Category: Transportation
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Virginia’s Infrastructure Deficit
I have often opined on Virginia’s hidden deficits — fiscal time bombs in the form of budgetary gimmicks, pension under-funding, and deferred infrastructure maintenance. These problems are national in scope, and Virginia has been somewhat less derelict in its duty than other states, but sooner or later the Old Dominion will have an ugly confrontation.…
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Is Virginia Ready for the Transportation Revolution?
The 21st-century transportation revolution is shifting into higher gear. Technology companies, automobile manufacturers, and energy companies are reassessing the future to see how they might exploit emerging trends. Where it all goes, nobody yet knows. But state and local governments, which build the infrastructure this emerging industry will run on, need to pay attention. Highlights…
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Vehicle Miles Traveled: Where the Action Is
A few days ago I published a graph showing that Virginia has experienced a modest increase in Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) since 2002, but I couldn’t draw any meaningful conclusions. Statewide numbers obscure the traffic dynamics in different parts of the state, and I didn’t have the time to drill deeper. Inspired no doubt by my sparkling…
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Axes Fall after People Express Loan Guarantee Blows Up
The executive director of Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport has been placed on administrative leave in the wake of a scandal involving the use of $3.55 million in state funds to help make good on a loan guarantee made to People Express airline. The airport had backed the loan as part of a deal to get…
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Yes, Virginians, You Are Driving More
Are Virginia’s roads getting more congested? After several years of respite, it appears that they are. Several days ago I took note of national data indicating that time taken by the average commute was getting longer. I wondered if, as seemed logical, Virginians were driving more. My quickie data search showed that, in fact, the total…
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American Commutes Are Getting Longer
Commutes have gotten longer in the past five years, reversing a ten-year tend in which they got shorter. So says the Washington Post based on the latest American Community Survey and Gallup polling data. Even more discouraging for anyone hoping for less congestion, less gasoline consumption, fewer CO2 emissions and better public health, extreme commuting of…
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More Hidden Deficits: Bad Bridges and Bad Metro
Update on America’s hidden deficits: Nearly 56,000 bridges across the country are structurally unsound, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), as reported by USA Today. More than one in four of the bad bridges are at least 50 years old and have never had major reconstruction work, according to the ARTBA analysis.…
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More P3s Coming. Taxpayers, Hang onto Your Wallets
by Randy Salzman The history of American transportation “public private partnerships” indicates that virtually all P3 shell companies go bankrupt before paying back federal loans and the “private activity bonds” which they sold to finance part of the debt. When these firms go bankrupt, who loses? Taxpayers. We get stuck (1) with paying back the…
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Who Needs Amazon Drones When You’ve Got a Starship Robot?
A robot developed by Starship Technologies, of London, can make deliveries in urban environments. Capable of carrying loads as large as two grocery bags, this “personal courier” can make deliveries of groceries, wine, flowers, whatever, within a three-mile radius. Customers can track the robot’s location location on a smart phone. “Our delivery platform will launch…
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MTR, Would You Take over Metro, Please?
Here’s an idea for readers to chew on while the Big Bacon is on vacation: How about privatizing the Washington Metro system? Honk Kong privatized its subway system in 2000, and it has worked out pretty well. Writing on the Cato Institute blog, Chris Edwards quotes a report by McKinsey: Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation has…
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Transportation Revolution Ain’t Slowing Down
Just a reminder of how rapidly technology is transforming automobiles and transportation, I submit two stories published yesterday…. From the Daily Progress: Perrone Robotics, a Crozet-based software company, is testing automated and fully autonomous vehicles on Virginia roads. Although driverless cars in Virginia must be manned, the laws regulating autonomous driving are more accommodating here than in…
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Who Will Champion Mobility as a Service?
Around the world, companies and muncipalities are experimenting with Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Fast Company describes how a new company, MaaS Global, is changing the thinking about transportation, in Helsinki, Finland: If you need to go somewhere, you pull up a new app, which calculates the best way to get there—public transit, a bike-share…
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Washington Metro Needs another $1 Billion… Fast
The train wreck of the Washington Metro keeps piling up higher. The Washington Post sums up the situation this way: Local governments are “alarmed” as Metro says it needs an extra $1 billion over the next three years from Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld has earned credibility as an…
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CTB Approves $4 Billion Interstate 64 Project
Wow! The Commonwealth Transportation Board approved yesterday a $4 billion plan to expand the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and widen twelve miles of Interstate 64 from four lanes to six. Said Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne after the vote: “Historic day for Hampton Roads and the state.” The Virginian-Pilot provides these details: The additional lane capacity in…
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Tesla Scores Big Victory in Virginia
First Uber, then Air BnB, now Tesla. Free markets in Virginia’s “new economy” are making steady ground. Uber and Lyft, the revolutionary ride-hailing companies, overcame the taxicab industry two years ago to win the right to compete in the Virginia transportation marketplace. Last year, the General Assembly legalized Air BnB, an online marketplace for short-term rentals…