Transportation

The United States is considering a $1 trillion budget proposal to update infrastructure, including its crumbling bridges. An obstacle to spending the money wisely is that the current means of assessing bridges may underestimate their vulnerability. Case in point is a bridge along California's iconic Big Sur coast, which collapsed in March, isolating communities and costing local businesses millions of dollars. Although California's recent unprecedented rains were likely to damage infrastructure, standard risk assessments made it hard to identify which bridges were most vulnerable. more »

Employees Entering Government: Individuals who join the executive branch may be required to take actions, either before becoming an employee or shortly thereafter, in order to comply with ethics laws and regulations concerning conflicting financial interests and impartiality. Hearings to examine the nomination of Jeff Sessions, of Alabama, to be Attorney General, Department of Justice will begin on Tuesday this week. more »

If President-elect Donald Trump is successful with his proposed $1 trillion, 10-year program to fix America's disintegrating and inadequate infrastructure, the states have a list of critical projects handy for him. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that fixing all the roads, bridges, public transit, railroads, energy systems, schools, public parks, ports, airports, waste systems, levees, dams, drinking water facilities and hazardous waste installations in the 50 states and the District of Columbia would take $3.6 trillion by 2020. more »

Ever wonder what happens to all those battered bicycles chained to street poles or abandoned on bike racks, with rusting pedals, bent frames and missing tires or handlebars? In Denver, they're sold at auction. In New York City, they're sent to a scrap recycling center. And in Chicago, they're handed off to a nonprofit that donates many of them to developing countries where people may have no transportation. Bike Walk Wichita reconditions them for free and the police distributes them to homeless people who have jobs but no transportation. more »