Tag: Infrastructure (Public Works)

Biden Administration to Require Replacing of Lead Pipes Within 10 Years

The Biden administration is proposing new restrictions that would require the removal of virtually all lead water pipes across the country in an effort to prevent another public health catastrophe like the one that came to define Flint, Mich. The proposal on Thursday from the Environmental Protection Agency would impose the strictest limits on lead […]

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India Ignored Repeated Warnings Before Tunnel Trapped 41 Men

As the trapped workers came out of the under-construction road tunnel after 17 days, the happy end to a rescue effort that had riveted India set off celebrations across the country. Gone for the moment were questions about why the 41 men had been put at risk of being entombed in the tunnel in the […]

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Germany’s Much-Vaunted Strategic Pivot Stalls

Just days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to revitalize a German military that had fallen into disrepair since the end of the Cold War. The centerpiece of that plan was a promise for an injection of 100 billion euros, or nearly $110 billion, and to raise military spending in a shift […]

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Ukrainian Attack Cuts Power to Some Russian-Occupied Areas

A Ukrainian strike on a power station in Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine overnight cut power to towns and cities, the pro-Russian authorities there said on Sunday, less than a day after Moscow launched a record number of attack drones toward Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. The overnight attack was another sign of Kyiv’s determination to […]

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New Tool for Building and Fixing Roads and Bridges: Artificial Intelligence

In Pennsylvania, where 13 percent of the bridges have been classified as structurally deficient, engineers are using artificial intelligence to create lighter concrete blocks for new construction. Another project is using A.I. to develop a highway wall that can absorb noise from cars — and some of the greenhouse gas emissions that traffic releases as […]

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Arson Suspected in Los Angeles Fire That Shut Major Freeway

As hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles commuters scrambled on Monday to navigate the shutdown of one of the busiest stretches of freeway in Southern California, the state authorities said they now believed that arson had caused the huge fire that exploded early Saturday from a storage yard and forced the indefinite closure of Interstate […]

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U.S. Finance Agency Lends to Sri Lankan Port to Counter Chinese Influence

A U.S. foreign development agency announced on Wednesday it would lend $553 million to establish a deepwater shipping-container terminal at the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka, expanding America’s effort to finance infrastructure around strategic parts of Asia. The loan package is tied to Adani Ports, part of a conglomerate closely linked with Prime Minister […]

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How Your Child’s School Bus Might Prevent Blackouts

The four vehicles parked at a depot in South Burlington, Vt., look no different from the yellow school buses familiar to millions of schoolchildren. But beneath their steel shells, these buses are packed with technology that could be vital in the transition to clean energy. While their main job remains transporting children, the vehicles take […]

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A Report Card for Bidenomics

Where the economy is working (and where it isn’t) With a year to go before Election Day, polls increasingly show that American voters believe next year will be a rematch between President Biden and Donald Trump — with the former president in the lead in key battleground states despite his legal troubles (more on that […]

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China Is Lending Billions to Countries in Financial Trouble

After lending $1.3 trillion to developing countries, mainly for big-ticket infrastructure projects, China has shifted its focus to bailing out many of those same countries from piles of debt. The initial loans were mostly part of the Belt and Road Initiative, which Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, started in 2013 to build stronger transportation, communications […]

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Electric Planes, Once a Fantasy, Start to Take to the Skies

Chris Caputo stood on the tarmac at Burlington International Airport in Vermont in early October and looked to the clouds in the distance. He had piloted military and commercial aircraft over a long career, racking up thousands of flight hours, but the trip he was about to take would be very different. That’s because the […]

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Can a Democrat Running the Biden Playbook Win in Deep-Red Kentucky?

Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky is conducting one of this year’s most intriguing political experiments: What happens when an incumbent Democrat campaigns on President Biden’s record and agenda, but never mentions the party’s unpopular leader by name? Mr. Beshear is running for re-election in his deep-red state as a generic version of Mr. Biden, promoting […]

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India Is Splurging on Planes and Airports. Here’s Why.

No nation in the world is buying as many airplanes as India. Its largest airlines have ordered nearly 1,000 jets this year, committing tens of billions of dollars to a spending spree that is unparalleled in aviation. In New Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport will be ready for 109 million passengers next year, as it […]

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Biden to Travel to Minnesota to Highlight Rural Investments

The White House on Wednesday will announce more than $5 billion in funding for agriculture, broadband and clean energy needs in sparsely populated parts of the country as President Biden travels to Minnesota to kick off an administration-wide tour of rural communities. The president’s efforts to focus attention on the domestic economy ahead of next […]

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A Leaning Tower in Italy (Not Pisa) Becomes a Worry

The Garisenda Tower in Bologna is not as famous as the Tower of Pisa, but it leans a little more. Lately, though, the dynamic of its movement has become worrisome, and city officials decided recently that the central square where it stands a few meters apart from the much taller Asinelli Tower will be closed […]

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Energy Dept. Pours Billions into Electric Grids

The Energy Department on Monday announced $1.3 billion to help build three large power lines across six states, part of a new gusher of money from Washington to upgrade America’s electric grids so they can handle more wind and solar power and better tolerate extreme weather. But officials warned that money won’t be enough. In […]

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As Winter Nears, Ukraine Braces for Attacks on Energy Grid

Russian drone strikes near a nuclear power plant in western Ukraine this week have revived anxiety among Ukrainian officials and civilians over one of the most oppressive hardships of the war: a winter assault on their nation’s energy grid. The strikes on Wednesday, which landed near the Khmelnytsky nuclear facility, drew an angry response from […]

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The Path to Reducing Pedestrian Deaths Is Steep but Straight

Last year, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, more than 7,500 pedestrians were killed while walking on U.S. roadways. Between 2010 and 2021, in fact, pedestrian deaths rose 77 percent, from an annual total of 4,302 to 7,624. These increases represent 40-year-highs for pedestrian fatalities. There are no numbers yet, for 2023, but a […]

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China’s Economy Grew More Than Expected Over the Summer

China’s economy grew more than expected over the summer, though the real estate market continued to weaken, as the government and the banks it controls poured money into infrastructure and new factories. Data released on Wednesday showed that gross domestic product grew from July through September compared with the prior three months. Industrial production of […]

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What is China’s Belt and Road Initiative and How Is It Changing?

China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, founded the Belt and Road Initiative a decade ago to use the country’s economic might to enlarge its geopolitical heft and counter the influence of the United States and other industrialized democracies. China has since disbursed close to $1 trillion to mostly developing countries, largely in loans, to build power […]

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How Nepal’s Deal With China for an Airport Became an Albatross

On a sweltering June morning, the new international terminal at the airport in Pokhara, Nepal’s second-biggest city, roared to life with the arrival of a Sichuan Airlines flight from China. A water cannon showered the plane, an Airbus A319, the first international flight to land at the airport since it had opened six months earlier. […]

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The M.T.A. Is No Longer Broke. Now It Must Make Riders Happy.

It was one of New York City’s most enduring crises: For decades, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had warned that it was teetering on the brink of financial ruin. A series of events compounded the threat. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks brought ruin to large swaths of the subway network. The Great Recession depleted infrastructure investment. […]

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Climate Change Is a Key Obstacle for New York City’s Transit System

Why It Matters New York City’s century-old mass transit system is in dire need of wear-and-tear upgrades while it also contends with a climate crisis that it was not built to withstand. The M.T.A.’s report has been released as the state prepares to start a first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program, designed to collect billions of dollars […]

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Flood Threats Are Rising. Here’s Where People Are Moving Into Harm’s Way.

Why It Matters: On a warmer planet, rainstorms are stronger. Human-driven climate change is amplifying flood threats globally. Rising sea levels are leading to more destructive coastal storm surges. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, which means storms are primed to deliver more rain. But in many countries, the more significant driver of flood […]

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After Intense Floods, New York City Lurches Back to Life

After record-breaking rains swamped the subway, grounded flights and flooded streets in New York City and the surrounding region on Friday, New Yorkers resumed their routines the next morning. Rain showers continued on Saturday, putting some areas at risk of further flooding, but they were expected to taper off by the evening. On Saturday morning, […]

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Biden’s Ambitious Plan for Lead Pipe Removal Faces Hurdles

In her basement on the South Side of Chicago, Crystal Vance beamed a flashlight onto the water source for her home: a rusted and leaking lead pipe. Ms. Vance, 35, knows well the dangers of lead contamination. Her 5-year-old son tested for elevated levels of lead as a baby, something that still weighs on her […]

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New Orleans Seeks to Avert Crisis as Saltwater Nears the City

People in New Orleans are used to preparing for hurricanes and floods. So when they learned of a new threat — an infusion of salty water creeping slowly up the Mississippi River, threatening municipal drinking water supplies — they did what comes naturally: strip bottled water from grocery store shelves. But this is a crisis […]

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Libya Flooding Disaster Underlines the Country’s Corruption

The dam project broke ground in 2010, according to the government assessment from 2011 reviewed by The New York Times. By Feb. 1, 2011, just before the uprising, the project had managed only “general preparations and earthworks,” the assessment said. No concrete or asphalt had been poured, it said, no pipes laid. But Libya had […]

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Truck Stops Upgrade to Recharge Electric Vehicles (and Their Drivers)

Planning a long road trip? Now you can nibble on crudités and shop for home furnishings at a roadside service plaza while you wait for your electric vehicle to recharge. The truck stops that keep Americans fueled, fed and refreshed along major highways are spending billions overhauling their stores to keep up with changing consumer […]

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Truck Stops Upgrade to Recharge Electric Vehicles (and Their Drivers)

Planning a long road trip? Now you can nibble on crudités and shop for home furnishings at a roadside service plaza while you wait for your electric vehicle to recharge. The truck stops that keep Americans fueled, fed and refreshed along major highways are spending billions overhauling their stores to keep up with changing consumer […]

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Can Ghana’s Debt Trap of Crisis and Bailouts Be Stopped?

Emmanuel Cherry, the chief executive of an association of Ghanaian construction companies, sat in a cafe at the edge of Accra Children’s Park, near the derelict Ferris wheel and kiddie train, as he tallied up how much money government entities owe thousands of contractors. Before interest, he said, the back payments add up to 50 […]

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