Transport & Infrastructure News and Discussions

weatheriscool
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Alaska Air and ZeroAvia are developing a 500-mile range hydrogen-electric plane
Source: electrek

Alaska Air Group, the parent company of Alaska Airlines, is collaborating with ZeroAvia to develop a hydrogen-electric powertrain that will be implemented on a 76 passenger plane. When completed, the ZA2000 hydrogen-electric powertrain should boast 2,000-5,000 kW of power with a 500-mile range. As a new investor in ZeroAvia, Alaska Air plans to electrify its aviation to meet its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2040.

Alaska Air Group is an aviation parent company with Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air Industries under its umbrella. This past April, the company signed The Climate Pledge, outlining a plan to reduce its carbon emissions to net-zero by 2040. This timeline was also led by commitments to improvements of company-wide carbon, waste, and water impacts by 2025.

The company is working toward commercial electric plane operations with its 600kW powertrain in 2024 as well as the aforementioned 2,000-5,000 kW version after that. With today’s announcement, Alaska Air hopes to help aid in developing ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric technology and implement it in passenger planes.

In a recent press release, ZeroAvia announced that Alaska Air Group has signed on as an investor. The two companies will collaborate to scale ZeroAvia’s existing powertrain platform technology to support electric planes that can carry more passengers longer distances.
Read more: https://electrek.co/2021/10/26/alaska-a ... ric-plane/
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weatheriscool
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House passes $555 billion infrastructure bill, sends legislation to Biden's desk
Source: MSNBC
The House passed a $555 billion infrastructure bill on Friday night, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden who is expected to quickly sign the measure into law.

The funding package, which passed 228 to 206 and relied on Republican votes to get across the finish line, will ramp up government spending on roads, bridges and airports, as well as funding for public transit, water and broadband.

Six Democrats voted against the measure and 13 Republicans voted in favor. The Democratic opposition was progressive members who were unhappy that the bill was being voted on before passage of a $1.75 trillion social safety net spending bill.

The vote hands Biden a victory on a major bipartisan bill, but one that took months to get through Congress and revealed deep divisions in the Democratic Party. The Senate approved the bill in August before it stalled for months as House progressives clashed with Democratic centrists on a $1.75 trillion social safety net measure that could get a vote later this month.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congre ... s-n1280527
weatheriscool
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Biden signs $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, fulfilling campaign promise and notching achievement
Source: Washington Post
President Biden on Monday signed into law a sweeping $1.2 trillion infrastructure measure, notching an achievement that had long eluded his predecessor in the White House, Donald Trump. Republicans and Democrats gathered at the White House on Monday as Biden signed the legislation, which is aimed at improving the country’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections. Trump had repeatedly tried and failed to secure a bipartisan infrastructure deal.

“Here in Washington, we’ve heard countless speeches, promises and white papers from experts. But today, we’re finally getting this done,” Biden said. Vice President Harris and several lawmakers spoke ahead of Biden at the ceremony, including Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). “This is what can happen when Republicans and Democrats decide we’re going to work together to get something done,” Portman said. Harris said the infrastructure push “will be a nationwide effort, the likes of which we have not seen in a generation.”

She also urged lawmakers to pass the Build Back Better plan, a second package that aims to overhaul the country’s health-care, education, immigration, climate and tax laws. The House is expected to take up the measure this week. Sinema thanked Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), calling them “the Wonder Women of our group, always focused on the practical outcomes.” Several Republicans, including Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (La.) and Mitt Romney (Utah) and Rep. Tom Reed (N.Y.), were also in attendance.

The mood at the ceremony on the White House lawn was celebratory, with members of Congress expressing gratitude for the cooperation of those across the aisle — a rare occurrence. Biden, who has often spoken longingly about the days of compromise and consensus, seemed in good spirits as he touted the benefits of the new law and the bipartisan manner in which it was achieved — with no mention of the vitriol that Trump and his supporters have lodged at the Republicans who voted for the infrastructure bill.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html
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caltrek
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Finally, finally, finally, Biden has something to boast about.

So, folks, what is you preference?

This $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, or more gridlock because Democrats refuse to kiss Trump's ass in the correctly deferential manner?

I vote we give Trump a swift kick in the said posterior and move on with our lives.
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caltrek
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...and yes, the infrastructure bill is not perfect...

What's Being Compromised?
by Jim Hightower
November 17, 2021

https://otherwords.org/whats-being-compromised/

Introduction:
(Other Words) Sometimes, when watching Congress in action, I can’t decide whether to laugh, cry, or check myself into an insane asylum.

Not all lawmakers are political hacks, quacks, and corporate toadies, but that contingent does seem to dominate. Most infuriating is that while purporting to represent the people, Congress routinely does what the American majority does not want done — and fails to do what people do want.

Take a peek at the cuts Congress is making to Joe Biden’s landmark infrastructure proposals.

This is a monumental, long-overdue undertaking to reinvest in America’s underpinnings — everything from roads and broadband networks to child care and paid family leave. The package would deliver real, tangible benefits across our nation, especially for low- and middle-income families, so it is enormously popular.

Yet when the first half of the plan recently came to a vote in the House, Republicans turned it into a partisan mud wrestling show, loudly voting “NO” on such obvious needs as fixing decrepit bridges, providing clean tap water in every community, and opening pre-school education programs to all three- and four-year-olds.
caltreks comment: Note that in this introduction, Hightower is writing about "compromises" that were ultimately rejected. In the remainder of the article, not shown here, Hightower then launches into a criticism of the "moderate" Democrats who did insist on certain compromises.
Last edited by caltrek on Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Yuli Ban
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And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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weatheriscool
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FAA awards first $3 billion in new airport infrastructure funds
Source: Washington Post
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday how it will allocate the first $3 billion in new funds for airports from the infrastructure law, money that could spur upgrades in terminals and on the tarmac to help get passengers to planes more quickly and into the air on time.

It’s the first major new tranche of federal airport funding since the stimulus adopted after the financial crisis more than a decade ago. It also represents a new level of investment by the federal government in terminals — at an average of 40 years old — which could help airports update aging facilities by plugging gaps in existing funding sources.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has given us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build safer and more sustainable airports that connect individuals to jobs and communities to the world,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “With this new funding, urban, regional and rural airports across the country now can get to work on projects that have waited for years, modernizing their infrastructure and building a better America.”

Like much of the transportation funding in the $1.2 trillion legislation, the federal government won’t determine how the money is spent, leaving the decisions to individual airports. The money will start flowing at a time when airports are gradually recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, which nearly brought air travel to a standstill and left them dependent on billions in federal aid. While air travel has rebounded, airports expect to miss out on revenue, compared with pre-pandemic levels, for years to come.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/faa-a ... ar-AARSstY
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This Cute EV Off-road Buggy Concept Arrived Just in Time for the Weekend
by Mitchell Clark
December 17, 2021

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/17/228 ... n-mobility

Introduction:
(The Verge) After pining after Hyundai’s evil (in a good way) EV retro concept, a new concept vehicle has come to steal my heart from a company I can’t say I’ve heard of before. It’s the Citroën My Ami Buggy, a tiny battery-powered vehicle that looks like a smart car got really into backpacking, mountain-biking, or any number of fun weekend activities (shout out to Engadget for bringing this into my life).

Citroën says in its press release that the buggy is designed to be playful, something “that every child from the age of 14 to 77 would want to add to their Christmas list,” and says it took inspiration from “non-automotive worlds such as construction games, industrial design and fashion.” I can actually buy fashion — the roof-mounted spare tire is reminiscent of a jauntily tossed beret. Although I also can’t help but see it as a bulked-up version of one of those John Deere Gator utility trucks.
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