Cat Scale

Posts Tagged ‘Sep-2009’

Clearing the Road

Calling for solutions to traffic congestion

Tired of getting stuck in traffic? So are a lot of people all over the world. Finally somebody decided to ask for help. A plea for solutions to the traffic jams we all see was sweetened with a check for $50,000. That is the prize in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Congestion Challenge, the first global competition of ideas for combating transportation congestion and blunting its impact on the economy and environment. The contest is a partnership between the Intelligent Transpo…

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Key to Success

Protecting the nation's highways

When it comes to interstate highways, Pennsylvania truly is the “Keystone State.” All goods shipped between the Northeast and states in the South and West travel though the state. A full 48 percent of the truck traffic on  Pennsylvania’s roads terminates outside the state. Rep. Tim Holden (D-Pa.) is working on legislation that will shape transportation projects in his state and the nation.  Q As you focus on the upcoming highway bill that authorizes federal surface …

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Rig Wranglers

The loud, dirty and dangerous job of moving oil rigs

The sound is deafening. It’s the collective snarl of a half-dozen heavy diesels prowling “the pad,” hoisting and dragging massive hunks of steel, loading them onto four-and five-axle flatbed trailers. The temperature here is hovering near 100 degrees, and the wind — an unrelenting force on this barren patch of rural Texas — is, at times, hurling huge clouds of dust and sand, creating the effect of a blizzard in a blast furnace.Welcome to the world of rig moving, a…

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Eastern Savings Time

A smart way to breeze through I-95

Traveling the I-95 Corridor, the main highway on the East Coast, is always a challenge. Stretching 1,917 miles from Florida to Maine, it serves some of the most populated urban areas in the U.S., including Miami, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. The average daily traffic in the entire corridor is more than 72,000 vehicles, with maximum daily traffic reaching as high as 300,000 or more. Average daily truck traffic is more than 10,000, with maximum daily truck …

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Barrel of Laughs

A street artist's creation stops traffic

Pranksters in Austin, Texas, made headlines earlier this year when they reprogrammed construction signs to warn of an imminent zombie attack. But a North Carolina State University student did them one better: He created a roadside monster. Daydreaming in class one morning, student and street artist Joseph Carnevale got the idea to turn ordinary construction barrels into a giant creature. Under cover of night, he snuck three barrels from a site near campus back to his apartment, built the monst…

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