TGV breaks its own, 17-year-old record -- 553 km/h is 345.6 mph! The fastest train speed in the U.S. was 183.85 mph -- a Budd RDC car retrofitted with jet engines hit the speed in western Ohio. That record speed for us is the regular cruising speed for high-speed trains in Europe and the Pacific Rim.

_________________

 

February 14, 2007 05:54 AM

 

LGV Est: world record exploded

 

------------------

 

The LGV Est, that will connect Paris to Strasbourg in the future, broke the former record of 515,3 km/h establied in 1990. With a new record established this morning *553 km/h*, SNCF and Alstom take advantage of such advertising for their companies but also give a rendez-vous : "See you in april !" SNCF and Alstom have the project to go to 570 km/h with their new technologies. Fans of high speed trains already trust that to go over 600 km/h is possible considering this morning record but president of Alstom temperates "we will not put in danger people working on our project, we will go as far as the technology can." Story to follow in next months.

 

Here's some photos of the new line on which this speed record was reached:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=441135

Firms Ride High on China's Huge Rail Upgrade

By BRUCE STANLEY

February 16, 2007;

Wall Street Journal On-Line

wsj.com

 

After years of putting up with a patchy, overburdened rail network, China is suddenly shoveling billions of dollars into new tracks and high-speed trains. Beijing has embarked on a five-year plan through 2010 that calls for a near quadrupling of investment to modernize the country's railways, which it sees as a foundation of a prosperous economy.

 

.......

We are missing out on supplying this huge market because we let our railcar industry shrink and die, along with rail industry as a whole. Pullman, Budd, American car and Foundry...all gone. We were too busy building highways to notice or care. Foreign companies supply our needs now.

 

Still, this is impressive! Where can I get a map of the Chinese system?

Here ya go!

 

^the new line to Lhasa isn't on this map.

February 25, 2007

In Transit  (NY Times)

Travel by Rail in Europe Is Set to Get Even Faster

By JENNIFER CONLIN

 

European rail companies are cutting the time it takes to get from one city to the next. Thanks to a series of new international fast rail projects, taking a train from Edinburgh to, say, Moscow may no longer b

 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/travel/25transtrain.html?pagewanted=print

The investments elsewhere continue along without us. BTW...I'm really liking the BBC as a hard news source. They provide a great global perspective...much better than anything I've found in this country.

 

France to open fastest rail link

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6450973.stm

 

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42681000/jpg/_42681359_train_afp203bo.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42684000/gif/_42684467_france_tgv_east2_map203.gif

 

France is to inaugurate its fastest rail link to date that will see trains travelling at 320km/h (200mph).

The LGV-Est line will connect Paris with the eastern city of Strasbourg, cutting travel time from the current four hours to two hours, 20 minutes.

 

Passengers travelling further east to other EU states will also benefit after the launch of the link on 10 June.

 

Thursday's event will be marked with a grand light show staged along the 300km (185-mile) railway line.

 

......

The investments elsewhere continue along without us. 

 

They certainly do.  Passenger rail is the most obvious place where Europe has done a far better job than the US.  However, the US has a growing infrastructure crisis across ALL forms of infrastructure, not just rail.  Our electric grid, water lines (Cleveland still has some wooden water pipes left in its water system, believe it or not), sewer lines, and of course roads and bridges. 

 

We've long boasted our lower tax burden than the rest of the industrialized world, but it came at the price of neglected infrastructure.  The chickens are coming home to roost now.  I'm not saying our taxes need to be as high as Europe's, I'm just saying that we haven't done a very good job of considering the long term consequences of deferred maintenance of our infrastructure.  We should have been doing a better job of building it to last, keeping it in good condition, etc.  It's either pay now or pay more later.  We chose to pay more later.

 

 

SPIEGEL ONLINE - March 16, 2007, 12:02 PM

URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,472117,00.html

 

TRAIN À GRANDE VITESSE

France Christens High-Speed Rail Link

 

The country that revolutionized European rail travel a quarter-century ago celebrated this week the construction of tracks that will bring Paris closer to Germany and Eastern Europe. The new Paris-Strasbourg TGV line is the fastest in France.

 

France on Thursday night christened a new high-speed rail line between Paris and the eastern part of the country that will also reduce travel times between Germany and the French capital. About 100 kilometers of the line are still under construction, but that didn't stop the French from throwing a dazzling spectacle with the lengthiest display of fireworks the world has yet seen.

 

.......

"French President Jacques Chirac described the €4 billion ($5.3 billion) project as a "major industrial success... The French line is part of a European Union plan to create a Europe-wide high-speed rail network with 12,600 kilometers of track linking the continent's most-important cities. "

 

You get the rail system you're willing to pay for.  That's for sure.

 

 

Just purchased all the train tickets for Europe...

 

York to London (GNER - 125 mph slow by European standards)

London to Brussells (Eurostar)

Brussells to Cologne (ICE)

Cologne to Frankfurt (old route via the Rhine - takes 2 hours, 140 miles)

Frankfurt to Cologne (new HSR route - takes 71 minutes, 140 miles)

Cologne to Brussells (ICE)

Brussells to Paris (Thalys)

 

Fly back to USA the next day.  :cry:

I was just in Europe last week, the trains were amazing there.  we took a high speed train from Mannheim to Frankfurt in under a half hour, it was so smooth and fast.

TGV breaks train speed record

POSTED: 7:59 a.m. EDT, April 3, 2007

CNN.com

 

PARIS, France (AP) -- France broke the world speed record on rails Tuesday with a souped-up fast train, a feat to showcase the technology it is trying to sell to overseas markets including China.

 

A high-speed French train named the V-150, equipped with a modified engine and wheels broke the world speed record today by traveling more than 350 MPH :clap:.

 

The new record is expected to gild France's image in the expanding market for high-speed technology as countries like China turn to bullet trains.

 

.........

 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/03/TGVspeedrecord.ap/index.html

 

Amazing.  Meanwhile, the United States is ... well, you know... btw, at what ground speed do humans get sick?  Can trains like V-150 or Maglev counteract the centrifugal forces on the body their speed inflicts?

Video link to the TGV speed record run.... the last few shots are amazing!

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/videoPlayer.php?vidId=131628

btw, at what ground speed do humans get sick?  Can trains like V-150 or Maglev counteract the centrifugal forces on the body their speed inflicts?

 

Getting sick is a result of the acceleration (g-forces) more than the speed.  If a train took long enough to get up to speed, a passenger wouldn't even know they were traveling 350mph. Once the train is moving at a constant 350mph, it would feel like they're standing on stationary ground.

Thought you might be interested in this graphic from today's issue of the Metro newspaper.  It shows France in purple, and the heavy line warps the borders to reflect distance/travel time by TGV.  All distances are relative to Paris.  Oh, and sorry about the quality... I don't have a scanner, so I had to take a picture and upload it.

 

Big deal. I got to see the Lake Shore Limited go by this morning, also doing 50 mph!!

 

Oh, wait, the TGV did 350 mph? Er, never mind...

                                                                           

Yeah....imagine going from Cleveland to Chicago in about and hour.  Or, Cleveland to Cincy in about 45 minutes.

 

NBC News' Brian Williams narrated a story on the TGV speed run on tonight's Nightly News and made the observation (great insight into the obvious) "There's nothing like this on U.S. rails."  I e-mailed his on-line blog to suggest that he missed the opportunity to explore the question: Why not?

 

This story has been covered by NBC, CBS, CNN and NPR..... and no one bothered to take up this question.

Yeah....imagine going from Cleveland to Chicago in about and hour.  Or, Cleveland to Cincy in about 45 minutes.

 

NBC News' Brian Williams narrated a story on the TGV speed run on tonight's Nightly News and made the observation (great insight into the obvious) "There's nothing like this on U.S. rails."  I e-mailed his on-line blog to suggest that he missed the opportunity to explore the question: Why not?

 

This story has been covered by NBC, CBS, CNN and NPR..... and no one bothered to take up this question.

 

It's very frustrating but we constantly run into the ideology wall here: as ridiculous as it sounds, too many people in this country think such trains are pseudo socialist as they potentially empower too many avg Joe's who don't own cars and, hence, ultimately won't travel in certain living/social circles w/o such state-sponsored mobility -- yeah, I know that's simplistic, but you get my drift.  That "freedom vs. social engineering" conundrum continues to dash hopes for such projects here -- don't let anyone tell you that it's simply b/c of a lack of density, abundance of fuel (well, we now know that's a lie), etc...

 

... I sense Brian Williams is a bit to the right of center (I could be wrong, but...) so perhaps he wouldn't be the one to pose such hard questions but, at the very least, he covered the TGV story... maybe there's a slim ray of hope.

^as if our publicly owned and funded interstate highway system and our system of zoning codes that make anything but auto-centric development illegal and have spread through all 50 states like cancer isn't social engineering...

More video and natural sound of the TGV run (Courtesy MSNBC):

 

http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=72C0CBB7-AFAB-4679-9043-E2F4B967DF23&t=c159&f=06/64&p=hotvideo_m_edpicks&fg=&GT1=9246

 

Check out the rear view camera shot and the shots from down near the wheels at track level..... friggin' awesome!

Wonder if the fares are quelle reasonable lol.  Don't you want to be on this right now? omg!

I remember riding the (sp) Shinkensen train in Tokyo during the 80s. They called it the bullet train and it was phenomenal. Here we are 20 plus years later, we need The Hub!

^as if our publicly owned and funded interstate highway system and our system of zoning codes that make anything but auto-centric development illegal and have spread through all 50 states like cancer isn't social engineering...

 

"From each taxpayer according to his ability to pay. To each automobile according to its needs"

 

Apologies to Karl Marx.... :-P

 

Heard that one while in Chicago...priceless.

Yeah....imagine going from Cleveland to Chicago in about and hour.

 

My day yesterday:

 

Arrived at Hopkins at 6:30 AM for 7:25 AM flight to Chicago (ORD)

Plane left gate on time and parked on apron for ~50 minutes (ATC ground stop for ORD)

After about 90 minutes in the air, landed at DTW (Detroit) after being diverted from ORD

Caught the first flight back to CLE from DTW, arrived at 2:30 PM

 

Spent 8 hours of my life in planes and airports, missed my Chicago meeting, got very little work done, have to do it all again some other day...

 

Definitely something wrong with this picture!!!

Rx:  The Ohio Hub.

Absolutely...

 

To learn more about the Ohio Hub, visit:

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/ohiorail/Ohio%20Hub/Website/ordc/index.html

 

To learn more about how to help make the Ohio Hub happen, join:

http://www.allaboardohio.org/cms/index.php

Rx Dislcaimer: 

 

Caution: Increased development and use of passnger rail and/or high-speed passenger rail may result in a feeling of euphoria over sudden influx of cash into your personal budget from having the choice to decrease use or eliminate one or more family cars.  Those still needing or wanting to use motor vehciles may also experience a sudden sensation of more room on the highways (Roadus Claustrophobus) and a few less reasons for road rage. Additonally, those suffering from asthmatic or other breathing-associated problems may find themselves less distressed upon breathing actually cleaner air. If you would like to experience any or all of these feelings, please refer to the above posting.

 

:-D :-) :clap:

You forgot the potential for increased cash in all our pockets due to an influx of jobs! :-)

Here's 7+ minutes of EXCELLENT footage from earlier this week of the high speed train record of 357.2 MPH in France!

 

 

This is from French television news, apparently broadcast live in France. Note the voices of the newscasters getting quicker as the train picks up speed, accelerating past 500 km/h (312 mph) toward the record speed.

 

And take note of the aircraft needed to keep pace with the train!

Interesting article, IMHO. The part about the sonic booms in tunnels is pretty amazing...

_____________________

 

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2007/gb20070405_879375.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe_more+of+today's+top+stories

 

 

Europe

April 5, 2007, 12:34PM EST text size: TT

 

Is Energy-Guzzling TGV the Wrong Answer?

So the French-manufactured train broke all kinds of speed records, but at what environmental and safety costs?

 

Trains will never travel as fast as commercial air planes -- that's a certainty. But certainty can be challenged -- as French train company SNCF has consistently demonstrated.

 

On Tuesday, SNCF set a new world speed record on rail when a special TGV train barrelled down new tracks east of Paris, reaching a top speed of 574.8 kilomters (357 miles) per hour. The previous record of 515.3 kilometers per hour had also been set by a French TGV train.

 

The aim of the record high-speed train trip on Tuesday, according to an official statement by French TGV manufacturer Alstom, was to demonstrate the "highly promising future in the domain of very high-speed rail transport." But more than anything else, the lightning-fast race down the tracks merely illustrated just how frivolously advanced train technology can be put to use. No railway company in the world is seriously considering putting trains that travel at such high speeds into regular passenger service.

 

.......

Here's 7+ minutes of EXCELLENT footage from earlier this week of the high speed train record of 357.2 MPH in France!

 

 

This is from French television news, apparently broadcast live in France. Note the voices of the newscasters getting quicker as the train picks up speed, accelerating past 500 km/h (312 mph) toward the record speed.

 

And take note of the aircraft needed to keep pace with the train!

 

One thing I found interesting about the video is that they said that the catenary wire was deliberately zig-zagged to keep it from sawing through the crossbar.  Do they do that for all catenary systems, or just high-speed trains?

I've seen that on other high-speed rail lines, so it may be standard practice. But that's just a guess on my part.

Romney hates France

 

Reformer.com

Brattleboro Reformer

 

Friday, April 6

Former Massachusetts governor and current Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made a campaign stop in Keene, N.H., on Tuesday morning.

 

We'll leave aside for now the contrast between the more than 2,200 people who showed up for Sen. Barrack Obama, D-Ill., at Keene State College the night before with the 100 or so people who were at the Colony Mill Marketplace to hear Romney.

 

We'll also leave aside his relatively recent shifts to more conservative positions on abortion, gay rights and gun control, or his attempts to position himself as the only electable candidate for social conservatives.

 

Our question for today is, why does Romney hate France so much?

 

.........

See article below.  I pass it along solely for the little detail buried in the 4th to last paragraph:  Argentina is going to build an HSR line.  We're just falling farther and farther behind.  It's particularly sad to see us falling behind developing countries.  Taiwan and Korea have built HSR.  Vietnam, Mexico, China, and now Argentina are actively pursuing it!

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/03/news/train.php

Wait until I relay the story of my friend Mark, a Chicago resident, who tried to use Amtrak and transit to reach his mother's house in Ravenna today. I will post it in the ODOT policy thread after I get home from work. That will reinforce how far behind we are...

We maybe (and are) far behind, but don't lose sight of your original point, KJP. It's only been a few years since the Bush Administration was telling us to stop eating french fries for goodness sake because of the reference to France! Xenophobia is something that will not get Romney elected; I predict lol.  Something tells me Brattelboro is not his base either LOL

Ethanol Is No Substitute for Good Transportation Planning

from The Nation.com

This article can be found on the web at

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070423/von_hoffman

 

 

-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Ethanol Hoax

by NICHOLAS VON HOFFMAN

 

[posted online on April 9, 2007]

 

The other day the French, who we Americans know cannot do anything right, sent one of their trains hurtling down a railroad track at 357 miles per hour. France has more than 1,000 miles of high-speed railroad track. The United States does not have one inch.

 

The United States sticks with its climate-warming, congested and inefficient Eisenhower-era transportation system. It was back then that the modern federal highway was begun and it was decided--perhaps by default--that cars and airplanes would be the nation's people carriers and choo-choos would chug off to the nearest transportation museum.

 

Americans, who seem to spend an ever greater percentage of their waking hours bragging about how much better they are than everybody else, have not noticed they are falling behind. It is, for example, the French, the Japanese and the Germans who are competing to sell a high-speed railroad system to the Chinese. Visiting American tourists will enjoy the ride.

 

......

Dream of building Gibraltar tunnel gathering steam

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Daniel Woolls

Associated Press

 

Tarifa, Spain- Engineers have dreamt of it for a quarter- century: linking Europe and Africa at the spot where the two very different worlds gaze at each other across a strip of choppy water.

 

Now, after seemingly endless studies that turned up more than one nasty geological surprise, a project for a high-speed rail tunnel connecting the continents is gathering momentum, raising the prospect of an engineering marvel on par with the Panama Canal or the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France.

 

This tube for passengers, cars and freight would bore deep under the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow waterway where the Atlantic flows into the Mediterranean, and run from Tangier, Morocco, to the Spanish town of Tarifa at Europe's southernmost tip, possibly extending farther both ways in the future. Big- name European engineering consultants brought in a few months ago are to complete a study this year.

 

.......

 

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1176636962288960.xml&coll=2

I had always read that The British Empire dismantled the railroad substantially in Africa before the colonization ended. Is that true? Regardless, the rail system on the African Contintent was always something I thought would help get goods (especially food) to places like the Sudan and Mali and other areas that desperately need it. Not sure this issue can wait twenty yrs for a link through the water. Besides, aren't there areas in Southern Africa that can send food via rail to the areas in need? What is the status of the rail system within Africa? Maybe I am going to have to do my own research. This sounds interesting - longterm- and maybe a different focus of resources would be better? Loved reading it and ty.

With the exception of South Africa, I believe most of Africa's railroads range from underdeveloped to rolling wrecks.  Your right that a more sophisicated rail system would enable them to grow their economy and promote trade.

This is more than just fast trains overseas, but I didn't want to start up another thread....

_________________

 

Europe Plans For Sustainable 'Transport of Tomorrow'

Europe | Features | Transportation

 

16 April 2007 - 9:00am

 

Author: Andrea Broaddus

 

An American transportation planner reports from the 17th annual Polis Conference -- where European city leaders recently gathered to exchange advice on innovative local transportation strategies -- and wonders what lessons U.S. cities can learn from its counterparts in the E.U

 

Toulouse Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc, President of the Polis Network of European cities, challenged local officials in his opening remarks as host of its 17th annual conference to imagine together the transport of tomorrow. "Our principal challenge," he said, "is to rectify the impact of vehicles on the environment, maintain beauty and quiet in our cities, and preserve economic development and access to industry."

 

......

Eurostar in "green" drive to take on airlines

Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:38 AM BST

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=allBreakingNews&storyID=2007-04-17T103826Z_01_L17439230_RTRIDST_0_EUROSTAR-CO2-UPDATE-1.XML

By Pete Harrison

 

LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Train operator Eurostar polished its green credentials on Tuesday by targeting a 25 percent cut in CO2 emissions as it battles against low-cost airlines to carry passengers across the English Channel.

 

Eurostar, which links London with Paris and mainland Europe via the Channel Tunnel <EUTL.PA><ETL.L>, said it would cut CO2 emissions by 25 percent per passenger by 2012 by improving the efficiency of its trains and sourcing power from greener electricity generators.

 

"We do know that a high-speed rail journey is 10 times greener than flying," said Eurostar Chief Executive Richard Brown. "The low-cost airlines phenomenon has come up over the last 10 years. We're looking to attract more passengers to travel with us."

 

........

Ever wonder how we compare with other countries' demographics? You'd be surprised that for all the talk about how European population density is so much greater than ours and that we have cars here instead of their trains, the facts tend to contradict that. The latest issue of Passenger Train Journal has an article on high speed rail with some interesting comparisons:

 

Population densities (people per sq. km)

 

New Jersey          404

Japan                338

Massachusetts    289

Connecticut        254

United Kingdom    245

Germany              231

Italy                  190

Switzerland          175

New York            143

China                  137

Portugal              114

France                111

Ohio                  106

Pennsylvania        103

Florida                100

Illinois                  83

California              81

Spain                  81

 

Cars per 1,000 population

 

New Zealand        619

Luxembourg          574

Canada                564

Iceland                557

Italy                    547

Germany              546

Switzerland          521

Malta                  518

Austria                500

France                492

Belgium                471

United States        468

Sweden                458

Spain                  455

Slovenia              445

United Kingdom      439

Portugal              437

Finland                434

Japan                  432

Norway                430

Good stuff!

Another observation is that China is going to build a 1420 mile Beijing-Shenzhen (Hong Kong) line with a minimum top speed of 125 mph. Trains will cover the route in 10 hours vs. today's 24.

 

That's the equivalent of going from Chicago to Miami (1381 mi) in 10 hours or New York-Chicago in six. That last mirrors a proposal drafted by KJP calling for a high speed New York-Chicago line.

 

Meanwhile, we as a nation, continue to slumber. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz :sleep:

I can't wait to see how the Euros do it, starting this weekend!!

^bring a plug adapter for your camera!

The following deals with infrastructure in the general sense, but this report from the Urban Land Institute applies as much to what we are (and aren't) doing with rail.

 

Urban Infrastructure—Invest or Ignore? Infrastructure 2007: A Global Perspective Shows U.S. Lags Behind Asia, much of Europe

b]New Report Looks at Evolving Market for Infrastructure Funding, Development, Management[/b]

For more information, contact Trisha Riggs at 202-624-7086, E-mail [email protected]

 

CHICAGO (May 9, 2007) — The United States’ relatively low investment in virtually all aspects of mobility-related infrastructure—airports, public transit, railway systems, roads and bridges—is an “emerging crisis” that will compromise the ability of the nation’s cities to compete globally, according to a new report co-published by the Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young.

 

Infrastructure 2007: A Global Perspective offers a comprehensive look at the status of current and planned infrastructure investment and development in a variety of categories in countries worldwide, with a particular focus on the United States, China, Japan, India, and Europe. The first of its kind, the report discusses the evolving infrastructure market, including private and combination public-private systems for funding, construction, operations and management.

 

“America is more of a follower and no longer a world leader when it comes to infrastructure,” the report states. “Other countries marshal vanguard strategies and provide the contemporary lessons for developing best practices in public/private finance, intermodal transport, congestion pricing and high-speed rail…Too often (in the U.S.), projects focus on restoration rather than rethinking the model and finding possible efficiencies…There is a tendency to invest in the infrastructure we have instead of the infrastructure we will need.”

 

The varied attitudes toward and approaches to infrastructure investment are reflected in different data provided in the report, such as:

 

1) Japan has 2,000 kilometers of high-speed rail and is building about 300 more kilometers by 2020; China is planning to build more than 2,500 kilometers of high-speed rail by 2020; the U.S. has about 300 kilometers, but is building none.

 

2) As of 2000, there were more than 750 cars per 1,000 people in the U.S.; in the U.K., just over 500 cars per 1,000 people; in China, less than 50 per 1,000 (although this number is rising, it still is far less than the U.S.).

 

3) Two of the ten most expensive infrastructure projects worldwide involving private investment are in France; the third most expensive is in the United States; none are in China.

 

The report, first released this week at the ULI’s Spring Council Forum in Chicago, is being presented to ULI members by ULI Vice Chairman Dale Ann Reiss, global director of real estate at Ernst & Young in New York City. According to Reiss, the private sector is going to play a significant role in what she predicts will be a global movement to build and modernize the world’s infrastructure. She is expecting a fundamental shift in the current business model that will change the playing field across the board. “One thing in this report that is crystal clear to a Friedmanian economist like me is that the private sector - by virtue of both the capital it controls and the skill sets it exhibits -- is going to play an increasingly important role in the effective and efficient development of infrastructure here in the U.S. and abroad over the next 50 years,” says Reiss. “Public-private partnerships are here to stay and may well be the only viable way for governments to reach their infrastructure development goals.”

 

Numerous worldwide trends and issues are discussed in the report, including:

 

Infrastructure as a competitive imperative—

 

Mature economies with aging infrastructure networks face gargantuan bills for deferred maintenance on roads, water systems, dams and electric grids. Retooling costs more than many governments are willing to pay.

China boldly builds new infrastructure to support future generations. Spurred by a growing economy, India tries to keep pace and replace third-world transport systems with state-of-the art networks.

Australia, the United Kingdom, other countries in Western Europe and Canada are far ahead of the United States in using private financing structures to fund improvements. Eastern Europe, still reeling from communist neglect, requires a major overhaul.

In America, a “yawning” budget gap swallows initiatives to fund maintenance. Prevalent sprawl, poor planning and car dependence pose ever greater challenges in meeting future needs. Retrofits and changing public behavior are “wrenchingly” difficult.

 

Expansion of infrastructure privatization—

 

Infrastructure emerges as a new asset class for investors, with massive needs attracting large pools of private capital; double-digit returns are sought, but high single-digit returns are more likely, particularly for mature assets.

Various forms of public-private partnerships allow governments to retain control, transfer risk, and gain efficiencies from private operators.

In Europe, the stage is set for secondary market in which early-in investment banks sell holdings to longer-term pension funds who gain confidence in consistent track records for infrastructure investment returns.

India tries to lure private investors; meanwhile China is the only country with the luxury of relying on its booming economic engine to directly fund vast infrastructure development.

 

Issues and trends specific to the U.S.—

 

Public skittishness will persist regarding turning over public franchises to for-profit operators.

Homeland security worries will hamstring U.S. airport privatizations, because the most tested operators have off-shore “pedigrees,” raising a red flag for security officials.

 

Reluctance to raise the federal gas tax threatens the viability of the Highway Trust Fund, now on course for insolvency by 2009. Adjusted for inflation, the tax has only one-half the purchasing power of 1965, undercutting federal contributions to highway repair and construction. Local sales taxes, property taxes “have nowhere to go but up” to help fill the gap.

 

Most new U.S. highways will be constructed as toll roads; states will finance them through bond issues and private concessions.

 

Congestion pricing lanes will gain momentum on urban highways, but congestion cordons or zones will have extremely limited use.

 

Emerging technologies, such as satellite tracking systems could be used to charge drivers based on miles traveled on specific roads; but “Big Brother” hang-ups could impede widespread use.

 

States may consider tolled truck corridors to facilitate movement of goods, as well as expanding freight rail corridors.

 

The sobering outlook for U.S. infrastructure systems is reinforced by a ULI survey of 30 state transportation planning directors included in the report. Eighty-three percent said that the nation’s transportation infrastructure is not capable of meeting the nation’s needs over the next ten years. The respondents warned that 97 percent of roads, bridges and tunnels and 88 percent of transit/rail systems will require at least moderate improvement in the years ahead. An estimated $185 billion in additional funding will be required for road systems over the next five years alone, the report notes, stating “The state of deferred maintenance is so gargantuan nobody knows where to begin…States have been putting off these issues to fund other needs…People will still use roads until they can’t be used, and as long as the roads work they can put it off.”

 

The report points to privatization, already widely used in Europe and Australia, as gaining traction in the U.S., particularly in the construction, management and operation of toll roads, bridges and tunnels. Investment funds, sponsored by global investment banks, private equity firms, and institutional money managers are becoming a rapidly expanding source of private funding. “The global investment pipeline, flush with cash, eagerly shifts some flows to the United States as Americans begin to realize the scope of future infrastructure requirements and the size of funding shortfalls,” the report says, noting that 28 states have passed legislation enabling private market investment in infrastructure. Still, skepticism over how much control should be shifted to the private sector has, so far, kept private investment in check, the report notes. For instance, the survey of transportation planners found that while 37 percent predicted privatization would be a likely source of future funding, 44 percent said it would be unlikely. Seventy-three percent predicted higher user fees as a funding source, and 63 percent predicted higher taxes.

 

Solving the mobility problems in the U.S. will require more than a greater commitment to infrastructure repair and construction, the report notes. In addition to revamping funding mechanisms for construction and operations, long-term solutions must include rethinking land planning models so they are far less auto-dependent and offer plenty of options for getting from on place to another. If driving continues to be the only practical transportation option in many metropolitan areas, no amount of infrastructure investment will be adequate, the report contends.

 

“If infrastructure expenditures are comprehensively planned and integrated with regional land use, the lasting economic benefits can be enormous, propelling the nation’s growth for generations,” the report recommends. “The federal government, working with regions and states, will need to develop a clear vision for policy and integrate programs that link costs to use, and which drive efficiencies. Silos must be broken down between multiple layers of state and local road departments, transit agencies, planning boards and housing authorities…It’s no coincidence that today’s dominant cities, prospering along global economic pathways, feature sophisticated and integrated infrastructure with multiple nodes of transit to accommodate high volumes of activity and concentrated populations. Their infrastructure creates a competitive advantage…The country needs a new model for how it plans and pays for infrastructure, including how it plans its communities.”

 

NOTE TO EDITORS AND REPORTERS: Copies of the report are available at www.uli.org/reports/i18. For a hard copy of the report, contact Trish Riggs at 202-624-7086 or E-mail: [email protected]. To interview Dale Ann Reiss, contact Trish Riggs, or Tim Gallen, Gallen and Associates, 925-915-0762 or Andrew Neilly, Gallen and Associates, 925-915-0759.

 

About the Urban Land Institute

The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 36,000 members representing all aspects of land use.

 

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