From Strib: Minnesota road/bridge projects could get green light
MnDOT draft list: Federal recovery Jan 29 updates
The big ones are 610 and 169, but tons of smaller stuff.
Metro area transit seems missing (under the rationale it would add operating costs). But maybe I missed something.
Feeling stimulated?
Starbucks to Cut 6,700 Jobs After Earnings Fall 69%
By Courtney Dentch
Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest chain of coffee shops, said it will cut 6,700 jobs and close 300 more stores after reporting first-quarter profit that fell more than analysts estimated.
The company plans to close 200 locations in the U.S. and 100 overseas, in addition to the 600 Starbucks said it would close last year. The workforce reduction will eliminate 6,000 cafe positions and 700 corporate jobs, the Seattle-based chain said today in a statement.
…
See previous
The Transportationist: There are too many Starbucks
2 years ago or so, I posted The Transportationist: The Trouble with TRB.
The Trouble has not been eliminated, and talks continue, I post an edited email from Georgina Santos on the same topic (reproduced with permission:
“Dear Eric,
Please find attached some numbers re: TRR.
Some people at the Transportation Economics Committee
Meeting suggested that the peer-review process was not
rigorous enough and the quality of the journal itself was
not great.
I don’t have an opinion with respect to that issue but I
do know that TRR is not widely electronically available
and I strongly suspect that the main reason for that is
the price.
David Levinson suggested splitting the journal in different
strands. He will give you more feedback on that idea. One
important point about splitting the journal is that
university libraries may only subscribe to one or two strands
according to where their research interests are and in this
way they will make the journal more affordable to them,
as they will pay for fewer issues per year.
Lowering the price of the electronic version is another very
important strategy that could work wonders.”
I would add that splitting the journal has several beneficial aspects, first is that it lowers costs. Second, for the healthy parts of the journal, they are not dragged down by the unhealthy parts, that is, there are better and worse committees of TRB, and which publish better and worse papers in TRR. Separation will allow the better sections have a higher impact factor. Finally, if they are separated, cross-citations between the several journals will be fully counted rather than considered internal self-citations.
Some data compiled by Georgina
Impact Factor
Transportation Science & Technology group of ISI
Transportation Res B-Meth 1.948, Rank 1
Transport Res Rec 0.206, Rank 17
The Price of TRR is
2009 2008
Print Only $4,475 $3,805
Print & Online $5,125 $4,450 (Online Access to 2008 Records Only)
Print & Online $6,425 $5,600 (Online Access to 2003 – 2008 Records)
In comparison
Journal of Transport Economics and Policy
2009: £137 / US $267
Transport Reviews
2009 Online Only £699.00 plus VAT $1,060
2009 Print & Online £736.00 plus VAT $1,116
Transport Policy
Online Only: $614
Print and Online $753
Transportation Research A
$1,788
One might add
Journal of Transport and Land Use
*Free*
The full proposed stimulus bill in .pdf can be found (via CNN) here. Page 214 begins Title XII on Transportation and HUD. IANAL, so interpretation may be wrong.
$30 B for highway infrastructure investment (allocated to states as in previous formula)
“That in selecting projects to be funded, recipients shall give priority to projects that can award contracts within 120 days
of enactment of this Act, are included in an approved
Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP)
and/or Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), are projected for completion within a three-year time frame, and are located in economically distressed areas as defined by section 301 of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, as amended (42 U.S.C. 3161):”
$6 B for transit capital assistance
$2 B for fixed guideway infrastructure investment
$1 B for capital investment grants
$0.8 B for Amtrak debt service
$0.3 B for Amtrak capital cost
The money for transportation is less than had been speculated.
— dml
I recently received this fortune cookie message, which seems apt Put the data you have uncovered to beneficial use, though of course disappointing that it comes from a corporate fortune cookie site, rather than being mystically created as the cookie is baked, or selected especially for me as a researcher.
My lucky numbers were 4, 6, 14, 18, 31, and 36. It is unclear if these are related to the beneficial use of my data.
Civil liberties intersect rail.
From Carlos Miller (via Slashdot) Amtrak photo contestant arrested by Amtrak police in NYC’s Penn Station
duane p. kerzic documents his arrest and shows the photos that got him arrested and argues his case: Amtrak Police Harassment Of Duane Kerzic For Photography In Pennsylvania Station New York On December 21, 2008
Via a Transport of Delight, from BBC: London to Glasgow in five minutes
The UK’s new higher speed train service …
David Levinson, Transportist 
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