Transportation
Road Salt Is A Problem For Rivers. Adding Water May Be A Solution
A three-story-tall gate creaks open, and reveals a warehouse filled to the brim with brown crystals. It’s a mountain of rock salt. “We filled this shed this past week,” says T.J. Shea, Cambridge’s superintendent of streets. Shea is what some might call a “snow fighter.” It’s his job to keep roads dry all winter using this…
Read MoreState Workers’ Switch To Telework During Pandemic Brings ‘Seismic’ Drop in CO2 Emissions
Maine government workers have reduced their car travel by 1 million vehicle miles a week since the start of the pandemic, thanks to the rapid, wholesale adoption of telework policies. The preliminary data are opening an unexpected window on the future of telecommuting and its potential to deliver substantial reductions in global warming pollution. Last…
Read MorePandemic Pushes Debate Over Driver’s Licenses
Hailed as heroes during the pandemic, essential workers have cared for the elderly in nursing homes and kept food supplies going from farms to supermarkets. But thousands of these workers in Massachusetts are also undocumented immigrants facing a hard choice — risk driving illegally to keep these essential jobs, or stop working. With immigrant communities…
Read MoreScott Administration Says Traffic Data Show No Spike In Out-Of-State Entries
A massive data-gathering operation at border crossings across Vermont hasn’t shown a major influx in the number of visitors from states with COVID-19 “hotspots,” according to the Scott administration. Scores of employees at the Agency of Transportation have been manually logging license-plate data at as many as 43 border checkpoints since April 1. Rebecca Kelley,…
Read More5 Things To Know About The East Coast Effort To Curb Transportation Emissions
This month, a group of states, including Massachusetts, will release a plan to cut carbon emissions from the region’s biggest source — transportation. The effort is called the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). The states are focused on limiting carbon emissions from fuel. Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration has estimated TCI could generate up to $500 million…
Read MoreWhat It’s Like To Switch From Car Travel To A Daily Train Commute
Heather Brandon used to drive from her home in Hartford, Connecticut, to work in Springfield, Massachusetts. It would take her anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic. But this summer, she committed to taking the train. Producer Morgan Springer talked to her about the commute while Brandon, who works at New England…
Read MoreDriving Through Mud: How Rural Massachusetts Schools Are Coping With Rising Transportation Costs
It’s hard for rural schools in Massachusetts to get kids to and from class every day — especially now, in muddy season, when the snow has melted and the rain begins.
Read MoreAs Ridership Booms On the Hartford Line, CTrail Riders Are Being Kicked Off Amtrak Trains
A seat on the 4:32 p.m. train out of Hartford’s union station is emerging as the most coveted seat on the CTrail’s new Hartford Line that was launched in June.
Read MoreTraveling Along America’s ‘Forgotten Border’
The northern border, and the unique landscape of the Northern United States that surrounds the border, is the subject of Porter Fox’s new book: Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America’s Forgotten Border. In it, Fox details his own travels along our Northern border, a trip he made on foot, by boat and by car along the winding, often remote, U.S.-Canada border, starting in the state where he grew up, Maine.
Read MoreMarking Time On The Quinnipiac River: One Bridge Opening At A Time
When a boat needs to pass under a low bridge on a river, that bridge needs to move out of the way. A drawbridge lifts up so a boat can pass under. A swing bridge pivots out of the way so a boat can pass by. But these decades-old bridges don’t operate on their own. They rely on a small group of “bridge tenders” who specialize in a peculiar and slow-moving job.
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