"This project is symbolic of what we've done over the last 12 years, reshaping the streets and the city," Christophe Najovski, the city's deputy mayor in charge of green spaces, stated during the opening ceremony.
The tax provides more than $23 billion per year in revenue for federal highway and public transit programs. The federal gas tax has been in place, in one way or another, since 1919 and was last raised in 1993.
Through Community Facilities Districts (CFD), Municipal Utility Districts (MUD), Public Improvement Districts (PID), Community Development Districts (CDD) and reimbursement districts (RD), builders can potentially shift infrastructure costs off their balance sheets and onto special districts that homebuyers ultimately absorb through property taxes without potentially adding debt to the builder's books.
UITP is closely monitoring geopolitical developments in the Gulf region in advance of the 2026 Summit, next month in Dubai. Over the past few days, we have remained in ongoing contact with the relevant authorities and our 2026 local hosts, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), as we carefully assess the situation in real time.
While dozens of other countries have delivered fast, modern train networks, we are stuck with a skeletal system built largely on slow, 19th-century alignments. Even developing nations are passing us by. There is growing recognition at the federal level that things need to change, but substantial and comprehensive reform would require an act of Congress.
Every city contains two transportation systems. One is the visible network of roads, rail lines, sidewalks, and bus routes mapped in planning documents. The other is the invisible geography of privilege and exclusion embedded within it: the neighborhoods that received highways instead of parks, the communities whose bus routes were cut, the sidewalks that abruptly end at the edge of a district.
Understanding the difference in purpose Unlike private businesses, which exist to make a profit, public institutions are designed to create impact - especially social and economic outcomes that benefit everyone, not just paying customers. A public agency doesn't measure its success in revenue or margins, but in how much it improves lives, builds equity and maintains public trust. This doesn't mean budgets and spending don't matter - they absolutely do - but money is not the goal. It's the tool.
When routes are well organized, there are clear directional signs, and speed limits become reasonable. The early installation of warning signs allows transport companies to plan deliveries more accurately and avoid delays. For businesses, time is money. When a truck carrying goods does not spend hours detouring due to an unclear traffic scheme or stuck in traffic where it could have been avoided thanks to competent traffic management, fuel costs, driver wages, and vehicle maintenance costs are reduced.
This huge law that we've passed in 2021 - which Joe Biden said was the biggest law for public transit ever and was this enormous investment in inner city rail - ultimately panned out to have very minimal effects. There has been some increase in highway construction. But when it comes to transit investment, unfortunately the country is going in the wrong direction.
Let's start with the biggest issue on the horizon: the proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. Yes, the ultimate decision is about a year away. But sides are lining up for and against, and right now, the Surface Transportation Board, which is colloquially known as STB -- the railroads' economic regulator -- is considering the details of how the rules governing that decision will be applied.
There's no one solution to fix the city's gridlock, Toronto's new chief congestion officer says as he finishes up his first week on the job. Andrew Posluns sat down with CBC Toronto on Friday to discuss the freshly created role, noting there's no magic bullet that will address the city's congestion. There are a lot of factors that feed into congestion, he said. We need to do everything we can in order to be able to mitigate and address the congestion challenges that arise.
The UK government has not said when the money will be made available or over what period. It had already announced 445m for rail projects in Wales at last June's spending review, and has now explained that money will go towards building each of the seven stations. Initial work on five of the south east stations will begin later this year, with construction on two of them beginning in 2029. While no timescales have been announced, it is expected that Magor and Undy will be the first station to be completed.
The new "abundance" agenda can deliver a wealth of equitable transportation options - but only if its proponents recognize how our glut of highways has contributed to the "scarcity" they say they hope to tackle, advocates are saying.Inspired by the Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's book of the same name, "abundance" became a political buzzword across America in 2025, inspiring a universe of think-pieces and justification for a raft of deregulatory policy proposals.