The Federal Railroad Administration issued more than $56.9 million in grants on Feb. 8 for 18 railroad infrastructure projects in 16 states; funding being made available through its Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements or CRISI program. [Above photo via the FRA.] The FRA’s Notice of Funding Opportunity for those grants required that at 25 percent of […]

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao officially awarded the City of Jacksonville, FL, and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority a shared $25 million grant to support two projects in a formal ceremony on Feb. 8. [Above photo via USDOT.] Made under the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development or BUILD transportation grant program, Chao said in a statement […]

John D. Dingell Jr., who had the distinction of being the longest-serving member in the history of Congress, passed away on Feb. 7 at the age of 92. [Above photo via the University of Michigan.] Known in many circles as the “car industry’s congressman” for his unwavering support for U.S. automotive manufacturers, Dingell actually began […]

The National Transportation Safety Board unveiled its “Most Wanted List” of transportation safety improvements for 2019-2020 during a press conference in Washington D.C. on Feb. 4; adding calls for the implementation of 46 specific items from a list of 267 open agency safety recommendations over the next two years. [Above photo by NTSB.] “We at […]

The Federal Highway Administration provided more than $705.7 million in emergency relief or ER funds on Feb. 5 to 34 states, along with American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to help repair roads and bridges damaged by storms, floods, and other “unexpected events” such as earthquakes. [Above photo of Hurricane Harvey aftermath via […]

New analysis issued by cybersecurity-focused venture firm Allegis Cyber indicates that data breaches resulting from cyberattacks are expected to increase in 2019 – with transportation one of the industries warned “not to let their guard down.” [Above photo via PixBay.] “The next spate of [cyber]attacks could be the worst yet … because more effective malware […]

The U.S. Department of Transportation provided more than $60 million in funding for 32 university transportation centers or UTCs on Feb. 5 around the country; consortiums of two- and four-year colleges and universities that form what the agency calls a “unique center” for a specific transportation research topic. [Above photo by Texas A&M University.] Working […]

New research by AAA indicates that electric vehicle driving range may decrease drastically in extreme cold weather; a decrease exacerbated by use of the vehicle’s heating-ventilation-air-conditioning or HVAC system. [Above photo via AAA.] The group’s analysis – released Feb. 7 and based on tests involving five electric car models – showed that when temperatures dip […]

The world is “in the midst of a truly revolutionary era in transportation,” according to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, with the development of drones and autonomous vehicles just two of many new technologies that offer the potential to increase safety while creating new goods and services. [Above photo by Ford Motor Co.] “They […]

A new study by researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Georgia Tech claims that a single percentage-point increase in mass transit ridership is associated with a 0.473 percentage-point lower obesity rate in counties across the United States. [Above photo by the Federal Transit Administration.] That eight-page study is based on “computational analysis” […]