http://blogs.asce.org/govrel Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:44:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en On Tuesday a bipartisan group of seven Senate Committee Chairs and Ranking Members, including Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-OK), sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), urging leadership to file cloture and ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=246 If you have some free time during your lunch hour today, check out this free webcast of National Journal's Transportation Policy Briefing at 11:30 AM EST on Tuesday, November 17. The event will feature a keynote address from Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and a panel of other transportation experts. Watch the ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=244 The news this morning wasn’t good: unemployment in October climbed to a twenty-five year high of 10.2 percent and is expected to grow. More troubling for those of us in the infrastructure field, last month the economy also lost about 62,000 construction jobs. While the Obama administration estimates on recovery.gov ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=240 Could you be the next infrastructure TV star? A nationwide search is underway to find a host for a new major cable network series that will focus on exposing the nation’s failing infrastructure and advocating for restoration and repair.   ASCE is sending out a casting call for potential hosts because ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=237 The Virginia Section of ASCE this week released its 2009 Report Card for Virginia’s Infrastructure. The Old Dominion’s infrastructure rated a D+ overall.   The section’s first Report Card graded 13 infrastructure categories: aviation facilities, bridges, dams, drinking water systems, energy, parks and recreation, ports and navigable waterways, rail and transit, ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=232 The contributors on the National Journal's Transportation Experts Blog this week are debating how transportation improvements and transformations can make communities more livable. As one of the key goals of the Obama administration, livability is sure to be a hot topic for the next few years. Already, the administration has announced ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=230 This week's topic on the National Journal's Tranportation Expert's Blog wonders about the ability to increase the federal gas tax when anti-tax sentiment can be so passionate. ASCE's Executive Director, Pat Natale says: The “Tea Party” protest that descended on the National Mall this month reminds us that any mention of a tax ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=228 Thanks to the quick action of ASCE Key Contacts who called their legislators urging support, the U.S. House of Representatives voted last night to approve a three month extension of the federal highway and transit program. The current law authorizing those programs, SAFETEA-LU, expires September 30. The final vote on ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=226 As designers, builders, and maintainers of the nation’s infrastructure, civil engineers have long urged the immediate reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program to ensure vital investments that protect health and safety and keep the economy moving are made. As the current law, SAFETEA-LU, is about to expire on September ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=224 That's the question this week on the National Journal's Transportation Experts Blog - ASCE's answer is, yes, definitely! Freight today rarely travels by truck alone, and the transfer from one mode to the next often adds to costly delays and pollution from idling vehicles. The needs of our global economy demand ... http://blogs.asce.org/govrel/?p=222