Stories related to: highways

In dismissing what she called “elite opinion” and embracing the gas tax holiday, Hillary Clinton has adopted a regressive energy policy, Andrew Leonard of Salon writes. Her declaration yesterday—“I’m not going to put my lot in with economists”—smacks of George Bush’s worst moments and ignores the harsh reality that any serious plan to deal with the climate and fuel crises requires that gas prices go up, not down. More »

The world's first satellite navigation comedy has British drivers chuckling up and down the country's busiest highway, the Guardian reports. The "satcom," called 230 Miles of Love, features audio comedy sketches set to play when drivers reach certain points along the country's 230-mile-long M6 highway. More »

A string of freeway shootings in Los Angeles County is causing more jitters than usual on its jam-packed arteries, the Los Angles Times reports. Windows of six cars were shot out by a mystery sniper wielding a BB gun yesterday, the day after a driver died from a possibly self-inflicted gunshot wound. A motorist was also shot and wounded on Saturday, and two others were killed last month. Police don't believe the incidents are connected. More »

You may soon be able to evade a traffic jam with a little help from your fellow driver, the Washington Post reports. California start-up Dash Navigation is launching a GPS device that collects speed and location data from vehicles, then uses the information to figure out which roads are congested and warn drivers away. More »

Dash-cam videos that show the South Carolina Highway Patrol ramming black suspects with patrol cars and using racial slurs have triggered a federal probe, the State reports. In one of the five incidents, a trooper sent a suspect flying with his cruiser and then told a fellow officer, "Yeah, I hit him. I was trying to hit him." The state's US attorney is investigating.   More »

Police don't know why a young mother threw her young sons from a Dallas highway overpass into rush-hour traffic yesterday before leaping off herself—but they're completely stunned that all three survived, AP reports. "It was really miraculous that we didn't have some fatalities," said the local police chief. The mom and her 8-year-old son were struck by cars; her 6-year-old boy was not. More »

A group of Dallas Pentecostal Christians reading the Bible one day noted that Isaiah 35, Verse 8, mentions a "highway for holiness." That put them in mind of nearby Interstate 35, which runs from Laredo, Texas, to Duluth, Minn., NPR reports, and that, in turn, prompted an unusual prayer movement. Originally set to last 35 days, the idea was to rally the faithful to call God’s attention to “everybody that lives in all parts of this highway,” says its founder. More »

As subprime fallout ripples across the country, several states are planning to increase road, bridge, and tunnel tolls, and not by mere pennies, USA Today reports. The George Washington Bridge, for example—which lets New Jerseyites into the Big Apple—will raise its rush hour price from $5 to $8 for cars, and $35 for trucks. One official defended the move, saying, "People view highways as free, but they're not." More »

The most complicated and expensive highway project in American history is finally complete, AP reports. After 16 years of excavating and building, the ambitious "Big Dig" tunnel project under Boston will be turned over to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority January 1. The final price tag was $14.8 billion—$12 billion over the first estimate in 1982. More »

A Utah Highway Patrolman who Tasered a motorist in the back has been cleared of wrongdoing, the Deseret Morning News reports. A public-safety panel found that cop Jon Gardner had been justified in zapping motorist Jon Massey as he was walking back to his car after a traffic stop. Gardner has been getting death threats since Massey posted a dash-cam video on YouTube, where it's been viewed over a million times. More »

Cruising the Goldman Sachs Turnpike might not be as futuristic as it seems, Time reports, as more states lease highways to private companies to raise quick cash for infrastructure needs. And backlash didn't stop Indiana from grabbing $3.8 billion for a 75-year lease on the Indiana Toll Road. States and localities are considering 71 such projects, worth $104 billion. More »