highways – News Stories About highways - Page 5

Jan 2, 2009 1:23 PM CST

Lost Soles Clog Miami Highway

Police look for charity for shoes that tripped up commuters

(Newser) - Thousands of shoes snarled traffic this morning on a Miami highway, the Sun-Sentinel reports. “It’s not getting better. It’s still backed up,” one official said as crews cleared the unclaimed shoes, which fell from a truck. Police hope to donate the lost soles to charity and...

Big Dig Manslaughter Charge Dropped After $16M Deal

Dec 17, 2008 3:02 PM CST

Big Dig Manslaughter Charge Dropped After $16M Deal

Company made epoxy whose failure resulted in death in Boston tunnel

(Newser) - The legal wrangling around a 2006 Boston tunnel collapse that killed one woman appears to finally be over, the Globe reports. In exchange for a $16 million fine, prosecutors have dropped manslaughter charges against Powers Fasteners, which manufactured a supposedly fast-setting epoxy that failed to support ceiling panels. Powers must...

These Stocks Will Flourish During Obama Years

ANALYSIS

Nov 5, 2008 11:08 AM CST

These Stocks Will Flourish During Obama Years

Health care, infrastructure, alternative energy look are looking up

(Newser) - Oilmen cheered when George Bush moved into the White House, and investors in Internet companies saw their portfolios gain ground under Bill Clinton. But what's going to be hot once Barak Obama moves into the White House? In Time, Stephen Gandel suggests three sectors and a handful of companies that...

Brooks: Want Real Economic Stimulus? Fix the Roads

OPINION

Oct 31, 2008 12:00 PM CDT

Brooks: Want Real Economic Stimulus? Fix the Roads

A National Mobility Project would create jobs, leaving lasting impact: Brooks

(Newser) - Panic is afoot, so of course, Congress is bearing down on another stimulus package, though the last one seems to have missed the mark. These “politically designed, ad hoc” measures “amount to an economic sugar rush,” David Brooks writes in the New York Times. If he’s...

Time to Raise Driving Age?

Sep 9, 2008 8:06 PM CDT

Time to Raise Driving Age?

(Newser) - Is 16 too young to drive? A safety group today began a push to encourage states to follow the lead of Japan, China, Russia, and most of Europe by raising the legal age to 18, the Detroit Free Press reports. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for youths...

States Consider Leasing Roads as Upkeep Takes Toll

Aug 26, 2008 2:15 PM CDT

States Consider Leasing Roads as Upkeep Takes Toll

$12.8B deal could make Penn. Turnpike largest such public-private partnership

(Newser) - With Pennsylvania legislators set to vote next month on a $12.8 billion deal that would put the 537-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike under private operation, such public-private partnerships are accelerating across the US, the Wall Street Journal reports. Often bankrolled by infrastructure funds—which have $160 billion under management—the projects...

Texas Bus Crash Kills 13

Aug 8, 2008 12:07 PM CDT

Texas Bus Crash Kills 13

Charter was bound for religious event

(Newser) - A bus carrying members of a Vietnamese church group to a religious festival crashed onto its side and then skidded off a freeway 64 miles north of Dallas today, killing at least 13 people. Authorities said 24 others were hospitalized. The bus carrying 55 people from Houston to Missouri may...

Cash Tolls Race
Toward Extinction

Jul 28, 2008 7:00 PM CDT

Cash Tolls Race Toward Extinction

'Open-road' payment systems catch on nationwide

(Newser) - Cash toll booths are going the way of the Model T as "open-road tolling"—which lets drivers pay electronically without having to slow for booths or gates—gains traction, reports USA Today. Supporters say killing the cash-based system cuts down on everything from congestion to pollution to the...

Waiting for Green Has Gas-Conscious Seeing Red

Jun 11, 2008 4:26 PM CDT

Waiting for Green Has Gas-Conscious Seeing Red

Needless idling in turn lanes irks Calif. drivers

(Newser) - Though their safety value in heavy traffic isn't disputed, some Californians are starting to see left-turn arrows as a drag on ever-pricier gas and an avoidable threat to the environment, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. The California Energy Commission estimates that idling for 2 minutes (often a needless waste of time,...

Surplus Signs Driving Motorists to Distraction

OPINION

Jun 11, 2008 2:27 AM CDT

Surplus Signs Driving Motorists to Distraction

Too much information along roads may be creating a hazard

(Newser) - Drivers in America are often confronted with a forest of signs reminding them of speed limits and traffic control measures—but the overwhelming information may be making roadways more dangerous, John Staddon writes in the Atlantic. The glut of reminders can take drivers' attention away from the road and dull...

Cheer Up! Recession Has
a Bright Side

OPINION

May 24, 2008 7:28 PM CDT

Cheer Up! Recession Has a Bright Side

Finally contractors come on time, and driving is easier

(Newser) - While the specter of recession may leave you cold, consider the bright side: These days contractors, starved for work, actually show up on time, and killer gas prices help you to drive around a city like Los Angeles without facing much traffic, Meghan Daum writes in the Los Angeles Times.

Clinton Spurns Economists
at Her Peril

OPINION

May 5, 2008 7:10 PM CDT

Clinton Spurns Economists at Her Peril

Tough talk on gas tax opens candidate to Bush comparisons

(Newser) - In dismissing what she called “elite opinion” and embracing the gas tax holiday, Hillary Clinton has adopted a regressive energy policy, Andrew Leonard of Salon writes. Her declaration yesterday—“I’m not going to put my lot in with economists”—smacks of George Bush’s worst moments...

GPS Beams Laughs to British Drivers

May 3, 2008 7:32 PM CDT

GPS Beams Laughs to British Drivers

Comedy sketches make traffic jams a little funnier

(Newser) - The world's first satellite navigation comedy has British drivers chuckling up and down the country's busiest highway, the Guardian reports. The "satcom," called 230 Miles of Love, features audio comedy sketches set to play when drivers reach certain points along the country's 230-mile-long M6 highway.

Freeway Shootings Rattle Los Angeles

Apr 1, 2008 8:12 AM CDT

Freeway Shootings Rattle Los Angeles

Cops say troubling spate of firings is random violence

(Newser) - A string of freeway shootings in Los Angeles County is causing more jitters than usual on its jam-packed arteries, the Los Angles Times reports. Windows of six cars were shot out by a mystery sniper wielding a BB gun yesterday, the day after a driver died from a possibly self-inflicted...

GPS Network Aims to Beat Traffic Jams

Mar 25, 2008 8:22 AM CDT

GPS Network Aims to Beat Traffic Jams

New unit pools data from cars to warn of congested roads

(Newser) - You may soon be able to evade a traffic jam with a little help from your fellow driver, the Washington Post reports. California start-up Dash Navigation is launching a GPS device that collects speed and location data from vehicles, then uses the information to figure out which roads are congested...

Feds Probe
SC Highway Cops for Bias

Mar 21, 2008 1:16 PM CDT

Feds Probe SC Highway Cops for Bias

Dash videos reveal racial slurs, cars ramming suspects

(Newser) - Dash-cam videos that show the South Carolina Highway Patrol ramming black suspects with patrol cars and using racial slurs have triggered a federal probe, the State reports. In one of the five incidents, a trooper sent a suspect flying with his cruiser and then told a fellow officer, "Yeah,...

Boys Survive Being Hurled From Overpass

Mar 13, 2008 10:07 AM CDT

Boys Survive Being Hurled From Overpass

Mom could face attempted capital murder charges

(Newser) - Police don't know why a young mother threw her young sons from a Dallas highway overpass into rush-hour traffic yesterday before leaping off herself—but they're completely stunned that all three survived, AP reports. "It was really miraculous that we didn't have some fatalities," said the local police...

I-35 Beckons the Faithful

Feb 16, 2008 6:45 PM CST

I-35 Beckons the Faithful

Prayer movement hopes to touch communities along highway

(Newser) - A group of Dallas Pentecostal Christians reading the Bible one day noted that Isaiah 35, Verse 8, mentions a "highway for holiness." That put them in mind of nearby Interstate 35, which runs from Laredo, Texas, to Duluth, Minn., NPR reports, and that, in turn, prompted an unusual...

State Tolls Rising—Some by 50%

Jan 28, 2008 7:28 PM CST

State Tolls Rising—Some by 50%

Subprime crisis has officials scrambling to pay for infrastructure

(Newser) - As subprime fallout ripples across the country, several states are planning to increase road, bridge, and tunnel tolls, and not by mere pennies, USA Today reports. The George Washington Bridge, for example—which lets New Jerseyites into the Big Apple—will raise its rush hour price from $5 to $8...

Boston's $14.8B 'Big Dig' All Dug

Dec 26, 2007 3:00 AM CST

Boston's $14.8B 'Big Dig' All Dug

Costliest highway project in US history finally complete

(Newser) - The most complicated and expensive highway project in American history is finally complete, AP reports. After 16 years of excavating and building, the ambitious "Big Dig" tunnel project under Boston will be turned over to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority January 1. The final price tag was $14.8 billion—...