Infrastructure

Tech-heavy cities like San Jose and Seattle saw significant declines in remote work last year and the traffic to show for it, the INRIX 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard found. Elsewhere, other trends drove roadway congestion up.

The Florida city is expanding its connected vehicle program on the Selmon Expressway to push more messaging to drivers, change behavior, and possibly reward better driving with cheaper toll rates.

Geospatial data serves as the foundational building block for crucial mapping and communications tools used by state and local government agencies in responding to fast-moving disasters like wildfires.

Matthew McLamb will step in as geographic information officer for the state. Formerly assistant director of the North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, he will now also serve as its executive director.

The company, which sells software to local governments, has bought asset management and utility billing company Beehive Industries. The move promises to boost capabilities on the CivicPlus platform.

The outgoing administration may have notched a win with its elevation of broadband as a societal necessity, but observers were critical of other aspects of its plan to expand the technology nationwide.

The city police department will install the automatic readers starting this summer. They will be active when patrol vehicles are in use and plate numbers will be stored in a system that aggregates registered driver names.

At least four companies, including Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, are advancing data center projects around the state. If fully built, the data centers could, combined, need as much electricity as every home in Minnesota.

A cluster of data centers near residential tracts estimated to cost around $5 billion when fully built has attracted the ire of neighbors, who have sued the city to halt construction of as many as 12 buildings.

Emergency and public transportation vehicles in cities that deployed traffic signal priority technology saved thousands of hours in travel time in 2024. The tech safely clears the way for first responders.

The City of Lakes was recently jointly awarded a U.S. Department of Transportation grant. Officials there will work with their counterparts in Seattle to develop a program assisting package delivery services.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving a Columbus, Neb.-based electric cooperative the investment as part of its Empowering Rural America Program. It will fund wind and solar projects across three counties.

California saw some of its steepest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector, which has long been the single largest source of climate-warming pollution. Meanwhile, its economy grew.

A massive car-charging plaza is being developed in California, while Colorado is moving forward with a high-speed charging network. And the electric vehicle industry is gravitating toward a single charging standard.

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.