The U.S. transportation construction market should shrink by 5.5 percent in 2021 primarily due to the severe economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an annual forecast released December 10 by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. [Above photo by the West Virginia DOT.] Overall, the value of work should drop from […]

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to invest of up to $128 million in funding for research and development of sustainable transportation resources and technologies — money subject to the availability of appropriated funds, it stressed. [Above photo by the DOE.] That money – split between three separate funding opportunity announcements or FOAs– aims to […]

The Federal Railroad Administration recently published two final rules – the first one regarding highway-rail grade crossing action plans, with the second one extending the amount of time freight rail equipment can be parked with air brake systems depressurized before a new brake inspection is required. [Above photo by the NTSB.] The FRA highway-rail grade […]

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Transit Administration is improving access to grant funding and providing relief from certain regulatory and administrative requirements for public transit agencies. [Above photo by the FTA.] The agency is also providing $6.2 million to nine projects in seven states via its Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development […]

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of the Interior completed a three-year, $277 million renovation of the 2,613-foot-lon Arlington Memorial Bridge that links Washington D.C. directly to Arlington National Cemetery in Northern Virginia. [Above Photo by Liz Macro/National Park Service.] First opened to traffic in 1932, the neoclassical-designed Arlington Memorial Bridge carries […]

The American Public Transportation Association and the Transit app jointly released a new APTA Ridership Trends dashboard that provides up-to-date, week-by-week estimations of public transit ridership for agencies across the United States. The dashboard is available via www.transitapp.com/APTA. [Above photo by the Chicago Transit Authority.] During the COVID-19 pandemic, APTA said public transit ridership increased and dropped rapidly […]

Automation-aided railroad inspection technologies offer the potential to boost safety and save lives while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of current track maintenance and inspection practices, according to a new study issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. [Above photo by the FRA.] The Federal Railroad Administration asked a Volpe […]

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently launched two new working groups under its Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology or NETT Council – the first on personal rapid transit or PRT and the other on advanced and urban aerial mobility or AUAM. [Above photo by USDOT.] This is in addition to the tunneling and hyperloop working […]

The ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the “recovery trajectory” of U.S. airports, toll roads, and ports – prompting Fitch Ratings to refine its recovery assumptions, which the rating agency is detailing in a new report. [Above photo by the Port of Baltimore.] The rating agency said it is implementing “more severe downside […]

The COVID-19 pandemic is having “surprising effects” on demand for public transit in America, according to study recently published by Ohio State University – with an “uneven” decline in transit demand due to the nature of jobs in different cities and who actually used public transportation before the pandemic struck. [Above photo by the Metropolitan […]