Urban Planning

Officials this week approved contributing $1.75 million in state transit funding to the $3 million project. That means driverless Ford passenger vans are a go, in a 12-month trial with Florida-based company Beep.

Micromobility offerings in Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., will soon include electric cargo bikes capable of transporting up to 100 pounds. More device types and expanded infrastructure are intended to drive usage.

A project to connect Union Station in Los Angeles to Dodger Stadium via a mile-long gondola run aims to be done for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. A similar aerial initiative is moving forward in neighboring Orange County.

County planning commissioners have signed off on a site plan for three buildings at a data center complex — with concerns about noise. The four-building site will use concrete walls as part of a solution to muffle sound.

A new study from the Mineta Transportation Institute outlines the symbiotic relationship between highway tolling and transit, and how each program needs the other. Transportation panelists examined the idea recently.

Terawatt Infrastructure debuted a heavy-duty, high-speed truck charging location on the I-10 Consortium to electrify goods movement. It joins Greenlane, which recently opened its own large truck charging facility.

A paper authored by teams at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University examines the role of local governments’ procurement processes in advancing artificial intelligence adoption.

Autonomous vehicle technology has moved past the idea and testbed stage to meaningful deployments in cities across the country. The U.S. is a market leader in this area but policies must keep pace, industry observers said.

Public- and private-sector officials gathered this week at the CoMotion Miami conference to air new visions for mobility, and how to get there. Reimagining requests for proposals was one idea considered.

The $7 billion project now being planned would be one of the largest such investments in Indiana history and create more than 1,200 construction jobs. But officials wonder whether power can ultimately be supplied fast enough.

The center, operated by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, will be the central operations center for its growing fleet of autonomous transit vehicles. JTA will deploy 14 electric AV shuttles downtown by early summer.

The village reached an agreement this week with ParkMobile on a system that would let residents pay parking fees via cellphone — preserving meters, for now. Hours, rates and locations of use will be considered shortly by a city committee.

Los Angeles and Orlando international airports have introduced parking technology to make travelers’ experiences more seamless and convenient. Cities are following suit, for ease of use and to reach more users.

At more than 6.2 million square feet, the proposed campus would be more than three times larger than the state’s largest shopping mall. The net amount of leased data center space in Atlanta rose by 706 megawatts last year.

The district is using data and technology to transform how it connects people experiencing homelessness to shelters with beds during hypothermia season. Calls to a key service hotline have dropped significantly as a result.

Municipalities in California, Colorado and Washington are working toward a deeper understanding of what goes on at their curbs, to solve persistent problems related to parking, congestion and deliveries.

Virginia’s Loudoun County has a famously high concentration of data centers, but a proposed rule would remove builders’ “by right” zoning status. If the state cools to their construction, might neighboring North Carolina gain?

Nearly two dozen cities have been awarded the What Works Cities Certification, which recognizes localities for data usage to inform policy and funding, engage residents, evaluate programs and improve services.