Talking Traffic

Today is the one year anniversary of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the wikipedia article. Most of the relevant info is there.

The Interstate bridge collapsed during evening rush hour on August 1, 2007. Thirteen people died and approximately 100 were injured. The reason for the catastrophic failure of the bridge has not been determined precisely, but early findings by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) pointed at an original design flaw in the Gusset Plates (details here).

This tragedy has underscored a problem that the U.S. is facing: aging infrastructure requires maintenance or replacement. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Infrastructure Report Card, the price of maintaining and upgrading the United States public infrastructure (roads, bridges, airports, utlilities, harbors, buildings and everything else) at an adequate level is approximately $1.7 trillion over five years (that’s $340 billion annually). Without a continued investment you run into issues such as degrading roadways, leaking sewage systems, inadequate water supplies, congested airports, etc. It is a fact that this nation continues to grow and the infrastructure representing its nerves and veins must grow with it. Look at Singapore and Manila. Those two cities are so overwhelmed by traffic congestion (to take only one example from transportation) that almost all deliveries from the ports occur at night; the trucks simply cannot move during the day. I’d hate to see that happen to Baltimore, or Savannah, or Long Beach.

$340 billion is a very big number, but let’s remember that Congress fell all over itself to send $200 million to Minnesota to replace the I-35W bridge. If they can snap-count a number that big, I think it’s reasonable to find some additional funding on an annual basis to assist the states in replacing and maintaining the existing infrastructure. 27% of the nation’s bridges are currently rated as strucutrally deficient as of 2005 (which does not mean in imminent danger of collapse, so don’t worry too much) which is an improvement from several years previously, but is too high. Unfortunately, the only way to improve that number is through funding because bridges need constant maintenance and eventual replacement to keep up with the growing traffic demand.

Do I have a proposed solution? I do not. I am not a finance geek or a politician. I, along with many others in my field, see a looming problem which if unaddressed will only lead to bigger problems in the future.

So, remember the I-35W collapse. While it apparently wasn’t directly caused by insufficient funding for maintenance, it is a bellwhether for problems to come.

Hold the Presses! US Trans Sec has a Blog!: US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced that she has a blog now! Call my cynical, but how much “blogging” is really done by the top politicians, rather than their staffers. I may be giving Secretary Peters short shrift here, but I think my point is valid.

Valley Girl Hates Freeways: An LA Blogger discusses the freeway culture.

Texas is Cutting its Highway Maintenance: Through policy decisions, the Texas Department of Transportation is cutting $4.9 Billion from it’s next 10 years of maintenance. Unfortunately, I don’t know what that equates to in terms of percentage per year.

Transportation Improvements due to World Sports: Everyone knows that Beijing is spending uberbucks to get ready for the Olympics. Did you know that Germany spend $15 billion for the World Cup in 2006, and Brazil is building new infrastructure for the 2010 Cup?

Topics: Project Development Process

 Episode 16 - Project Development Process [14:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Topics: Safe Routes to School

 Episode 13 - Safe Routes to School [9:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Anti-Trust in the Transportation Sector?: If you’re not a net junky like me (and if you weren’t, would you be reading this?) then you might not have heard of Traffic.com, the company responsible for the vast proliferation of Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure throughout some of the nation’s major metro areas. Traffic.com is contracted by these localites under a program called the Transportation Technology Innovation and Demonstration program, a federal earmark that incentivises the placement of radar speed detectors and traffic counters. This is where the various traffic feeds for your cell phone come from. Jerry Werner, formerly of the National Transportation Operations Coalition sent me an email making the case that the contracts awarded to Traffic.com are not in accordance with law; that they are specifically targeted to Traffic.com rather than being competitive as the most recent Highway Act requires. See his information at: The U.S. TTID Program: When Politics, Competition, and the Public Interest Collide and Transportation Technology Innovation and Demonstration Program (TTID): What the Agreements Signed by State and Local Transportation Agencies Show.

Connecticut Looking at Speed Cameras on I-95: They do this in Britain, and some places in the U.S., automating speed enforcement on a major highway. My opinion? This makes sense, but only if the speed is set legitimately. If it’s an arbitrarily low speed, this would be an inappropriate enforcement scheme.

Cash Flow Issues in Texas DOT: Apparently, the lack of funding is hitting even states like Texas, with their massive transportation budget.

Speaking of Politics: Voting against party direction will get you in trouble. This is particularly interesting to me because I work around here.

DATA: The Duluth (MN) Area Trail Alliance: Check out their website.

Too Much Congestion? Eliminate Half the Vehicles!: An odd/even system of vehicle restriction is being looked at as an option to reduce the congestion of Bangalore.

Mine’s Better!: I think my diagram of a Gusset plate is better. But at least this news story from Kansas has one, which is better than most.

Google Transit: Google’s latest foray is a trip planner that utilizes public transit. Currently it has limited coverage, but I’m sure it will go up.

I-35 Gusset Plate Failures may not be alone: The I-35 Bridge in Minneapolis failed because its Gusset plates were too thin. This may be a more pervasive problem than was first realized.

Tolls are the Way of the Future?The NY Times discusses tolling as a method of transportation funding.

Topics: Latent Demand, Funding, Anti-lock Brakes

 Talking Traffic Episode 5 [9:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download