, 2013RoadbuildingASCE on what it costs to not spend on infrastructureFailure to spend $157 billion between now and 2020 to upgrade the U.S. infrastructure, including surface transportation, aviation, waterways, the electrical grid and sewers, could lead to losses of more than $3.1 trillion in gross domestic product and $1.1 trillion in total trade — as well as a loss of 3.5 million jobs, according to […]January 16, 2013RoadbuildingDomino 1.There is a sense of inevitability about this. It’s not a real surprise, and the next falling domino probably won’t be either.Tennessee will stop work on its portion of I-69 because the state can’t afford the cost. Writing a guest column in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, TDOT commissioner John Schroer says the state has already invested […]January 15, 2013RoadbuildingPushing the toll optionThe International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) is launching what it calls an “aggressive” campaign to show us the benefits of tolling AND suggesting more of it. With highway infrastructure in such abysmal shape, tolling has to be on everyone’s lips, even if they speak behind closed doors. After all, it takes money from […]January 10, 2013RoadbuildingChicago’s private road futureWhat we need is a matchmaker. Is Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel the man for the job? Getting private investment money into a serious relationship with roads is a very frustrating process. So much so that it hasn’t really happened yet to any significant extent. The money is out there, and investors want to invest it. […]January 7, 2013RoadbuildingFranz Kafka on operating an excavator while drunkFranz Kafka was without doubt one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He was also a bureaucrat who wrote about “the perils of excavating in quarries while drunk.” The writer of The Metamorphosis, The Trial and The Castle dealt with some seriously disturbing stuff in the human mind. The bureaucrat worked in worker’s compensation In Franz Kafka: The […]January 2, 2013RoadbuildingA fuel tax chance missed?Uh oh. Perhaps it’s best seen as a good news/bad news scenario. Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire has proposed a new excise tax on the wholesale cost of gasoline and diesel fuel to raise $368 million in its first two years and more than $940 million in 2017-19. That’s the good news. A Governor willing to […]December 19, 2012RoadbuildingTrains a’comin’Think of all those Western movies, then the robber barons, then the blues singers, the other movie makers (‘night time, dark, raining, wind howls, a train whistle blows in the distance’), then the rock singers. Trains, they all loved trains. And trains were part and parcel of the American fabric for what seemed like forever. […]December 18, 2012RoadbuildingFifty-state ‘Vehicle Miles Traveled’ tax/fee/charge study proposedWill your vehicle one day feel like a taxi cab? Oregon Democrat representative Earl Blumenauer has introduced legislation that would fund a 50-state Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) pilot program to examine a new source of highway funding. The legislation calls on the Secretary of the Treasury to undertake a series of studies to demonstrate the viability […]December 17, 2012RoadbuildingA Disruptive InnovationBIM is going be increasingly influential in transportation infrastructure planning and building. Yes, its an opinion, but this stuff has power that it hasn’t even unleashed yet. Building Industry Modeling is advancing, technologically, so fast that it allows agencies and companies in transportation infrastructure to look at projects, and predict projects, in new ways. It […]December 13, 2012Previous PagePage 19 of 43Next PageTop StoriesSafety & ComplianceContractor Faces $394K in Fines After Worker Dies in TrenchThe worker was buried at the bottom of a 12-foot-deep trench, and his employer had been cited for similar violations in the past.Wheel LoadersLiebherr Debuts World's First Large Wheel Loader with a Hydrogen EngineDozersHyundai Breaks into the Dozer Market with HD100The DirtTest Run & Review: The Market's First Electric Mini Excavator, JCB’s 19C-1ECompact equipmentTakeuchi's TCR50-2 Crawler Dumper is Coming to North America