Infrastructure

Infrastructure investment firm Meridiam will develop, build and run a $230 million network connecting 53,000 households and businesses in six counties. Developer Yellowhammer Networks, owned by Meridiam, will fund the project.

Officials hope to break ground in April on the Habitat Green Freedom subdivision, in Aurora, Ill. The new 17-home area will feature solar panels, battery storage, in-ground fiber and devices including smart thermostats.

The Joplin City Council is considering a pact with Allo Missouri for citywide fiber-optic broadband. Joplin would contribute $4 million from an American Rescue Plan Act grant, and only eligible expenses would be paid from city funds.

The Future Use of Energy in Louisiana, a higher education, government and business consortium, is seeking a grant worth $160 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation. It now has only partial funding from Congress.

A partnership with Verizon is expected to bring high-speed Internet to four townships in Pennslvania’s Westmoreland County. The areas of the state’s second most populous county currently lack service.

The 20-year contract will enable the purchase of solar photovoltaic energy and battery storage from Bonanza Solar. It moves the city closer to sourcing electricity from carbon-free sources by the end of 2030 and replacing coal-fired energy.

A new survey of Affordable Connectivity Program users detailed the financial hardships recipients face in affording broadband, and found more than half access government services online.

North Carolina is making $14 million available to nonprofits, government agencies and others as part of the Digital Champion grants to expand digital equity. Some 230 applicants have applied.

Members of the National Association of Counties were in Washington, D.C., to urge Congress to extend funding for a program providing subsidies to help low-income households afford broadband Internet service.

Falling prices, increased availability and incentives are giving the secondhand electric vehicle market the thrust it needs to grow, introducing the vehicles to a wider cross-section of consumers.

Technology and policy leaders discussed the highway infrastructure of the future at the recent Transportation Research Board annual meeting, offering up the benefits of using recycled materials and sending electricity through the pavement.

Transportation officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are working on a plan to use Glydcars — small, electric and autonomous vehicles — to make last-mile connections to more traditional forms of transit.

The state has finished spending the funds it received from the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal, using the money to boost the number of EV chargers and electric, heavy-duty vehicles.

The Chelan and Douglas County public utility districts are locking in specific security measures as cybersecurity breaches continue to target critical infrastructure across the country and state.

Seamless and easy car-charging is the goal for drivers and the auto industry. But getting to complete interoperability is still an elusive target requiring widespread coordination among multiple stakeholders and standards.

Pilot projects have become a fixture of the smart city evolution. City technology leaders offered some of their own personal insights into avoiding catastrophe at the recent Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo.

The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety gave New Jersey and 33 other states mediocre marks in its 2024 annual report grading state safety laws. One issue noted in the report was a lack of speed enforcement cameras legislation.

Too often, urban technology doesn’t scale across cities because it’s simply not ready for prime time, experts argued at the recent Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo in National Harbor, Md.