Infrastructure on CrossGov.com

Senate Permitting Deal S. 5653 Sets a 150-Day Lawsuit Clock and Makes Data Centres Pay for Their Grid Upgrades

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 30 September the chairs and ranking members of the Senate’s two energy and environment committees introduced a bipartisan permitting bill: Republicans Shelley Moore Capito and Mike Lee, and Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse and Martin Heinrich. The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, S. 5653, is aimed at the lame duck. Leaders want floor time in November. It needs 60 votes.

What it does

The bill touches most of the laws that slow big projects.

Transit Fiscal Cliffs: Bay Area Votes on November 3 as the Federal Stopgap Cuts Transit Funding About 20%

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 3 November voters in five Bay Area counties decide on a sales tax to keep BART, Muni, AC Transit and Caltrain running. It would add half a cent in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and a cent in San Francisco for 14 years, raising about $980 million a year against a combined operating deficit of more than $800 million a year. A poll found 54% support.

Permitting Reform Compared: The US Rewrites NEPA, Britain Passes Its Planning Act and the EU Proposes Deadlines With Tacit Approval

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The environmental impact statement for an 88-mile railway in Utah ran to 3,600 pages. When the case reached the US Supreme Court in May 2025, the justices used it to change how the country’s main environmental review law works. In Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, the Court told judges to give agencies substantial deference on how they carry out reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, and said agencies don’t have to study separate projects upstream or downstream of the one in front of them.

California High-Speed Rail Loses Its Federal Grants as Britain's HS2 Resets at Up to £102.7 Billion

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 16 July 2025 the Federal Railroad Administration terminated about $4 billion in grants to California’s high-speed rail project. The Transportation Department put its projected total cost at $135 billion, with about $15 billion spent over 16 years. California is now laying track in the Central Valley with no federal money at all.

Britain’s HS2 tells the same story at a different scale. On 19 May 2026 Britain’s Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, gave Parliament the new price of HS2. The line from London to Birmingham will cost between £87.7 billion and £102.7 billion. In 2019 prices, the estimate is now £70.9 to £82.2 billion, against £35 to £45 billion before. The first trains, between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham Curzon Street, are expected between May 2036 and October 2039. The full route into Euston follows between 2040 and 2043.

Second Avenue Subway vs Madrid Metro: Why New York Pays Over Ten Times the Global Average per Mile

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In June 2026 New York broke ground on the main construction stage of Second Avenue Subway Phase 2. It’s 1.8 miles of tunnel from 96th Street to 125th Street, with three new stations. The construction budget is about $6.9 billion, and the full cost with financing is about $7.7 billion. That works out at more than $4 billion a mile. The tunnel boring machine starts at 120th Street in early 2027, and trains are due in 2032.