infrastructure Archives - The Handbuilt City

Climate Michigan Energy Infrastructure Utilities

The Anatomy of a Power Outage in Michigan

March 5, 2023March 6, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments Consumers Energy, consumers outage, consumers outages, DTE, DTE Energy, dte outage, dte power outage, ERCOT, ercot disaster, february 2022 ice storm michigan, infrastructure, michigan power outages, miso, PJM, power grid, power lines, power outage, power outages, public utilities, utilities, utility company, voltage

The power went out. Then the ice melted. A few days later, the snow came, and the power went out– again. Now that the snow is gone, what’s next?

immokalee-rd-streetmix-naples-florida

How To Find Nonpartisan Consensus in Sustainable Urbanism

November 1, 2022October 31, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments andy wells-bean, bike grid, bike infrastructure, bike lane, bike lanes, bike pathways, florida, induced demand, infrastructure, mobility, naples florida, naples pathways coalition, nonmotorized infrastructure, oak & stone, paradise coast, public safety, reflection isles, ron desantis, safe streets, safety, sharrow, southwest florida, sunshine state, swf, swfl, traffic jams, transportation infrastructure

In an era when political discourse seems so fragmented, polarized, and toxic, is it possible to find consensus on any issue? A recent trip to Southwest Florida featured an interesting conversation on the subject– around transportation infrastructure that can make South Florida’s cities safer and more attractive for the large number of tourists and residents alike.

The Oakland County GOP Is Courting Literal Nazis To Fight Infrastructure Funding

October 20, 2022October 20, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments brooks patterson, dave coulter, dave staudt, fix the damn roads, Gretchen Whitmer, infrastructure, l brooks patterson, lyft, novi, road maintenance, roads, shane trejo, southeast michigan, TNC, transit, transportation, transportation infrastructure, Uber

For reasons that don’t seem to make any sense but were probably completely predictable, a nonprofit advocacy group in the northern suburbs of Detroit has enlisted a prominent Nazi sympathizer to fight against the real scourge of America: modern transportation infrastructure!

Getting Rid Of Your Car Could Make You Happier

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ann-kathrin hess, beck's depression inventory, bicycle, bike, bike infrastructure, biking, car culture, car shedding, cars, cars and happiness, cost of car ownership, Density, honda fit, infrastructure, jeff speck, non-motorized infrastructure, non-motorized transportation, Porsche Taycan, public transit, transportation infrastructure, walking

A new research paper assesses the perceived happiness of households that have gotten rid of their car. Turns out that it might actually be good for your brain! There is a catch, though, and it’s not going to work for everyone.

canada-trucker-protest-truck-ambassador-bridge

Canada Movements & Organizing

Shutting Down Trade With Our Largest Trade Partner To Own The Libs

February 8, 2022February 8, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments alberta, ambassador bridge, big truck, black lives matter, canadian truckers, detroit international bridge company, DIBC, erin o'toole, gordie howe bridge, infrastructure, justin trudeau, land of the rising timbit, matty moroun, semi, south asian, tractor-trailer, truck, trucks, US-Canada border, US-Canadian Border, war on cars, western alienation, wexit, windsor, windsor-detroit border

Though mostly vaccinated, Canadian truckers have been protesting a new vaccine mandate that affects cross-border truckers. The protests, which have clogged the Canadian capital for weeks, have now come to Windsor, where they are blocking the entrance to the Ambassador Bridge. And for what?

Culture & Language Public transit

“You’re Entitled For Suggesting People Take Public Transportation Instead Of Stranding Themselves On I-95” – Midatlantic Liberals

January 4, 2022January 4, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, Amtrak NEC, blizzard, dc blizzard, disaster capitalism, dominion, dominion energy, Fairfax, Fairfax County, fredericksburg, fredericksburg virginia, i-95, i-95 corridor, i-95 virginia, infrastructure, interstate 95, king george county, national guard, nec, northeast corridor, northern virginia, Prince William County, public transit, snowstorm, Stafford County, transit, transit between dc and fredericksburg, transit between dc and virginia, transportation, twitter, VDOT, Vienna, virginia, virginia blizzard, Virginia Railway Express, VRE, VREx, waffle house index, weather, wmata

A rare, intense blizzard in the Midatlantic US snarled traffic on I-95, leading us to wonder: how is the car obsession even so engrained on the East Coast that people can’t imagine not driving cars?

ford-mustang-mach-e-electric-car-parking-garage-washington-dc

But Weight, There’s More: The Achilles Heel of Electric Vehicles

November 2, 2021November 1, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 1.21 jiggawatts, autonomous electric vehicles, blake shaffer, car culture, cars, constantine samaras, decarbonization, decarbonizing transportation, dodge ram, Electric cars, electrification, elon musk, EV charging infrastructure, EVs, Ford, ford mustang mach-e, Honda, honda crv, how many kids does elon musk have, hyundai, hyundai ioniq, infrastructure, kilowatt hours per kilometer, kilowatt hours per mile, kwh/km, kwh/mi, maximilian auffhammer, mobility, mpg, mpge, mustang mach-e, power grid, power grids, public ev charger, public ev charging networks, public utilities, Tesla, tesla model 3, tesla model s, tesla model x, thermodynamics, uc berkeley haas, utility companies

Electric cars are generally far more efficient than gas-powered ones, as a matter of thermodynamics. But a new article looks at one huge problem with electric cars, and one that is often entirely disregarded in policy, regulation, and consumer economics, and that’s the factor of how much they weigh.

Policy Mobility Sustainability Transit infrastructure Government

MDOT: “Making VMT Reduction A Mobility Goal Is Punitive, Combative, And Might Hurt People’s Feelings”

August 27, 2021August 27, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments AASHTO, aashto green book, brad sharlow, carbon footprint, climate change, congestion, department of transportation, green book, highway design standards, infrastructure, judd herzer, level-of-service, LoS, mdot, MEDC, michigan, michigan department of transportation, Michigan DOT, michigan economic development corporation, mobility, niles annelin, public transit, state law, state policy, toll roads, traffic, transit, transportation, transportation engineering, transportation planning, trevor pawl, vehicle hours traveled, vehicle miles traveled, VHT, vmt, vmt reduction

Representatives of Michigan’s Department of Transportation have, at two recent public meetings, firmly pushed back on the proposal that the agency must tie a reduction in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to funding considerations for new projects– using a dubious rationale.

Public Safety Transit infrastructure

Morning Coffee, Detroit Traffic: The Post-COVID Craze Is About To Be Wild

May 3, 2021May 3, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ambassador bridge, bicycle safety, bike safety, car culture, cars, cycling infrastructure, cycling safety, Detroit, detroit police, detroit river, detroit traffic, dodge challenger, dodge charger, dodge durango, driving, gratiot, hi-riser, infrastructure, jeep, Mikki Taylor-Hendrix, nonmotorized infrastructure, pedestrian safety, riverfront park, traffic violence, west riverfront park, why do people always rev their dodge charger

Yesterday, Detroit was a whole traffic jam, as an increasingly vaccinated cross-section of, well, everyone, emerged from the cocoons of Michigan winter and lockdowns.

Business & Economics Urban Planning Transit infrastructure Infrastructure

Michigan Population Numbers: How Long Before We Just Admit That This Strategy Isn’t Working?

April 27, 2021April 27, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 1837 border war, add lane miles, aging population, big two and a half, chaldeans, chrysler, Congress, congressional seats, fca, fiat chrysler, Ford, ford motor company, funding infrastructure, general motors, GM, Gretchen Whitmer, growth, infrastructure, infrastructure and economic growth, infrastructure investment, japan, level-of-service, matt maddock, mdot, meshawn maddock, michigan, michigan legislature, ohio, population decline, population growth, rail, rail infrastructure, refugees, rightsizing, rightsizing cities, rightsizing infrastructure, shrinking cities, stellantis, tokyo, toledo border war, transit, trucks, trump, US Congress, vmt, vmt reduction, whitmer

The census numbers are in, and we’re unsurprised to learn that population growth is stagnant in parts of the great,

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