When big-city mayors met in Washington last week, one of their primary messages regarding infrastructure was that the federal government should send new money directly to cities, rather than through states. The Trump administration seems open to the idea. “The folks in this room turn dirt faster than anybody in America,” New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said at a meeting on infrastructure at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ meeting last week. “We think that cities are the place

If 2017 is remembered as the year of major tax reform, let 2018 be remembered as the year that the nation's infrastructure was finally recognized as a priority for federal investment. For several weeks, there has been talk that infrastructure could form a cornerstone of the President's new agenda. So, what infrastructure priorities would be top of my list? In no special order, I'd spend our money on the following: 1. Interstate and long-distance rail: Funding for Amtrak, our

The 2018 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) that was held earlier this month was as much about collaborations and partnerships as it was about new technology. Many of the companies at CES were promoting products for the “smart home” such as smart locks, sensors, smart thermostats, smart appliances, and smart entertainment controls that are integrated with voice assistants — such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. One in six Americans now own a smart speaker — up 128 percent in

Complaints about Louisiana's roads and bridges are usually loudest in the places where drivers find themselves sitting in stand-still traffic. But those infrastructure concerns don't stop in the cities. The state's aging system of roads and bridges is putting a pinch on Louisiana’s largest industry — agriculture. On a wet and foggy morning, 90 days into harvest, the flow of trucks into the Louisiana Sugarcane Cooperative is constant. Mike Melancon has been growing sugarcane f

WASHINGTON — Recommendations for upgrading the nation's public works that a bipartisan group of House lawmakers released this week underscore the difficult budget math Congress will face coming up with the money for any eventual White House infrastructure plan. The Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of 48 lawmakers, outlined their recommendations in a report issued Wednesday. Reps. John Katko, a New York Republican, and Elizabeth Esty, a Connecticut Democrat, led a caucus workin

President Trump urged Congress to bring back lawmaker-sponsored project "earmarks" and use them to build support for legislation, at a time his administration is weighing how and when to roll out a long-delayed infrastructure investment plan. Trump made his earmark comments during a White House session with members of Congress from both parties to negotiate an immigration issue that is holding up budget talks. But the congressionally designated appropriations for individual p

Despite Gov. Rick Scott turning down $2 billion in funding in 2011 from the Obama administration to create a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando, super fast train service is about to make its debut in the Sunshine State. All Aboard Florida, a wholly owned subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries, has built Brightline, a new South/Central Florida rail line utilizing specially built diesel-electric locomotives and rail cars. Tickets went on sale Thursday morning f

A state transportation panel has dropped a plan to eventually add a pair of toll lanes to Interstate 35 from San Antonio to Austin, removing it and every other proposed tollway from its 10-year, $70 billion outline of 15 major road projects. The stretch of I-35 in Central Texas is annually listed among the most congested in the nation. The 5-0 vote Thursday by the Texas Transportation Commission illustrated how the state’s political system continues to eliminate options to de

Legislative sessions are almost always about the money — how much is available, and who is going to get it. The next session of the Texas Legislature will have the usual suspects in line —school finance, border security, pensions, etc. — but a new entry will be at the front of the line. His name is Harvey. This year’s regular and special legislative sessions were marked by financial wrangling, and by some analysts’ reckoning, lawmakers dug their successors a deep hole. The Te

Dive Brief: Costs for the 119-mile stretch of a high-speed rail line planned through California's Central Valley are $1.7 billion higher than expected, so far, at $8 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times, citing a June report that was recently made public. The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) said the overruns are due to the increasing cost of land acquisition, the need to move underground utilities and discussions with freight rail companies around logistic