December 1: Turnpike link to I-95 | Parkadelphia | Highway widening fails

The EB-5 program that allows international investors to obtain a green card to the U.S. in exchange for major investments in the U.S. will pay off as Chinese investors have signed up to pay for the Turnpike/I-95 link. The same program is being used to develop the Eastern Tower in Chinatown. 

A new report is urging an update to Pennsylvania law reducing barriers to police department mergers. Outside of Philly, small low-capacity part-time police departments abound, and this entails a not-insignificant waste of resources. The state spends over $500 million a year supplying state police services to areas without local police departments. 

It’s possible to do a kludgey version of dynamic parking pricing with the kiosks we have, but if we want to achieve Greenworks’ goal of time-of-day pricing, we need better real-time information on curb parking occupancy. The first step is collecting information on our curb parking supply, and this Parkadelphia project from friend of the site Lauren Ancona is a great start.

New work rules at the Convention Center aimed at increasing labor flexibility – which also saw two unions lose their right to work at the Center -seem to be paying off. Chris Hepp reports convention bookings are up.

Gilles Duranton, and University of Pennsylvania economist, and collaborator Michael Turner of Brown say it’s a “fundamental rule” of traffic that adding road capacity just makes people drive more, and doesn’t reduce congestion. Somebody tell state lawmakers – Act 89 will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on highway widening projects around the state even as vehicle miles are stagnating.

Patrick Hammons, who we’ve been collaborating with on a mapping project, is going to San Francisco for a Code for American fellowship, but here’s why he’s coming back after that.