Transportation News/Articles

“Electric cars should be part of the solution — but the focus should be first on reducing use, providing real alternatives to the car, building communities that enable walking and biking, and living in ways that reduce our auto-dependence.” See More . . . Source: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20131006/GREEN01/310060018/Transportation-solutions-will-take-more-than-electric-cars?nclick_check=1By: RICHARD WATTS

“While crazy, conceptual gadgets are always a highlight at Japan’s Ceatec, some of the most interesting devices at recent iterations of the show featured something unusual: wheels. While Japan’s Tokyo Motor Show has always been a haven for tech-riddled concept machines, many companies are choosing to show off their forward-thinking rides at Ceatec, which takes place a few weeks earlier …

“The UFTI is comparable in size, scope, and capability to transportation institutes at other top universities such as the University of Michigan and the University of California Berkeley. By creating this institute, UF can collaborate on larger research efforts with the federal government and other agencies, and thereby have a greater impact on the future of transporation.” See More . …

“The current shutdown teaches Congress a lesson: less federal and more state and private-sector control of transportation programs mitigate the sector’s vulnerability to budgetary impasses and funding lapses. Business can continue with less disruption than if the sector were more or fully dependent on the federal government.” See More . . . Source: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/10/government-shutdown-and-the-future-of-transportation-fundingBy: Emily Goff

“They don’t drive nearly as much as young people once did: While all Americans are driving less since the recession, the average person ages 16-34 drove 23% less in 2009 than in 2001, the sharpest reduction for any age group.” See More . . . Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/01/social-media-driving-millennials/2898093/By: Larry Copeland, USA TODAY

“One key phone technology for a future “digital wallet” is Near Field Communication, or NFC. It makes your phone work like a contactless credit card. You wave the handset over a reader and the inbuilt radio registers a payment, or opens a transport turnstile or hotel room. The latest NFC technologies work even when you don’t have a 3G signal …

“The Transportation Department’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program has continued to give money to contractors in the process of being debarred or suspended for defrauding taxpayers, depriving more deserving firms of millions of dollars, the agency’s internal watchdog reports.” See More . . . Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/30/transportation-department-program-fails-to-root-ou/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSSBy: Phillip Swarts

“Traffic circles are rare in Tampa, where the century-old street grid makes it hard to assemble the amount of land necessary to build one. The city has built a few along North 40th Street between Fowler and Hillsborough avenues. The developers of K Bar Ranch in the city’s far northeast corner are also using them, said Jean Duncan, Tampa’s transportation …

“Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) proclaimed driverless cars were “the future of transportation” after riding in one in his home state earlier this month.” See More . . . Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/automobiles/324661-house-to-hold-hearing-on-driverless-carsBy: Keith Laing

“The Metro do Porto in Porto, Portugal, and the Northeastern Urban Integration Project in Medellín, Colombia, just won Harvard University Graduate School of Design’s Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design. The winners are not just transportation systems though. They also “advance social mobility and reinvigorate public spaces.” These projects use new transportation infrastructure to “repair and regenerate” cities.” See …