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POPULATION GROWTH, business and tourism expansion, and improving incomes are in part causes of traffic congestion on Oahu, but most of the cause is bad transportation policy. We are not alone in this. Bad transportation policy, mostly in the form of huge public transit subsidies, took over the nation in the last 25 years. Now we are experiencing the result, which is severe traffic congestion. Here are some specifics from the Federal Highway Administration and the American Public Transit Administration: ยป Between 1961 and 2003, the United States doubled in population but transit trips remained the same. (Transit trips are those made primarily in public buses, metro rail, light rail and commuter rail systems.) Funding for these trips grew 5.3 times, from $7.4 billion to $39.8 billion in constant 2001 dollars.
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Louise T. Blouin MacBain, the multimillionaire arts publisher and patron, opens a London institute today with a show by the Arizona-based contemporary artist James Turrell, ``A Life in Light.'' The institute, a former 1920s car-body factory located in an underdeveloped area north of London's Notting Hill, was inaugurated with much fanfare last night at a party for some 1,000 people. Such were the crowds that bouncers briefly kept guests waiting behind security cordons before letting them in. Among those attending were singer Grace Jones, a brown cap lowered over her plucked eyebrows; human-rights campaigner Bianca Jagger, who stepped out of a chauffeur-driven limousine wearing dark glasses; and designer Ron Arad, who wore a large, lopsided baseball cap.
Multidisciplinary engineering firm Protekon Construction - which is owned by State transport utility Transnet and has been awarded a contract for the construction of two new berths for the Island View terminal in the Port of Durban - says construction of the abutment is “well advanced”, in spite of the difficulties of working in the tidal zone.The old structures of berths Five and Six, at Island View, were due for replacement, having reached the end of their serviceable life, and had to be deepened too, said Protekon Construction Contracts Manager, Rodney Atkins. The scope of the contract included the partial demolition of the existing berths, the installation of new cantilevering sheet piles below water level and dredging and profiling of the berth to increase the depth from 10,9 m chart datum (CD) to 13 m CD.The project also included the installation of concrete-filled steel tubular bearing piles, the construction of a reinforced concrete suspended deck structure, and the installation of new fittings, including bollards, fenders, wharf ladders and services, Aitkens detailed.“The project, consisting of two phases, berth Six and berth Five, was awarded to Protekon Port Solutions in April 2005.
Freddie Mac's Economic and Housing Market Outlook for October is headlined "Finding Solid Ground." It is another in a series of projections that the housing market is cooling not crashing and that the "cooling" market will have little impact on the economy as a whole. It does note that, in August, sales of new and existing homes were 12 and 18 percent lower respectively than a year earlier, housing inventories have "bulged" and there is now a 6.6 month supply of new homes on the market. The report, published by the Office of the Chief Economist, gives a nod to media reports of some rather outrageous concessions by sellers as they attempt to move their homes - throwing in luxury cars, offering trips to exotic resorts, plasma televisions, etc, - and an increasing use of builders' incentives such as materials upgrades to move new homes without lowering sales prices.
On a visit to Charleston about 30 years ago, comedian Red Skelton remarked, "It will be a nice town n if they ever get it finished."With all respect to the now-deceased entertainer, communities on the move are never finished. And Charleston is no exception.There is construction on several fronts in Charleston.Crews just completed improvements on Second Street between Lincoln and Pierce streets on the east side of Morton Park. At the same time, construction continues on Polk and Division streets. Both roadways are being widened and improved.Polk continues to be upgraded as an alternative east-west route to Lincoln Avenue, while Division has been in need of resurfacing and curbs for some time.But the point is that the improvements are gradually being made. City officials have a plan and are moving ahead.The City Council recently started the process to widen and resurface Fourth Street from Harrison north to State Street.
Significant disparities still exist in Kansas City government contracts awarded to minority and women firms, compared with businesses owned by white men, according to a briefing this week. The report by Mason Tillman Associates, an update of an initial disparity study done in the 1990s, covered 2002 to 2004. It will provide a framework to revise city ordinances and improve conditions, said Human Relations Director Phillip Yelder. Wednesday's meeting before the City Council's Operations Committee provided summary findings and recommendations. The final written report will be released next week. Here are key questions and answers from Wednesday's briefing: Q: What were the businesses studied? A: Construction, architecture/engineering, professional services, and goods and services.
YAROSLAVL, October 13 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's President Vladimir Putin has visited an exhibition of road machinery that will be used in the projects for improving the networks of Russian automobile roads. The display shows more than 30 types of vehicles -- asphalt spreaders, rolls, excavators, bulldozers - that are used in all the phases of road construction. Apart from these, put up for the show are road maintenance vehicles and mobile gauging laboratories. Exhibition stands show models of new non-routine bridges, the plans for modernizing the country's transport system, investment projects, the systems of telematics and navigation on automobile transport, as well as new road construction technologies. A report, the working group of the State Council drafted for the session, stresses the key role that automobile roads have for the implementation of priority national projects.
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