Transport & Infrastructure News and Discussions

[wjfox]

https://bsky.app/profile/clarissakickas ... edpvapw223
https://bsky.app/profile/clarissakickas ... equ2jtls2p

I don’t need a self driving car. I need a vehicle that runs between major areas and can transport large numbers of people at once to reduce environmental impact…wait it’s a train. I’m describing trains.
Build more goddamned TRAINS, America...More trains =/= eradicate cars, guys. Come on. We need cars to exist too, but not in this quantity because of lack of mass transit options.

Trains are socialist and woke (apparently).

The average American doesn't need their "tax dollars" going towards some "big gubmint" project -- they want their own big, fat, selfish, coal-rolling pickup truck.

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Aging Antarctic research station set for extreme-environment upgrade
By Adam Williams
September 24, 2025

With projects like the Halley VI Antarctic research station under its belt, Hugh Broughton Architects is no stranger to working in extreme environments. The UK firm will need this experience as it has now been commissioned to deliver a series of upgrades for Australia's Davis Station in Antarctica.

Davis is Australia's most southerly Antarctic research base. It is located near the Vestfold Hills, on the Ingrid Christensen Coast of Princess Elizabeth Land, roughly 20 km (12 miles) from the edge of the continental ice sheet.

Though the local conditions are actually somewhat less harsh by Antarctic standards, due to shelter by the rocky terrain, the environment is still brutal, with temperatures ranging from a summer high of +13 °C (55 °F) to a winter low of -40 °C (-40 °F). Additionally, during winter, staff are mostly in darkness and experience only an hour or two of twilight each day.

Hugh Broughton Architects will be carrying out several upgrades and changes at the site, with the most notable addition being a large vehicle workshop and office building, which will feature a modular construction and an insulated, aerodynamic design intended to reduce snow build-up and withstand high winds.

https://newatlas.com/architecture/davis ... ntarctica/

[firestar464]

International team exposes weakness in bridges worldwide—North American and African bridges most at risk

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-10-int ... idges.html

[firestar464]

At Least 2 Dead After Plane Slides Off Runway, Crashes into Vehicle and Then Plummets in the Ocean Nearby

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/downtim ... i-AA1OPmLs

[weatheriscool]

Asymmetric bridge claims world record for starchitect designer
By Adam Williams
October 23, 2025

https://newatlas.com/architecture/danji ... rchitects/
Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is nearing completion on a new record-breaking crossing in Taiwan. Billed by the studio as the world's longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, its eye-catching form is also designed to "minimize impeding sunset views from popular viewpoints along the river."

Originally revealed back in 2015 and under construction since 2019, the Danjiang Bridge had an initial budget of NT$12.49 billion (US$385 million), though there's no word on whether costs have increased over the intervening years. The expected opening time certainly has – it was originally due for a 2024 opening, which it obviously missed – and is now slated to open to the public on May 12, 2026.

The crossing spans the mouth of the Tamsui River that flows through Taipei, which is Taiwan's capital city. The local area has become a popular spot for tourists and residents to watch the sunset and the bridge has been carefully designed with this in mind, lending it an attractive overall appearance that reflects ZHA's design language, defined by a single asymmetrical pylon tapering as it rises.

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

California drops suit against Trump's high-speed rail funding revocation

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/calif ... r-AA1T6wp1

[firestar464]

Judge delivers legal blow to Trump DOJ

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ju ... r-AA1TbsX1

President Donald Trump has suffered a legal setback in attempts to cancel over $4 billion in federal grants for California’s high-speed rail. The California High-Speed Rail Authority called the cuts arbitrary and economically damaging. Judge Dale Drozd denied the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s request to dismiss the case.

The rail authority sued after the FRA withdrew over $4 billion in Central Valley construction grants and the Department of Transportation (DOT) revoked $175 million more.

A DOJ attorney argued the district court lacked authority and the case belonged in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

[caltrek]

Lauren Boebert Rebukes Trump for Using First Veto to Spike Her Colorado Water Project
By David Gilmour
December 31, 2025

Introduction:

(Mediaite) Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) issued a pointed rebuke to President Donald Trump for using the first veto of his second term to kill a long-delayed water infrastructure project serving her Colorado district that she had sponsored.

The veto halted bipartisan legislation that would have extended federal backing for the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a pipeline project designed to bring municipal and industrial water to several communities.

The bill passed both chambers of Congress unanimously before Trump spiked it on Tuesday night.

“Enough is enough. My administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable projects,” he said in a memo to Congress rejecting the measure.

But Boebert, whose political rise was tightly bound to MAGA, was unusually blunt in her response, warning: “This isn’t over.”

Baubert is also quoted as indicating that the veto “could be linked to ‘political retribution’ over her stand on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Read more here: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/la ... roject/

[weatheriscool]

[Yuli Ban]

[weatheriscool]

X marks the spot: Futuristic cross-shaped airport sets new size record
By Adam Williams
February 01, 2026

Zaha Hadid Architects has revealed plans for the largest airport in Africa. As you might expect from one of the world's most innovative architecture companies, this ambitious building is very striking, and it will take the form of a massive futuristic structure in the desert.

The Bishoftu International Airport is currently under construction just south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and was commissioned by Ethiopian Airlines Group. It will measure around 660,000 sq m (approximately 7 million sq ft) and feature an unusual roughly X-shaped form that looks like some sort of strange extraterrestrial structure – which, to be fair, is something you could say of much of Zaha Hadid Architects' oeuvre. The firm says this isn't just for show, but will make it easier to navigate throughout the interior of the building.

https://newatlas.com/architecture/bisho ... rchitects/

[firestar464]

US judge unfreezes funding for $16 billion New York City tunnel project

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/work-b ... 026-02-06/

[firestar464]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Mayor to consider new charges for SUVs in London

13 March 2026

The mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, is considering charging SUV drivers in the capital, after Transport for London (TfL) research claimed they created "intensifying risks across London".

Figures from City Hall indicate SUVs are much more likely to kill a pedestrian than smaller cars if involved in a collision.

The proposal was published as part of a new Vision Zero action plan, external and the mayor's strategy to eradicate death and serious injury from London's roads by 2041.

City Hall Conservatives described the idea as "ridiculous" and said Vision Zero plan was about the mayor "carrying out his anti-car agenda, rather than trying to keep Londoners safe".

The number of SUVs has increased tenfold in London in 20 years from about 80,000 SUVs in 2002 to 800,000 SUVs in 2023, according to the campaign group Clean Cities.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c14m142ze58o

[Yuli Ban]

Mayor to consider new charges for SUVs in London

13 March 2026

The mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, is considering charging SUV drivers in the capital, after Transport for London (TfL) research claimed they created "intensifying risks across London".

Figures from City Hall indicate SUVs are much more likely to kill a pedestrian than smaller cars if involved in a collision.

The proposal was published as part of a new Vision Zero action plan, external and the mayor's strategy to eradicate death and serious injury from London's roads by 2041.

City Hall Conservatives described the idea as "ridiculous" and said Vision Zero plan was about the mayor "carrying out his anti-car agenda, rather than trying to keep Londoners safe".

The number of SUVs has increased tenfold in London in 20 years from about 80,000 SUVs in 2002 to 800,000 SUVs in 2023, according to the campaign group Clean Cities.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c14m142ze58o

> anti car agenda
> instead of keeping London safe

They're the same thing
It's only an anti car agenda if he crosses over into one of the lunatics who want to destroy literally every car and erase the memory of them like a pathetic bitch. Most people are not pathetic bitches; they just note that if a tech that needlessly kills 1.4 million globally every single year could see a massive reduction in that death toll somehow, it ought to be taken by any reasonable means

[weatheriscool]