Building and maintaining a quality roadway network is critical to the movement of people, goods and services, and unfortunately, Louisiana highways are in poor shape overall. Louisianans can all agree that the state needs to improve roadway quality and safety while decreasing congestion. To do this, we must modernize and take a more free-market approach to funding and financing Louisiana’s roadways.
Due process won a victory in New Orleans last week. A civil court appeals judge threw out a traffic ticket (for a right turn on red) because there was no human witness to the infraction. The ruling comes a few months after Jefferson Parish temporarily suspended the program amid questions about the propriety of a...
A feasibility study by Burk-Kleinpeter Inc. and HDR Engineering emphasizes the economic and social benefits of the proposed high-speed rail linking New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Currently under revision, the final report is due March 16. With an estimated 78% probability of having a positive return on investment, the study claims that the value creation...
NPR reports on a public backlash in Arizona against the state’s use of highway traffic cameras, similar to the controversial cameras in New Orleans. This has resulted in Governor Jan Brewer announcing that she will not renew the state’s contract with Redflex, the Australian “photo enforcement” company hired to install and maintain the cameras. Meanwhile,...
Jim Harper, host of the Cato Daily Podcast, makes a sharp observation on the new security procedures established after the Christmas Day terrorist attempt. Harper explains that a privatized, distributed, and diverse airline security would be more effective than increased standardized security at airports. The increased security of the past few years incentivizes terrorists to...
In response to a growing budget deficit, the city of New Orleans has stepped up its parking enforcement efforts. The city recently designated new parking spaces near the Superdome – only to post No Parking signs and ticket offenders. Mayor Ray Nagin has proposed installing more meters around the city and expanding the hours and...
More than five years and six million dollars later, the “crime cameras” planted around New Orleans have finally yielded their first conviction. No, the cameras didn’t catch a violent crime where someone’s life or property was in immediate danger. It was just a run-of-the-mill drug dealer peddling ecstasy pills on a street corner. Meanwhile, a...
President Obama has earmarked $8 Billion for high-speed rail as part of the stimulus package. Boosters of this plan claim that it would ease traffic congestion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But is high-speed rail really the environmentally-friendly, efficient means of transportation its proponents say it is? And would a costly high-speed rail plan benefit...