Free Republic

The race to create self-driving cars is on—but what happens when they’re everywhere and nobody has to drive? That could lead to a “passenger economy” worth $7 trillion by 2050, according to a new report by Intel and analyst firm Strategy Analytics. While the name of the potential new market is lame, the amount of cash it's estimated to drive is not: the study predicts self-driving cars will free up 250 million hours of commuting time per year, providing the backbone for a thriving $800 billion industry by 2035, when the study predicts fully autonomous vehicles will begin to proliferate...

This is what happens when the New York City subway literally feels like hell. Desperate straphangers stuck for nearly an hour in a powerless subway car with no air conditioning tried to break out of an F train at Manhattan's Broadway-Lafayette station Monday evening, video posted to Twitter shows.

President Trump will reportedly introduce a plan on Monday to privatize the air traffic control functions of the Federal Aviation Administration this week as part of a broader push for infrastructure reform. The Washington Post reports that Trump will instruct Congress to pursue privatizing air traffic control and spin it off into a nonprofit corporation. Trump could send principles for the plan to Congress as early as this week, according to the report. Trump will be joined by the CEOs of several major airlines as he makes his air traffic control announcement, ABC News reported Sunday evening.

Solving traffic issues across our state is an age-old problem.Southern Nevada faces gridlock as the area continues to expand. Northern Nevada's geography makes road construction and rehab trickier.But the appetite for taxes, which help build our roads, is weak. One potential solution? Toll roads.Tom Skancke is a lobbyist and transportation expert who thinks toll roads could be a great way for Nevada to help improve its infrastructure."What I'm suggesting is that more states around the country and particularly in the West -- in the Intermountain West -- have a serious conversation about more toll lanes," he said.Skancke said one of...

There were not many open seats at a pair of meetings last week over proposed routes that would send Interstate 11 through the Tucson area. Many of those in attendance were there to speak against two of the alternatives, which run west of Saguaro National Park West in the Avra Valley.“I understand the need to provide ways for people to move around," said Kimberly Baeza, "But it doesn't have to come at the expense of our open landscapes and beautiful Sonoran Desert.”The meeting is part of the second step in selecting the route I-11 could take through Arizona. The freeway...

Greater reliance on user fees, federal loans rather than grants, and corporatization are three keys to the Trump administration’s infrastructure initiative released as a part of its 2018 budget. The plan will “seek long-term reforms on how infrastructure projects are regulated, funded, delivered, and maintained,” says the six-page document. More federal funding “is not the solution,” the document says; instead, it is to “fix underlying incentives, procedures, and policies.”In building the Interstate Highway System, the fact sheet observes, “the Federal Government played a key role” in collecting and distributing monies to “fund a project with a Federal purpose.” Since then,...

Talks have been bubbling in recent months about making major route changes to Interstate 14, but the primary organization behind the push says it’s facing resistance from a West Texas representative and the state’s senior senator. Regional transportation lobby group Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance (MOTRAN) has pushed to change the congressionally approved western route of I-14, also known as the Forts to Ports Highway and the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System. Forts to Ports aims to connect Fort Bliss in El Paso with Fort Hood in Central Texas and Fort Polk in Louisiana. The plan also connects to military deployment ports...

Surface road transportation comes with congestion, construction and hordes of cranky commuters. One potential workaround? Flight. That’s the idea behind SureFly, an octocopter concept capable of carrying two passengers into remote and difficult-to-access areas up to 70 miles away. Better known for its trucks, Workhorse Group Inc. plans to unveil the technology at the Paris Air Show on June 19. “It’s designed to be a short-hop machine — if you can fly a drone, you should be able to fly this,” Steven Burns, chief executive of the Loveland, Ohio, company told Trucks.com. Only a mock-up concept vehicle will be on...

Mr. Oliveira brought a putative class action suit against the interstate trucking company for which he worked–Prime–for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, Missouri minimum wage statute, and other labor laws. Prime moved to compel arbitration under the FAA. In response, Plaintiffs argued that the FAA had no application to their contracts because they are transportation workers. [The Court agreed with the Truckers]

Westminster-based Knorr Brake Co., which makes brakes, doors and HVAC systems for mass-transit rail lines, will add 200 new jobs over the next six years, the Maryland Department of Commerce announced Thursday. The company will add 30,000 square feet of space to its facility at the Westminster Technology Park, investing $2.2 million. The company built its facility there in 2013. The Maryland Department of Commerce will provide a $700,000 conditional loan through the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and Fund to help the company expand. Knorr Brake currently has 280 full-time employees....

One of the biggest gold rushes of our time looks to be the anticipated market for autonomous (self-driving) vehicles. Worldwide there are companies and investors throwing billions at the market and what was predicted to happen in 10 years now looks like 2 at most. The ways autonomous vehicles will impact our daily lives are just now being contemplated but one impact is clear, they have the ability to completely change how we view public transportation, all for the better. We need to rid ourselves of a bus and rail-based paradigm for public transportation. A complete stop should be placed...

This week, while Donald Trump ensnares himself in the most serious threat to his presidency to date, Congress is, to some extent, continuing with the typical business of government. A series of hearings during “Infrastructure Week” are focusing on the administration’s rumored infrastructure plan.Although the White House has been talking up private infrastructure investment as a replacement for public funding, a panel of experts told Congress that, even with perfectly executed public-private partnerships, the federal government still needs to provide its own support — especially for projects, like transit lines, that aren’t guaranteed to generate toll revenue for profit-seeking investors.This...

A telephone survey seeking opinions about the expansion of I-70 through east Denver is generating irate protests from some respondents, who say the survey seems designed to elicit positive responses about the purported benefits of the $1.8 billion project."It was one of the most one-sided push polls I ever listened to," Larry Patchett, a production technician for public television, wrote in a complaint to CDOT. "The entire thing was just a series of opportunities to validate your suppositions and PR spin on the I-70 Ditch project." The project, which would replace a crumbling six-lane viaduct with a below-grade, partially covered...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Frank Wagner visited Roanoke Friday to pitch his campaign message of improving transportation infrastructure in order to create more jobs across Virginia.At a Roanoke County Republican Committee luncheon, Wagner, a GOP state senator from Virginia Beach, discussed his proposal to raise the gas tax for projects like widening Interstate 81 and building Interstate 73 and the Coalfields Expressway.Yes, he’s a rare Republican calling for a tax increase. He understands the irony. Building up major pathways in and out of Southwest Virginia will improve the business climate, he said.In the economically depressed Southside region , adding broadband and...

Prior to the start of the legislative session in January, Republican Senate President Kevin Grantham said restructuring a hospital fee to raise money for state services was off the table. Republicans prior to the session also pushed a familiar narrative of using existing tax revenue and fighting against any tax increases. But then came bills backed by prominent high-profile Republicans aimed at a tax increase for roads and a restructuring of the Hospital Provider Fee. While the $3.5 billion transportation proposal never gained enough GOP support to send the issue to voters, historic progress was made on the Hospital Provider...

AMESBURY — A recent quality inspection of the $300 million John Greenleaf Whittier Bridge replacement project turned up evidence of substandard work – for the second time – that could push back the project’s estimated late summer/early fall completion date. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation began work to demolish the 62-year-old Interstate 95 bridge over the Merrimack River and replace it with separate northbound and southbound bridges in 2013. While the northbound bridge was completed in 2015, quality inspectors for MassDOT recently found that concrete poured for a pier cap on the southbound bridge by an unnamed contractor did not...

In 1994, the Florida Legislature and the Miami-Dade County Commission adopted legislation creating the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, also known as MDX, in an effort to maintain toll dollars in Miami-Dade to improve the quality of life of county residents. Fast forward 23 years — Miami-Dade’s population has grown to more than 2.6 million residents and out-of-town visitation has nearly doubled; thus, increasing the use of our roadways by both residents and visitors. This combination equals only one thing — ever growing traffic. The Florida Department of Transportation, Florida’s Turnpike, MDX, and Miami-Dade County have spent billions on expanding the Palmetto...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A woman claims the ongoing construction along Interstate 95 in St. Nicholas is ruining her home. Christine Parker, who lives on Southampton Road within walking distance of the project, said heavy pounding, earth moving and other construction that's been going on for four years has caused her floors, walls and ceilings to crack. "My house is falling apart," Parker said. "The construction they've been doing (with) all the heavy pounding has ruined my home." The damage is so severe -- she claims the home built in 1922 has shifted two inches in the last three years --...

President Donald Trump says shovel-ready projects will be the priority in the estimated $1 trillion infrastructure-improvement initiative over the next decade that he hopes to unveil later this year. “If you have a job that you can’t start within 90 days, we’re not going to give you money for it,” Trump said on Feb. 4 during a White House town hall session with 52 business leaders.Meanwhile, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on March 10, the American Society of Civil Engineers, in its latest “Infrastructure Report Card” that’s issued every four years, gave this country’s infrastructure the below-standard grade...

April 19, 2017 Will Save Drivers up to 30 Minutes on Morning CommuteANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Larry Hogan today announced advancement of the state’s $100 million I-270 Innovative Congestion Management Project, which will save drivers up to 30 minutes on their morning commute southbound from Frederick to I-495. The winning design-build team, comprised of 16 firms, was selected following a competitive bidding process to deliver a modern adaptable highway by creating an automated smart traffic system that will move the most vehicles fastest and farthest on I-270 between I-70 and I-495. The governor was joined by Montgomery County Executive Isiah...