Voters approve most transit funding requests put before them, but after passage the measures have drawn legal opposition in places like Austin, Nashville and Phoenix.
Poor planning, bad timing and political considerations all make overruns practically a given.
Slow rollout of the federal program has frustrated lawmakers, especially those in Michigan, which received $110 million through fiscal year 2026 for EV expansion but has funded no new power stations.
Since 2010, 149 rural hospitals across the U.S. have either closed or stopped providing in-patient care. Often, communities are left with the empty husk of a hospital, but some communities have found ways to repurpose the buildings.
Vermont will charge $89 a year for registered electric vehicles, directing revenue to more charging stations. It’s among a handful of states with both incentives and fees for EV owners.
Construction of nuclear plants is often only feasible thanks to public subsidies that mitigate risk. Then that risk gets shifted back onto government.
States are spending about $20 billion of the flexible funding from the American Rescue Plan Act on water infrastructure. Demand is expected to grow in coming years.
Many cities view rail transit as an enticing boost to civic fortunes. But there’s a better, cheaper way to accomplish the same thing.
The current transportation budget falls short of the state’s litany of needs. As lawmakers prepare to craft a major transit package next session, they will need to figure out how to increase revenue streams despite logistical and political challenges.
Future in Context
As ridership continues to lag amid a stubbornly slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, cities experiment with free rides and micromobility to prove public transit’s worth in worsening financial conditions.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to pull the plug on a congestion pricing plan for New York City was seen as a move calculated for advantage in the November elections, but it hasn’t made her many new friends.
Two of the best alternatives for user-paid infrastructure are toll roads and variable-fee express lanes. States with fast-growing populations are embracing toll projects because they can't wait for federal funding, and private capital is eager to invest.
A state House committee voted 8-3 to pass a cluster of bills that would devote billions over 10 years to Michigan’s economic development and transit. But Democrats will need at least one Republican to vote to pass the package.
A new commission appointed by Maine Gov. Janet Mills will explore ways to make state infrastructure more resilient to climate change.
In 2012, the city was spending five times more on sewers than it was on drinking water. In 2017, it was losing an increasing amount of water to leaky pipes. Last month’s crisis reiterated a history of jumping from crisis to crisis without fixing long-standing issues.
The Petroleum Products Corporation Superfund site in Pembroke Park acted as a dumping ground for an oil-processing and refining facility from 1957 to 1971. Now it’s one of the nation’s worst hazardous waste dumps.
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