Infrastructure

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program has seen significant advances in 2024, and its program director expects this path will continue in 2025 under a new presidential administration.

Officials from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation offered measured hope and little guarantees during a recent discussion that the federal government would remain committed to advancing adoption of electric vehicles.

An ordinance from two city aldermen would create an approval process for “policing surveillance technology and databases” as well as policy. The police chief has said he cannot support it as written.

The funding will help the state activate its Digital Equity Plan, part of a national endeavor to clear barriers to Internet access and use. The money, a grant, is intended to confront challenges including lack of affordable devices and insufficient digital skills.

The county has pledged the contribution of funds after winning a longshot bid for a state grant toward the endeavor. The state will contribute $26.1 million through its ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Grant Program.

The company has extended its network north of Sterling, Ill., the latest piece of its $1.4 billion investment in its network in the state during the last three years. This piece brings its full service suite to the county including unserved homes.

The recently deployed website monitors railroad crossings, to alert drivers and first responders in southern Elkhart County. Crossings blocked by stopped trains have long been a source of frustration for officials.

The endeavor, on the University of California, Los Angeles campus, is intended to make charging seamless. Its infrastructure, to be in place by the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, could be used by numerous transit operators.

The federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act came with billions to invest in broadband nationwide, for rural areas, schools and businesses. Application requirements and other mandates, however, threaten to constrain the deployment of high-speed Internet.

The U.S. Department of Energy has chosen Nevada Gold Mines to get as much as $95 million for a solar project. It intends to construct solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems at mines in Humboldt and Lander counties.

The president-elect is expected to take a predominantly deregulatory approach to technology, and to aggressively pursue foreign cyber threat actors. He returns to office in a time of international tension in cyber space.

New York City’s latest migration from 2D to 3D records helps remove frustrating delays and ambiguity in the complex property tax system.

The Columbia County town of nearly 3,000 got high-speed Internet last week with the completion of a broadband fiber-optic line. Residents and officials realized the impact a lack of high-speed Internet was having during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sacramento Regional Transit is poised to deploy a new payment system in coming months, using technology familiar in the retail world. The agency will preserve older ways to pay, and offer discounts for veterans and seniors.

A program in several northeastern states is attempting to bridge training gaps for EV technicians in disadvantaged communities. The endeavor, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, focuses on the need for municipal fleet mechanics.

State and local transportation leaders discussed ideas intended to coax motorists away from driving alone at the CoMotion LA conference. The 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles are looming as tech and policy options develop.

The state's second-largest county by land area is working with eX² Technology to stand up a 200-mile fiber-optic network, bringing high-speed Internet to more than 20 cities and at least one higher education institution.

Pending approvals from the Denton City Council, an Austin-based company intends to convert its bitcoin mining facilities into data centers, investing an estimated $4 billion. Its site would double to nearly 43 acres and would offer high-performance computing for artificial intelligence.