INFRASTRUCTURES FUNDS * USA - Study: $2 trillion needed for U.S. infrastructure

Study by the Urban Land Institute: The United States is falling dramatically to remain competitive in the global marketplace.

Washington,DC,USA -The Washington Post, by Ashley Halsey III -May 16, 2011:    ...  Burdened with soaring deficits and with long-term transportation plans stalled in Congress, the United States has fallen behind three emerging economic competitors — Brazil, China and India, the institute said...  The report envisions a time when, like Detroit, U.S. cities may opt to abandon services in some districts and when lightly used blacktopped rural roads would be allowed to return to nature. Eventually, the report says, the federal gas tax will be increased; local governments will be allowed to toll interstate highways; water bills will rise to pay for pipe and sewer replacement; property and sales taxes will increase; and private, profit-seeking companies will play a much larger role in funding and maintaining public projects...  The United States, the institute report concludes, needs to invest $2 trillion to rebuild roads, bridges, water lines, sewage systems and dams that are reaching the end of their planned life cycles...

* CSX Directs $160 Million to National Gateway

VA,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Joseph Bonney -May 18, 2011: -- Money will be used to expand Virginia Avenue Tunnel, provide stacktrain clearances...  CSX Transportation said it will invest an additional $160 million over the next several years to complete the National Gateway between the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, bringing the project to the full funding needed to create a major double-stack intermodal corridor from the East Coast into the Midwest... Most of the money will be used to expand and improve the century-old Virginia Avenue Tunnel in Washington, D.C., and provide stacktrain clearances in Maryland, West Virginia and the District of Columbia... The National Gateway is a public-private partnership will clear 61 obstructions and build or expand six intermodal facilities along CSX's network in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and the District of Columbia. It will provide stacktrain service to ports in Baltimore, Virginia and Wilmington, Del... (Photo from godcgo: Virginia Ave tunnel)