INFRASTRUCTURES * UK - Pothole repair bill 'over £5bn'

The cost of repairing all the potholes in England's roads will be over £5bn

London,EN,UK -Press Association/Politics Home -26 May 2011: ... According to a report by the Audit Commission,  England's local roads are under attack from increasing traffic, severe winters, higher repair costs and dwindling highways funding, a report by a public spending watchdog has said...  The cost of maintaining England's 236,000 miles of local roads is now 50% higher than it was 10 years ago, according to the report from the Audit Commission...  But in the next three years there will be a 26% drop in government revenue funding for local authorities and 16% less capital funding via local transport plans, the commission said...  Also, road traffic is expected to increase by more than 30% by 2025 and damage to the roads by utility company streetworks is costing councils nearly £50 million every year... The report highlighted how councils can get more for their money, including cost-saving collaborations with neighbours, asset management to show when road maintenance will be most effective, new ways of keeping residents informed, and weighing short-term repairs against long-term resilience...    (Photo from l.yimg/media.zenfs.com: Reduced funding could make it even more difficult to maintain local roads)

INFRASTRUCTURES FUNDS * USA - Study: $2 trillion needed for U.S. infrastructure

Study by the Urban Land Institute: The United States is falling dramatically to remain competitive in the global marketplace.

Washington,DC,USA -The Washington Post, by Ashley Halsey III -May 16, 2011:    ...  Burdened with soaring deficits and with long-term transportation plans stalled in Congress, the United States has fallen behind three emerging economic competitors — Brazil, China and India, the institute said...  The report envisions a time when, like Detroit, U.S. cities may opt to abandon services in some districts and when lightly used blacktopped rural roads would be allowed to return to nature. Eventually, the report says, the federal gas tax will be increased; local governments will be allowed to toll interstate highways; water bills will rise to pay for pipe and sewer replacement; property and sales taxes will increase; and private, profit-seeking companies will play a much larger role in funding and maintaining public projects...  The United States, the institute report concludes, needs to invest $2 trillion to rebuild roads, bridges, water lines, sewage systems and dams that are reaching the end of their planned life cycles...

* CSX Directs $160 Million to National Gateway

VA,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Joseph Bonney -May 18, 2011: -- Money will be used to expand Virginia Avenue Tunnel, provide stacktrain clearances...  CSX Transportation said it will invest an additional $160 million over the next several years to complete the National Gateway between the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, bringing the project to the full funding needed to create a major double-stack intermodal corridor from the East Coast into the Midwest... Most of the money will be used to expand and improve the century-old Virginia Avenue Tunnel in Washington, D.C., and provide stacktrain clearances in Maryland, West Virginia and the District of Columbia... The National Gateway is a public-private partnership will clear 61 obstructions and build or expand six intermodal facilities along CSX's network in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and the District of Columbia. It will provide stacktrain service to ports in Baltimore, Virginia and Wilmington, Del... (Photo from godcgo: Virginia Ave tunnel)

Infrastructure Bank * USA - Plan could lead to more tolling

The likelihood of more tolling, congestion pricing, or other fees that states will charge

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine, by David Tanner -17 March 2010: -- Three U.S. senators have drafted a bill that would create a federal infrastructure bank to fund highway, bridge and railway projects. As more details come to light, OOIDA leadership is concerned about the likelihood of more tolling, congestion pricing, or other fees that states will charge to pay back the federal loans... Sens. John Kerry, D-MA, Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-TX, and Mark Warner, D-VA, promoted the infrastructure bank proposal during a press conference held Tuesday... Startup funding for the infrastructure bank would come from the federal government. As private investors get more involved, public funding would be reduced and the bank would stand on its own... The Kerry-Hutchison-Warner version of an infrastructure bank would require $10 billion in federal startup money... An infrastructure bank, according to the senators’ plan, would fund up to 50 percent of the cost of an infrastructure project...    (Photo from weirdlyodd: Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado, USA)

INFRASTRUCTURES FUNDS * UK - FTA welcomes MPs' road funding report

London,EN,UK -Road Transport, by Chris Tindall -8 March 2011: -- The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has welcomed a report by MPs calling for more funding and greater development of roads and ports in order to boost the economy...  The cross-party Transport Select Committee has also urged the government to publish a White Paper on its transport strategy, explaining how its transport spending will deliver economic growth and development..

INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS * USA - LaHood to states: If you want tolls, add capacity

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine -3 March 2011: -- The White House is willing to approve more state tolling projects, but only when new capacity is added to the highway system, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said this week... LaHood addressed the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials, or AASHTO, on Wednesday, March 2. Joining him was U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-FL, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee... Funding the next six years of surface transportation programs is not going to come easy, and both men agree that innovative financing including tolls will be necessary... (Image from lavca.org: highway)