Infrastructure Bill Discussion

Halifax2TheMax

They defined “electric bike” in several different classes, one of which stops pedal assist at 28 MPH. 

tempo_n_groove

NYC and Amtrak will see a bunch of this money.  Fixing 100yo tunnels and building a new one.

gimmesometruth27

people seem to think that bridges and roads build and repair themselves.

tempo_n_groove

gimmesometruth27 said:

people seem to think that bridges and roads build and repair themselves.

That $20 bill that you pay every time you go over the Varazano is supposed to do that actually.

The 2 million commuters a day that pay $2.50 for a ride in the subway, same thing.

How much money gets syphoned into peoples pockets is anyone's guess.

mickeyrat

https://youtu.be/mL3Vv0I8M6Y

tempo_n_groove

mickeyrat said:

https://youtu.be/mL3Vv0I8M6Y

This guy is spot on for the numbers from what I've read.

On The Squad voting against it?  optics aren't good but they are being 100% honest w their constituents on "why" they voted against it.

brianlux

How strange that nothing has been said here today about the signing of the infrastructure bill.  Ah!  But now there has been.

This is going to do a number of things beside starting to fix a very crumbly infrastructure.  It will help get clean water to more folks.  Clean up a lot of pollution.  Create lots of new jobs.  And maybe, just maybe, give people fewer things to bitch about. 

Yeah, I know, Trumpsters will still complain.  But with things rolling better, they're going to start to look weak and be easier to ignore.  Especially if you live in a blue town and not a red one like mine. 

tempo_n_groove

brianlux said:

How strange that nothing has been said here today about the signing of the infrastructure bill.  Ah!  But now there has been.

This is going to do a number of things beside starting to fix a very crumbly infrastructure.  It will help get clean water to more folks.  Clean up a lot of pollution.  Create lots of new jobs.  And maybe, just maybe, give people fewer things to bitch about. 

Yeah, I know, Trumpsters will still complain.  But with things rolling better, they're going to start to look weak and be easier to ignore.  Especially if you live in a blue town and not a red one like mine. 

Brian I mentioned earlier that a bunch of this money is going to Amtrak and the Subways here.  There will be a lot of work for people in the City and good paying Union jobs.  This won't effect our company for 2 years down the road but we will surely have some part of it when it does.

brianlux

tempo_n_groove said:

brianlux said:

How strange that nothing has been said here today about the signing of the infrastructure bill.  Ah!  But now there has been.

This is going to do a number of things beside starting to fix a very crumbly infrastructure.  It will help get clean water to more folks.  Clean up a lot of pollution.  Create lots of new jobs.  And maybe, just maybe, give people fewer things to bitch about. 

Yeah, I know, Trumpsters will still complain.  But with things rolling better, they're going to start to look weak and be easier to ignore.  Especially if you live in a blue town and not a red one like mine. 

Brian I mentioned earlier that a bunch of this money is going to Amtrak and the Subways here.  There will be a lot of work for people in the City and good paying Union jobs.  This won't effect our company for 2 years down the road but we will surely have some part of it when it does.

Excellent!  I am hoping some funds will be put to use refurbishing some of our existing cargo railway systems as well as people transit.  One of the smartest things we could do for both our economy and environment would be to revitalize our rail systems.  There is so much logic in doing this.  It should be a major priority be it gets very little mention.

In any case, I'm glad to hear you mass transit systems will get a boost!

tempo_n_groove

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

brianlux said:

How strange that nothing has been said here today about the signing of the infrastructure bill.  Ah!  But now there has been.

This is going to do a number of things beside starting to fix a very crumbly infrastructure.  It will help get clean water to more folks.  Clean up a lot of pollution.  Create lots of new jobs.  And maybe, just maybe, give people fewer things to bitch about. 

Yeah, I know, Trumpsters will still complain.  But with things rolling better, they're going to start to look weak and be easier to ignore.  Especially if you live in a blue town and not a red one like mine. 

Brian I mentioned earlier that a bunch of this money is going to Amtrak and the Subways here.  There will be a lot of work for people in the City and good paying Union jobs.  This won't effect our company for 2 years down the road but we will surely have some part of it when it does.

Excellent!  I am hoping some funds will be put to use refurbishing some of our existing cargo railway systems as well as people transit.  One of the smartest things we could do for both our economy and environment would be to revitalize our rail systems.  There is so much logic in doing this.  It should be a major priority be it gets very little mention.

In any case, I'm glad to hear you mass transit systems will get a boost!

So that article I owe you?  On the radio it mentioned building better aqueducts so the water isn't lost in the ground and more of it actually travels where it needs to go.  So they would build proper pipe/concrete travelways for the water.

tempo_n_groove

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

brianlux

tempo_n_groove said:

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

Interesting point about aqueducts.  Reminds me of Clallum County in western  Washington where I lived from 1989 to 1993.  Some of that county often has a water shortage.  Yes, you read that right, part of Clallum County in western Washington is in a rain shadow.  Sequim (pronounced "squim"), for example, only gets something like 19 inches of rain per year.  It's generally a farming community that relies heavily on irrigation.  In the early to mid 90's, many of the open irrigation ditches became covered or run through large pipe to reduce evaporation.  Smart move to save water!

Good point about western rail systems.  The other thing that would help[ a lot would be to increase and refurbish transcontinental rail systems.  No way should goods be moved across country by truck (sorry, truckers) when they could be moved long distance by rail at a much reduced consumption of fuels.  Trucking and busing by way of big oil decimated the rail systems in America.  It's way time we righted that wrong.

tempo_n_groove

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

Interesting point about aqueducts.  Reminds me of Clallum County in western  Washington where I lived from 1989 to 1993.  Some of that county often has a water shortage.  Yes, you read that right, part of Clallum County in western Washington is in a rain shadow.  Sequim (pronounced "squim"), for example, only gets something like 19 inches of rain per year.  It's generally a farming community that relies heavily on irrigation.  In the early to mid 90's, many of the open irrigation ditches became covered or run through large pipe to reduce evaporation.  Smart move to save water!

Good point about western rail systems.  The other thing that would help[ a lot would be to increase and refurbish transcontinental rail systems.  No way should goods be moved across country by truck (sorry, truckers) when they could be moved long distance by rail at a much reduced consumption of fuels.  Trucking and busing by way of big oil decimated the rail systems in America.  It's way time we righted that wrong.

I believe Amazon's future is to make unmanned trucks that travel across the US to hubs and from there a manned truck would take it to the cities that don't have main hubs.  Like a tug that pilots in the big freighters.

I'm not sure if Bezos and company gave much thought to the railways Brian.  That is an even better idea but if the future doesn't want to use it the it will be lost.

brianlux

tempo_n_groove said:

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

Interesting point about aqueducts.  Reminds me of Clallum County in western  Washington where I lived from 1989 to 1993.  Some of that county often has a water shortage.  Yes, you read that right, part of Clallum County in western Washington is in a rain shadow.  Sequim (pronounced "squim"), for example, only gets something like 19 inches of rain per year.  It's generally a farming community that relies heavily on irrigation.  In the early to mid 90's, many of the open irrigation ditches became covered or run through large pipe to reduce evaporation.  Smart move to save water!

Good point about western rail systems.  The other thing that would help[ a lot would be to increase and refurbish transcontinental rail systems.  No way should goods be moved across country by truck (sorry, truckers) when they could be moved long distance by rail at a much reduced consumption of fuels.  Trucking and busing by way of big oil decimated the rail systems in America.  It's way time we righted that wrong.

I believe Amazon's future is to make unmanned trucks that travel across the US to hubs and from there a manned truck would take it to the cities that don't have main hubs.  Like a tug that pilots in the big freighters.

I'm not sure if Bezos and company gave much thought to the railways Brian.  That is an even better idea but if the future doesn't want to use it the it will be lost.

That's a bummer to hear.  Another strike against our environment.

On a different note, it kind of amazes me that you and I are the only ones here that have shown any interest in the infrastructure bill.  This place confounds me at times!

static111

tempo_n_groove said:

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

Interesting point about aqueducts.  Reminds me of Clallum County in western  Washington where I lived from 1989 to 1993.  Some of that county often has a water shortage.  Yes, you read that right, part of Clallum County in western Washington is in a rain shadow.  Sequim (pronounced "squim"), for example, only gets something like 19 inches of rain per year.  It's generally a farming community that relies heavily on irrigation.  In the early to mid 90's, many of the open irrigation ditches became covered or run through large pipe to reduce evaporation.  Smart move to save water!

Good point about western rail systems.  The other thing that would help[ a lot would be to increase and refurbish transcontinental rail systems.  No way should goods be moved across country by truck (sorry, truckers) when they could be moved long distance by rail at a much reduced consumption of fuels.  Trucking and busing by way of big oil decimated the rail systems in America.  It's way time we righted that wrong.

I believe Amazon's future is to make unmanned trucks that travel across the US to hubs and from there a manned truck would take it to the cities that don't have main hubs.  Like a tug that pilots in the big freighters.

I'm not sure if Bezos and company gave much thought to the railways Brian.  That is an even better idea but if the future doesn't want to use it the it will be lost.

The future is what we create, unless we just decide to let Bezos et al have all the fun.  Surely we could require rail use for some shipments that meet a certain threshold?  I'm with Bri transcontinental rail transport needs to have room in the future and if it goes away because it might undercut Amazoon's profits, well then I guess we deserve every global warming natural disaster that we bought.

static111

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

Interesting point about aqueducts.  Reminds me of Clallum County in western  Washington where I lived from 1989 to 1993.  Some of that county often has a water shortage.  Yes, you read that right, part of Clallum County in western Washington is in a rain shadow.  Sequim (pronounced "squim"), for example, only gets something like 19 inches of rain per year.  It's generally a farming community that relies heavily on irrigation.  In the early to mid 90's, many of the open irrigation ditches became covered or run through large pipe to reduce evaporation.  Smart move to save water!

Good point about western rail systems.  The other thing that would help[ a lot would be to increase and refurbish transcontinental rail systems.  No way should goods be moved across country by truck (sorry, truckers) when they could be moved long distance by rail at a much reduced consumption of fuels.  Trucking and busing by way of big oil decimated the rail systems in America.  It's way time we righted that wrong.

I believe Amazon's future is to make unmanned trucks that travel across the US to hubs and from there a manned truck would take it to the cities that don't have main hubs.  Like a tug that pilots in the big freighters.

I'm not sure if Bezos and company gave much thought to the railways Brian.  That is an even better idea but if the future doesn't want to use it the it will be lost.

That's a bummer to hear.  Another strike against our environment.

On a different note, it kind of amazes me that you and I are the only ones here that have shown any interest in the infrastructure bill.  This place confounds me at times!

I'm waiting to see what shakes out.  While I am a fan of the theory and idea of the bill, I want to see real progress and a lack of wasteful spending before I get too invested.

tempo_n_groove

static111 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

Interesting point about aqueducts.  Reminds me of Clallum County in western  Washington where I lived from 1989 to 1993.  Some of that county often has a water shortage.  Yes, you read that right, part of Clallum County in western Washington is in a rain shadow.  Sequim (pronounced "squim"), for example, only gets something like 19 inches of rain per year.  It's generally a farming community that relies heavily on irrigation.  In the early to mid 90's, many of the open irrigation ditches became covered or run through large pipe to reduce evaporation.  Smart move to save water!

Good point about western rail systems.  The other thing that would help[ a lot would be to increase and refurbish transcontinental rail systems.  No way should goods be moved across country by truck (sorry, truckers) when they could be moved long distance by rail at a much reduced consumption of fuels.  Trucking and busing by way of big oil decimated the rail systems in America.  It's way time we righted that wrong.

I believe Amazon's future is to make unmanned trucks that travel across the US to hubs and from there a manned truck would take it to the cities that don't have main hubs.  Like a tug that pilots in the big freighters.

I'm not sure if Bezos and company gave much thought to the railways Brian.  That is an even better idea but if the future doesn't want to use it the it will be lost.

The future is what we create, unless we just decide to let Bezos et al have all the fun.  Surely we could require rail use for some shipments that meet a certain threshold?  I'm with Bri transcontinental rail transport needs to have room in the future and if it goes away because it might undercut Amazoon's profits, well then I guess we deserve every global warming natural disaster that we bought.

Magnets on rail cars is nothing new to make them go.  This would work and keep the electrical vehicle thing stay in motion.

brianlux

static111 said:

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

Interesting point about aqueducts.  Reminds me of Clallum County in western  Washington where I lived from 1989 to 1993.  Some of that county often has a water shortage.  Yes, you read that right, part of Clallum County in western Washington is in a rain shadow.  Sequim (pronounced "squim"), for example, only gets something like 19 inches of rain per year.  It's generally a farming community that relies heavily on irrigation.  In the early to mid 90's, many of the open irrigation ditches became covered or run through large pipe to reduce evaporation.  Smart move to save water!

Good point about western rail systems.  The other thing that would help[ a lot would be to increase and refurbish transcontinental rail systems.  No way should goods be moved across country by truck (sorry, truckers) when they could be moved long distance by rail at a much reduced consumption of fuels.  Trucking and busing by way of big oil decimated the rail systems in America.  It's way time we righted that wrong.

I believe Amazon's future is to make unmanned trucks that travel across the US to hubs and from there a manned truck would take it to the cities that don't have main hubs.  Like a tug that pilots in the big freighters.

I'm not sure if Bezos and company gave much thought to the railways Brian.  That is an even better idea but if the future doesn't want to use it the it will be lost.

That's a bummer to hear.  Another strike against our environment.

On a different note, it kind of amazes me that you and I are the only ones here that have shown any interest in the infrastructure bill.  This place confounds me at times!

I'm waiting to see what shakes out.  While I am a fan of the theory and idea of the bill, I want to see real progress and a lack of wasteful spending before I get too invested.

You mean you don't have unflagging faith in government utilizing funds propitiously?  LOL, yeah, I can understand some concern that way.  We've made the first step, now it's time to put pressure on the powers that be to use these funds wisely.  I don't hold unrealistic expectations that way, but I have to be optimistic that at least the possibility now exists.  This would be a bad time for the current administration to make any egregiously bad moves on this.  We need to see results.  I hope they keep that in mind.

CM189191

tempo_n_groove said:

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

I think Amtrak's 2035 map is pretty interesting:




Dark blue is existing
Light blue is new service
Yellow is enhanced service

https://media.amtrak.com/2021/05/amtrak-seeks-to-bring-more-rail-service-to-more-communities/

Fun fact: An intermodal train can move one ton of freight over 400 miles on just a gallon of fuel

static111

brianlux said:

static111 said:

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

brianlux said:

tempo_n_groove said:

West coast rail systems would be good if the rails went to more places.  NYC is small compared to LA county.

Interesting point about aqueducts.  Reminds me of Clallum County in western  Washington where I lived from 1989 to 1993.  Some of that county often has a water shortage.  Yes, you read that right, part of Clallum County in western Washington is in a rain shadow.  Sequim (pronounced "squim"), for example, only gets something like 19 inches of rain per year.  It's generally a farming community that relies heavily on irrigation.  In the early to mid 90's, many of the open irrigation ditches became covered or run through large pipe to reduce evaporation.  Smart move to save water!

Good point about western rail systems.  The other thing that would help[ a lot would be to increase and refurbish transcontinental rail systems.  No way should goods be moved across country by truck (sorry, truckers) when they could be moved long distance by rail at a much reduced consumption of fuels.  Trucking and busing by way of big oil decimated the rail systems in America.  It's way time we righted that wrong.

I believe Amazon's future is to make unmanned trucks that travel across the US to hubs and from there a manned truck would take it to the cities that don't have main hubs.  Like a tug that pilots in the big freighters.

I'm not sure if Bezos and company gave much thought to the railways Brian.  That is an even better idea but if the future doesn't want to use it the it will be lost.

That's a bummer to hear.  Another strike against our environment.

On a different note, it kind of amazes me that you and I are the only ones here that have shown any interest in the infrastructure bill.  This place confounds me at times!

I'm waiting to see what shakes out.  While I am a fan of the theory and idea of the bill, I want to see real progress and a lack of wasteful spending before I get too invested.

You mean you don't have unflagging faith in government utilizing funds propitiously?  LOL, yeah, I can understand some concern that way.  We've made the first step, now it's time to put pressure on the powers that be to use these funds wisely.  I don't hold unrealistic expectations that way, but I have to be optimistic that at least the possibility now exists.  This would be a bad time for the current administration to make any egregiously bad moves on this.  We need to see results.  I hope they keep that in mind.

Exactly, no matter what party.