MOBILITY
This is where driverless vehicles can really scale (and it will surprise you)
While popular opinion has pegged the road as the first official frontier for autonomous vehicles, my bet is that the farm will realize autonomy at scale first, driven by clear use cases and demands. Without autonomy on the road, drivers will still get from point A to point B. But without autonomy on the farm, we risk farmers not having the tools and labor necessary to keep up with the exceptional challenges they face to put food on the world’s tables.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90704876/this-is-where-driverless-vehicles-can-really-scale-and-it-will-surprise-you
Researchers Analyze the ‘True Cost’ of Car Congestion
Congestion pricing is already in use in parts of L.A., such as on the 110 Freeway, but the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Southern California Association of Governments are examining pilot programs to expand the system in 2025. The programs could cordon and charge in areas such as Central Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and Westside cities. Taylor highlights the city of Stockholm, Sweden, where a 2006 pilot program had drivers pay the equivalent of around $2 to enter the city center. While there was public pushback at first, people began to embrace the change when traffic fell by 20% and the added revenue was funneled into improving public transit.
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/magazine/traffic-los-angeles-congestion-pricing
Revealed: Early Congestion Pricing Study Shows Congestion Pricing Works
Using that data, WSP found that congestion pricing will significantly cut total vehicle miles traveled inside Manhattan’s central living district, and even contribute to a sizable drop in VMT for the whole city. In Scenario 1, VMT within the so-called Central Business District drop by 7.6 percent, and in Scenario 2, the total mileage drops by 8.8 percent. The percentage drop is smaller for the entire city, but would still result in 364,589 to 493,277 miles not being driven. That’s only a drop of roughly 1 percent for the city, but it still “would produce a significant improvement both in traffic congestion and in vehicles emissions,” the study authors told the federal government.
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/12/09/revealed-early-congestion-pricing-study-shows-congestion-pricing-works/
From Denver International Airport Request for Information (RFI No. 20211027AH) issued October 27, 2021
Denver International Airport (DEN) is seeking the creativity and expertise of the private sector in helping to add redundancy to our train that runs between the Jeppesen Terminal and concourses. When the airport opened in 1995, it was designed to serve 50 million passengers. Prior to the pandemic, we served 69 million passengers in 2019. Today, we are recovering quickly and for the first time ever, DEN is currently the 3rd busiest airport in the world.
This growth is putting pressure on our facility and while our train system has a high level of reliability, we are looking for realistic and constructable ideas to provide redundancy in the instance of an outage or emergency. Further, we are looking for a solution that may not only complement our current train system, but may also be a potential, more permanent alternative for passengers to reach our concourses.
There are obvious solutions to create redundancy that may be cost prohibitive or difficult to construct, such as adding tunnels or bridges and we welcome these ideas. We are also interested in hearing about other innovative solutions that would ensure the airport is able to maintain access for passengers traveling between the terminal and gates.
This request for information is a first step. As such, we are seeking the best concepts, ideas and solutions to help us grow, achieve and go beyond our Vision 100 plan to include providing the best possible experience for our passengers and community as we expect to reach 100 million passengers annually in the next decade.
We expect our partners to share and embrace our guiding principles:
• Sustainability and Resiliency
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• Continuous Stakeholder Input/Feedback
• Enhance the Customer Experience
Thank you for your interest in partnering with DEN. We look forward to hearing how you can work with us to deliver an elevated experience to our passengers.
Philip A. Washington
CEO
https://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/cityandcountyofdenverdepartmentofaviation
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Better, Faster, Cheaper Ways to Finance Supportive Housing
Increasing the supply isn’t cheap: in 2019, the per-unit cost of brick-and-mortar housing plus services that comprise permanent supportive housing ranged from $21,000 to almost $40,000, depending on location. And that price is often paid in the form of an up-front, lump-sum figure that can be dauntingly expensive and politically unattractive, despite the ultimate savings. In response, advocates and policymakers have developed creative financing methods to build and maintain supportive housing, and to help the public and local government officials get on board with the concept. Over the past five years, for example, groups in Denver, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area have initiated permanent supportive housing projects that feature lower overall costs, greater efficiencies, and partnerships with foundations and the private sector.
https://shelterforce.org/2021/12/16/innovations-in-financing-supportive-housing/
Multifamily Construction Hits Highest Level Since 1974
Developers started construction on 734,000 multifamily units alone last month, a level not seen since the last full month of Richard Nixon’s presidency in July 1974. Homebuilders started 752,000 new houses in November, the most since March 2007. The South experienced the biggest surge of new housing starts, with 933,000 new homes and apartments breaking ground in November, followed by 412,000 in the West, 204,000 in the Midwest and 130,000 in the Northeast. But experts say it will likely take some time to get those units available to meet housing demand amid labor and construction material shortages. The coronavirus pandemic slowed construction activity last year and labor shortages and ongoing supply chain issues are delaying some building materials.
https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/multifamily/housing-apartment-starts-partying-like-its-the-1970s-again-111294
