Monthly Archives: May 2018

Anatomy of a Smart City Road System. Funding. Procurement. 6 Goals. 1 Governor Order.

Funding:  $40 million federal grant and $10 million from Paul G. Allen Philanthropies

Goals of Smart Cities:

  • reduce collisions
  • speed first responder response times
  • curb freeway delays
  • get products to consumers faster
  • how to use data to improve city services and quality of life for residents
  • easier access to healthcare services

Procurement Oppostunities:

  • transportation technologies:
    • integrate self-driving cars
    • connected vehicles
    • smart sensors
    • developing transportation technologies

      • …

3 Supporting Reasons for an EV Charging Rebate Program. Electric Vehicle Charging Association.

The Electric Vehicle Charging Association supports AEP Ohio’s first approved utility rebate program for electrical-vehicle charging because:

  • MORE EVs. will improve Ohio’s electric vehicle adoption
  •  Fewer Charging Anxieties. deployment of hundreds of charging stations where EV drivers live, work, and play
  • Good for Businesses. lower barriers for businesses, workplaces, and municipalities to offer electric vehicle charging for customers, employees, and everyday drivers

Norwalk Reflector | EV…

BUSINESS TREND. REGULATORY TREND. 3 Reasons Automakers Want to Work With California Emission Standards.

Why did Automakers adapt their strategy?

  • Concern over Trump Administration. The concern being that the Administration will pick a fight with the 12 states that follow California emission standards & automakers will be left fixing the problems
  • Uniformity & Certainty.  factions of varying regulations isn’t conducive to business
  •  Sales. 50 different EV car sales account for fewer sales than  F150 Ford truck sales

Governing | Long Adversaries, Automakers Now Want to Work With California on…

Lege Trend. Autonomous Vehicles. Cyber Security Researchers + Distributed Ledger Tech (Blockchain)

Texas University with new cybersecurity and autonomous vehicles research:  University of Texas at San Antonio, Institute for Cyber Security

What code words do I need to watch for in regulations or legislation? fog cloud computing 

What’s fog cloud computing?  A distributed ledger system of cloud computing being utilized to improve security of autonmous vehicles

How does it make it harder to hack an autonmous vehicle? more barriers, if the information is in packets and spread across various…

Lege TREND. Ride Share Vehicle Standards.

California Senate Bill 1014 (2018 | CA)  requires ride share vehicles to:

  • 20% must be Zero Emmission by 2023
  • 50% must be Zero Emission by 2026
  • 100% must be zero emission by 2030
  • Rule making by the regulatory agency for quarterly targets of ride share zero emission vehicles

Forbes | California May Push Uber And Lyft To Go Electric, With Far-Reaching Consequences

3 Reasons why a Ride Share Cap is Bad

Where is this happening? NYC

What is happening? A locla official has proposed a cap on ride share rides to alleviate congestion in the central business district

What group is behind these 3 points of opposition to the cap?The Urban League

Why would a cap on ride share would be bad?

  • It would eliminate a transportation option for the outer boroughs and minorities
  • these areas are currently underserved by traditional transportation options like taxis and public transportation
  • the most…

Anatomy of a Transportation Proposal. 2:1 Defeat in a Fast Growing City.

The transportation proposal:

  • ambitious $5.4 billion transit expansion

The vote: 36% : 64%

Are there extenuating circumstances?

  • City & County government is consolidated
  • Most population lives outside the city proper
  • The proposal was promoted by the mayor who resigned in March

Transportation Proposal supporters:

What do opponetns say?

  • No public input after the plan was formed
  • transportation policy should be incremental not…

Lege TREND. Open Records Exceptions. PORTS. Economic Development. 4 Steps to protect Eco Devo records

State: Louisiana

Bill: HB 665 (2018 | LA)

What steps must a port take to except economic development records from disclosure?

  • the records must be “active economic development negotiations”
  •  publish in its official journal a notice that the records are being hidden, within 10 days after deciding to keep them confidential
  • protection from disclosure lasts 24 months
  • protection ends when negotiations are over

What records cannot be hidden from disclosure by the port?

  •  hazardous waste licenses…

Regulatory TREND. LEGE TREND. Procurement TREND. Switching to a 5 Step Contracting Process that Shifts Liability.

State: Arkansas

New transportation construction contract process: construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) form of contracting

Why the switch? liability and risks of cost overruns move to the contractor

What parameters did the Legislature put around the new contracting method?

  • 3 projects only
  • totaling no more than $200 million

How does it work?

  • Design Phase: contractors submit requests for proposals

  • After the design phase: contractor submits its cost estimate to build the…

TX Attorney General Opinion. What you Need to Know about the Constitution & Tollroad Funding. The 2019 legislative fix.

The question the Texas Attorney General Answered: whether the Texas Transportation Commission may use Proposition 1 and Proposition 7 funds on toll projects.

What complicated the question & answer: That roads in Texas are often mixed, partially free and partially tolled. 

Why do roads that have tolled and free lanes make the answer more complicated? There is no guidance in statute and no guidance in case law for whether a “toll road” and “toll project” are the same and thus the constitutional…