News & Notes

Transportation for America: The Fix We’re In: The State of Rhode Island’s Bridges

America’s infrastructure is beginning to show its age. Our nation’s roads, highways and bridges have increasingly received failing scores on maintenance and upkeep. The American Society of Civil Engineers has rated our country’s overall infrastructure a “D” and our bridges a “C.” For roads and highways, this manifests itself in rutted roadways, cracked pavement and abundant potholes, creating significant costs for drivers and businesses due to increased wear and tear on their vehicles. For the nation’s bridges, lack of maintenance can result in the sudden closure of a critical transportation link or, far worse, a collapse that results in lost lives and a significant loss in regional economic productivity.

The Providence Journal: R.I. Governor Chafee: ‘Fix the DMV’

Good luck with that.

The New York Times: Ways to Reuse Vacant Lots

Add a land tax. Vacant land is sometimes held for speculative reasons. Create a “use” imperative by taxing land at higher rate than the structures. This approach could in some cases provide an incentive for more investment activity.

In a week when we saw yet another building torn down and as we fix to figure out what to do with the Old Route 195 in a down economy, this article provides some ideas to consider.

soso magazine: Erika Eiffel – In Love With the Wall

No quote for this one, just go read it. You will be fascinated.

Terrain.org: Unsprawl Case Study: Rockville, Maryland

Rockville Town Square in Rockville, Maryland, is a 12.5-acre, transit-oriented redevelopment that replaces a failed shopping mall with a vibrant civic, retail, and residential core for the Washington, D.C. inner suburb.

America 2050: 2010 Census – Megaregion Growth Outpaced National Growth

However, in the Northeast Megaregion, which encompasses the contiguous urban areas of the Northeast, population growth was nearly 75% higher than that of the Census-defined Northeast region, which encompasses all of the nine New England and Mid-Atlantic states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont, including vast areas of rural landscape. This proves that the population growth that occurred in the Northeast was concentrated in the region’s urban areas.