After decades of neglect, America’s infrastructure is in shambles. To get back on track, we need to invest at least $3.6 trillion in the next five years, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. Coming up with all that cash will be a herculean task, especially since the Highway Trust Fund, which pays to build and repave our roads, is at its lowest balance since 1969 and is set to run out of funds this summer.
While Congress works to find a way to rebuild America, here are three innovative methods already underway.
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Tag: Infrastructure
The Road to Infrastructure Improvements Starts with This App
Tired of endless delays that leave you waiting at bus stops and train stations? Frustrated by being stuck in traffic during your daily commute? Spending part of your vacation stuck on the tarmac?
Thanks to the team at Building America’s Future (BAF), a bipartisan coalition advocating investment in the country’s infrastructure, there’s now an app for that: I’m Stuck.
The free app, available for both iOS and Android, allows disgruntled travelers to document delays, jams and overcrowding in our transit system, automatically forwarding a location and picture to their member of Congress. I’m Stuck channels all that griping about our inefficient, outmoded and underfunded infrastructure into direct political action. Although it may not provide instant relief for travel-related woes, a groundswell of disapproval may draw politicians attention to the problem over the long haul.
“Usually commuters think traffic is like weather: It is something that happens to them, and they have no control over it. But that isn’t the case at all,” says former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, who co-chairs BAF with former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray La Hood, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “The policies we put in place, or the lack of a coherent long-term infrastructure plan, directly impacts the daily experience of Americans trying to get around their communities. This app gives commuters and passengers a tool to voice their frustrations to Congress. It is called ‘I’m Stuck,’ but the truth is America is stuck until Washington takes action.”
It’s clear that American’s infrastructure is in desperate need of an upgrade. In their latest annual report, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation a failing grade of D+. To get the country where it needs to be by 2020, they suggest at least $3.6 trillion needs to be invested in unstable bridges, congested airports and pothole-riddled roads.
BAF’s team says the idea for the app arose during brainstorming sessions about how to engage the public in a notoriously dry topic. Instead of circulating petitions about bills like Sen. Bernie Sander’s $1 trillion investment plan, a $50 billion bond sale or a proposed hike in the gas tax — topics that, they say, frankly make people’s eyes glaze over — BAF encourages people to share their everyday experience as it happens. (For safety, they suggest passing your phone to a disgruntled passenger if driving.) So far, the app has been downloaded 16,180 times across all 50 states, and more than 12,000 emails have been sent to representatives in Congress.
“‘I’m Stuck’ is going to bring elected officials closer to the people on the ground,” says BAF’s president Marcia Hale, sharing with them the everyday “pain and frustration of outdated and overburdened transportation systems.”
If the app registers enough irritation about gridlock on the freeway, as BAF hopes, it could eventually beat the worst gridlock in the country: the one that clogs the halls of Congress.
Want to see where your fellow Americans are getting stuck? Check out the interactive map here.
(Homepage image: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
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Meet the Eighth Grader Who Designs Subway Systems
What do most of us think of when traveling through a city? Maybe it’s congestion, pollution and headaches. And while some urban planners are looking for ways to improve life on the streets, perhaps it’s time to take a look at what’s happening underground.
That’s exactly what one designer started doing. The interesting part? He isn’t even in high school, yet he’s already designing transit systems for cities that don’t have underground public transportation.
What started as a simple hobby for eighth grader Ivan Specht has now turned into a brand (Metro-ology) with a website, posters and t-shirt designs.
His first subway design was for Austin, Texas and was given as a Father’s Day present to his dad. From there, inspiration took off and Specht produced 10 more, including plans for San Antonio and New Orleans.
So, how did an eighth grader became an infrastructure prodigy? According to Specht, it’s just always been a passion.
“Ever since I was about five, I have been fascinated by mass transit systems — especially that of New York City, which is where I now live,” Specht tells Fast Co. Exist. “[My Dad] really liked the gift. So much so he suggested I turn it into a summer project and business, which is exactly what I have done.”
To create each design, Specht uses Google Maps Maker. No detail is left unnoticed, and his designs are as intricate as that of the New York City subway system. In addition, much of his inspiration comes from Harry Beck’s London Underground map.
“Usually, I try to concentrate the lines in the city centers. I then re-draw the map in Photoshop, using 45-degree angles, which I think make the maps look much cleaner and more graphically pleasing. Lastly, I add a legend, as well as reference points like highways and rivers,” Specht explains to Fast Co. Exist.
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Taking a look at the designs, it’s clear that Sprecht’s transit plans have the potential to be turned into reality. Which city will be the first to call him?
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How One Small Town Is Taking a Stand Against High Gas Prices
Of all of the laundry lists of complaints, fluctuating, unpredictable gas prices is always near the top — especially during travel season when high fuel prices can be a major frustration. Which is why one town in Kentucky thinks that it’s found the solution: a municipally owned and operated gas station. And while most stations aim to clear a profit, this one hopes to ease the financial burden for drivers.
Somerset, Ky. is a stop on the way to Lake Cumberland, a popular tourist destination. So while town is only home to 11,000 residents, the stream of tourists passing through the area brings high gas prices with it, especially during the summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
So the town, under the leadership of Republican Mayor Eddie Girdler, decided to buy a fuel station for $200,000 and spend an additional $75,000 on infrastructure and gas pumps. The fuel station only uses the gas from local supplier Continental Refining Company, and it’s operated by city employees from other departments who rotate working shifts at the station.
Fule prices in Somerset can rise about 20 to 30 cents per gallon on the weekends, so the station is setting prices in order to break even — as opposed to making a profit. The town government also has a little extra incentive in mind: lower, stable prices will encourage more tourists to pass through the area and frequent the station, as well as the other restaurants and businesses in town.
While the other private gas stations aren’t enthused about having a municipal station in town, Somerset isn’t the first town to employ a concept such as this. For example, the Bank of North Dakota is municipally owned and operated, plus there are 2,000 municipally owned electric companies in the country.
The citizens of Somerset view the station as a welcome addition, not to mention as the means to gain a little more control over some of the economic decisions impacting their daily lives. In fact, the gas station may just be a stepping stone to other town-owned projects.
“We are one community that decided we’ve got [a] backbone and we’re not going to allow the oil companies to dictate to us what we can and cannot do,” Girdler tells Yes! Magazine. “We’re going to start out small. Where it goes from here we really don’t know.”
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How Can an Old Smartphone Be Used to Make a City Better?
Have you ever been annoyed by the amount of people fighting for position on a city sidewalk only to turn the corner and find the next block over all but deserted? Ever thought that your old smartphone could be used in some other capacity? These may seem like totally separate problems, but Alex Winter has one unique solution to solve both.
His new startup, Placemeter, has found a unique yet incredibly simple way to monitor street activity and turn it into data that cities and businesses can use — all the while putting discarded smartphones to use.
Here’s what happens: City dwellers send Placemeter information about where they live and what their view consists of. The company sends back a window mounting smartphone kit, which will allow them to use its camera to monitor street activity. The movement is then quantified using a computer program that identifies individual bodies and tracks their actions, as shown in this video. Even better? In exchange, folks providing a view get up to $50 per month for an asset that previously paid nothing, according to City Lab.
As great as Placemeter is for those with a good street view, it is even better for an urban area as a whole. That’s because the images captured through the smartphones, over time, yields valuable data for city officials. Foot and vehicle traffic patterns, as well as the use of benches and other public amenities, can all be tracked through Placemeter and used to improve everyday life.
“Measuring data about how the city moves in real time, being able to make predictions on that, is definitely a good way to help cities work better,” Winter told City Lab.
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The data is also very valuable to retailers, helping them assess what might be the best spot for a new store. Such data has been long sought after, but until now, there had not been a simple, widespread way to collect it.
For many, with this advancement comes the concern of privacy — both for those being observed on the street and those with a smartphone. Placemeter has emphasized its commitment to privacy, though, and says the device’s camera doesn’t monitor anything inside a host’s home. Additionally, a computer, not a human, analyzes all the images of the street, and once the useful data is captured, the footage is erased.
Although it’s only in New York for now, the company wants to expand to other U.S. cities.
Thanks to Placemeter, says Winter, “cities and citizens [can] collaborate to make the city better.”And who wouldn’t want that?
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With Parking Spaces Sitting Vacant, Atlanta Has a Bold Plan to Merge Communities With Transit
Everyone who lives near a city knows all too well how much location – specifically, proximity to the commuter rail — matters. The shorter the drive is to the station, the better. And the ability to walk there trumps just about everything.
Such convenience is about to come to thousands in Atlanta. That city’s metro system MARTA has started making real estate deals to build housing to unused transit parking lots. MARTA plans to turn the space at the King Memorial, Edgewood, and Edgewood/Chandler Park stations into combination residential and retail developments.
“People have been looking at these parking lots for decades wondering why they were just sitting there,” Amanda Rhein, senior director of transit-oriented development at MARTA, told City Lab.
Now, that is finally changing — and it’s not only helping commuters, but also the railroad itself. Without state funding, MARTA’s bottom line is very easily impacted by the ups and downs of the economy. So, when Keith Parker took over the agency in 2012, he decided that a bold project like this is what was required to keep it competitive. The development will not only produce revenue from all the train riders, but also with each unit sold, will raise money for the transit system that it can use for improvements.
And so far, Parker’s decision is looking like a good one. MARTA has successfully leased land to developers for mixed-use buildings that are focused on the adjacent transit opportunities, including a project on a four-acre unused parking lot that features 13,000 square feet of retails space and 386 housing units.
The boon does not only belong to the railroads, though; it is the entire community’s as these projects could decrease traffic on the roads. And on top of that, there is more to the new spaces then one might think. Beyond all the great new housing and shops, each development will also feature a public park as well as have at least 20 percent of the units dedicated to affordable housing.
While construction has yet to start, there’s already hope for more in the future since this model is good for both the city of Atlanta, its citizens and the transit system itself.
“We’re going to make the stations themselves and the surrounding areas more pleasant and more easily accessible, and we’ll be providing amenities to our riders and to the surrounding community. So I think people will realize that and give MARTA a chance,” says Rhein.
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If Another Superstorm Hits, This Dirt Barricade Will Protect NYC
Everyone — but especially New Yorkers — remember Superstorm Sandy’s seemingly endless destruction back in 2012. Costing the region billions of dollars, it was an example of what nature could do to our infrastructure and our society.
Preventing damage like what occurred is crucial — and a big part of what needs to be done to prepare for the future. That’s what the winning project of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild by Design contest aims to do. And there’s no better way to do it than to also make some beautiful public space in the process.
The Bridging Berm is a new project on Manhattan’s lower east side. While there’s no timeline for completion, once it is finished, it will shelter 150,000 residents and a power sub-station from the effects of storms and rising sea levels.
The 2.19 miles along the East River that the Bridging Berm will occupy is currently a public park, though it has few entrances and is very isolated from the city. The Bridging Berm will change that — improving both access and the public space itself. Even more importantly, it will raise the riverbank to nine feet above its current level. Had this been around during Sandy, there still would have been four feet to spare.
Jeremy Barbour of Tacklebox Architecture tells Next City that “the strength of the proposal is in the way they have addressed both the vertical and the horizontal through a series of programmed berms and bridges that mediate the boundary between the waterfront and the edge of the city — defining a place for community gathering and a way to inhabit the in-between.”
And a defining place it will be, with bike paths along the water, boating and fishing areas, as well as athletic fields. Clearly, there will something for everybody.
This multipurpose space is just one of three components to the larger “BIG U” proposal in the Rebuild By Design contest; roll-down storm gates on the FDR bridge as well as a berm-and-educational facility in lower Manhattan are also part of the plan.
The Bridging Berm could have the largest impact, though. With such a dense population and the power station in the area, not to mention the improved public space, it is an exceptional urban planning vision.
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Why Fake Brick Makes for a Better Sidewalk
Bricks: A classic material used across the country to construct everything from buildings and walls to sidewalks.
Americans love the familiar look, but increasingly, towns and cities are having a hard time justifying the clay-based material — especially as it ages.
But now, innovations in asphalt treatment and decoration are allowing surfaces to offer the same great look but without the bricks, according to the Washington Post.
So, how do these new crosswalks and sidewalks go from looking just like the surface of a road to resembling authentic brickwork?
First, the asphalt is heated, then a metal grid with the desired brick pattern is laid on top (think of it as a giant cookie cutter). This creates a pretty convincing brick-like indentation, which then comes to life through a paint or plastic coloring to complete the look.
Primarily offered by Quest Construction Products and Ennis-Flint, these ingenious surfaces offer countless advantages over traditional brick. Changes in the underlying soil often causes bricks to dislodge, but that won’t happen with these new paths since they are made of contiguous material. Not only does this make surfaces safer for pedestrians, but also easier to maintain – especially considering the toll a tough winter takes on our sidewalks and crosswalks.
Additionally, since the cracks in between traditional bricks are no longer a factor, unsightly weeds will not take over sidewalks. People also won’t be tempted to steal bricks – yes, that actually happens – as there won’t be any to remove.
A civil engineer for Boston’s public works department, Bob Astrella knows a thing or two about this subject. He boasted to the Washington Post, “this is a hell of a lot easier to repair than brick crosswalks,” adding that brick “looks nice, but there’s a maintenance issue.”
Thanks to this new advancement, public surfaces in cities and towns across the country are going to get a whole lot safer, and much easier to maintain, too.
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This Record Label is Rocking Indianapolis
When thinking of musical hotspots, Indianapolis is certainly not the first city that comes to mind — especially when it comes to indie music. But one little record label is kickstarting the arts scene in the Crossroads of America — and providing a boost to the economy, too.
Asthmatic Kitty Records got its start in 1999 when it launched the music of the experimental small scene happening in Holland, Michigan. At the time, the primary artist was co-owner and singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens.
At the time, Asthmatic Kitty Records was headquartered in Lander, Wyoming. But as the label grew, it needed a manager, so San Diego resident and graduate Michael Kauffman came on board in 2001. In 2005, he moved the label to Indianapolis where it continued to grow and expand. Soon, Asthmatic Kitty Records was a global organization with employees in not just the U.S., but England, too.
With so many music hubs in the country, why Indianapolis? First of all, the low cost of living made it easier for the label to function — something which might not have happened in New York. Second, according to Kauffman, “there seemed to be a real exciting, embracing community in Indianapolis and an influx of cultural things within the city.”
That open community is precisely what made Kauffman see the move as an opportunity to “make a cultural impact on [Indianapolis].” From there, it just became a matter of engaging it.
The label began signing local Indianapolis acts, offering advice to others in the music scene and organizing local musical evenings. It began an informal partnership with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and helped create an “Unusual Animals” pop-up art gallery.
Asthmatic Kitty continued to work with the community, when, in 2011, it helped host a screening event of Gary Hustwit’s film Urbanized. Hustwit attended, and the day expanded to include various speakers discussing Indianapolis and urbanization. The end result: the start of We Are City – a virtual think-tank run by Asthmatic Kitty employee John Beeler who twice a week sends out an email to 1,200 Indianapolis residents discussing urban action.
The label’s influence continued to expand when Indianapolis hosted the Super Bowl in 2012. Kauffman worked to create a showcase of local bands for the festivities, while Beeler established The Music Council, which aims to influence city policies to help expand the music scene and is composed of members of music blogs, indie labels, the chamber of commerce, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and various education groups.
All of this work has not gone unnoticed by citizens and the local government. City officials are increasingly looking to this former little label for help in bringing in young professionals to expand the urban scene.
Clearly, this “little label that could” is not just a force to be reckoned with in the music industry, but it’s a great unifying force for the city of Indianapolis itself.
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Here’s How High-Speed Rail Is Inching Closer to Becoming a Reality In California
High-speed rails: We’ve seen animations of what they might look like, and heard politicians talk about them. What we have yet to see is an actual high-speed train flying along the rails. But that may change soon enough in California.
Although support at the federal level for funding has died down, according to City Lab, the state has been able to find money for the new venture through cap-and-trade revenue.
Cap-and-trade, which basically taxes big business for polluting the environment, could bring in between $3 and $5 billion dollars every year towards the transportation project. This is a huge boon, not only because it’s steady, annual income, but also because it allows for the project to take out larger loans — whether they be from the federal government or private investors.
In a blog post about California’s high speed rail, Robert Cruickshank said, “this is perhaps the best news California HSR [high-speed rail] has had in over five years.”
Although a debate on the building of a high-speed rail continues, two things are for certain: California is now a lot closer to having the transportation of the future — and it’s all thanks to a program that promotes the environment.
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