Infrastructure Weak
@infrastructureweak.bsky.social
Renter; bike and transit rider
Construction project manager
Posts about safe street design and transit projects
Berkeley, CA
Construction project manager
Posts about safe street design and transit projects
Berkeley, CA
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
And when you account for the massive increase in construction costs during the pandemic, the story looks even worse. We estimate that there was no consequential increase in spending on bridges, rail transit, or transit in general. Even spending on highway pavement has barely increased.
November 12, 2025 at 5:41 PM
And when you account for the massive increase in construction costs during the pandemic, the story looks even worse. We estimate that there was no consequential increase in spending on bridges, rail transit, or transit in general. Even spending on highway pavement has barely increased.
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Beyond the obvious top-line—that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law failed to change the equation of transit funding—this also highlights just how important it is to get transit construction costs under control.
It's lighting money on fire.
Great thread by @yonahfreemark.com:
It's lighting money on fire.
Great thread by @yonahfreemark.com:
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed 4 years ago. In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social we study its effects.
US transport spending increased by 30%, but:
—Funding for non-highway projects flatlined
—Construction cost increases resulted in no actual increase in infrastructure
US transport spending increased by 30%, but:
—Funding for non-highway projects flatlined
—Construction cost increases resulted in no actual increase in infrastructure
Federal Infrastructure Spending on Transportation, Four Years after the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is up for reauthorization in 2026. New analysis shows that the act increased spending on transportation infrastructure, but…
www.urban.org
November 12, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Beyond the obvious top-line—that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law failed to change the equation of transit funding—this also highlights just how important it is to get transit construction costs under control.
It's lighting money on fire.
Great thread by @yonahfreemark.com:
It's lighting money on fire.
Great thread by @yonahfreemark.com:
Footage going around Reddit shows a September incident in which a Muni LRV went over speed at Duboce Park. This section is currently driven in manual.
Muni is working on CBTC for all of its light rail lines, which would provide an engineering control to prevent this.
www.sfmta.com/projects/tra...
Muni is working on CBTC for all of its light rail lines, which would provide an engineering control to prevent this.
www.sfmta.com/projects/tra...
November 12, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Footage going around Reddit shows a September incident in which a Muni LRV went over speed at Duboce Park. This section is currently driven in manual.
Muni is working on CBTC for all of its light rail lines, which would provide an engineering control to prevent this.
www.sfmta.com/projects/tra...
Muni is working on CBTC for all of its light rail lines, which would provide an engineering control to prevent this.
www.sfmta.com/projects/tra...
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
This SFGate front pager is vociferously anti-Fresno and I kinda like it. It is nice to see "sprawl bad" as fact, not opinion.
www.sfgate.com/centralcalif...
www.sfgate.com/centralcalif...
Residents of large Calif. city known for sprawl oppose mega-development
"We're still living in this gerontocracy, post-World War II mindset."
www.sfgate.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:50 PM
This SFGate front pager is vociferously anti-Fresno and I kinda like it. It is nice to see "sprawl bad" as fact, not opinion.
www.sfgate.com/centralcalif...
www.sfgate.com/centralcalif...
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
By learning from other countries and adopting international best practices, California High Speed Rail was able to cut its costs by $14 billion and cut 70% of tunnels.
This is a big lesson for transit projects both in NY & around the US: start by learning from other countries.
tinyurl.com/mvsmfxa2
This is a big lesson for transit projects both in NY & around the US: start by learning from other countries.
tinyurl.com/mvsmfxa2
November 11, 2025 at 10:29 PM
By learning from other countries and adopting international best practices, California High Speed Rail was able to cut its costs by $14 billion and cut 70% of tunnels.
This is a big lesson for transit projects both in NY & around the US: start by learning from other countries.
tinyurl.com/mvsmfxa2
This is a big lesson for transit projects both in NY & around the US: start by learning from other countries.
tinyurl.com/mvsmfxa2
The 26ft clear road width requirement from the US model fire code, Appendix D:
Not only making road diets ineffective and brownfield redevelopment boring and car-centric, but now also being used to prevent construction of taller, safer buildings on streets that don't comply.
This rule needs to go.
Not only making road diets ineffective and brownfield redevelopment boring and car-centric, but now also being used to prevent construction of taller, safer buildings on streets that don't comply.
This rule needs to go.
The good news: Portland is opting into Oregon's optional 4-story single-stair code section.
The bad news: Portland's fire marshal has managed to insert a poison pill into what appeared to be a take-it-or-leave-it appendix text, likely making it unusable in most cases.
djcoregon.com/news/2025/11...
The bad news: Portland's fire marshal has managed to insert a poison pill into what appeared to be a take-it-or-leave-it appendix text, likely making it unusable in most cases.
djcoregon.com/news/2025/11...
Portland’s new single-staircase rule faces big hurdles
The city now allows single-staircase buildings as tall as four stories, but a fire access rule may make most projects unbuildable, one designer warns.
djcoregon.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:49 AM
The 26ft clear road width requirement from the US model fire code, Appendix D:
Not only making road diets ineffective and brownfield redevelopment boring and car-centric, but now also being used to prevent construction of taller, safer buildings on streets that don't comply.
This rule needs to go.
Not only making road diets ineffective and brownfield redevelopment boring and car-centric, but now also being used to prevent construction of taller, safer buildings on streets that don't comply.
This rule needs to go.
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Good write up. Honestly as someone who reviewed housing elements at HCD, I found that time and again local planners and consultants used sneaky tactics to reduce the feasibility of multifamily housing. I find the insistence on local bottom-up reform to solve the housing crisis hopelessly naive.
I wrote about state-level ADU reform and the differences between @strongtowns.org and YIMBYism. www.maxdubler.com/blog/2025/11...
On The Tension Between YIMBYism and Strong Towns — Max Dubler
Special thanks to those who gave their thoughtful feedback on this piece. The past couple of months have seen quite a bit of Discourse about the differences between Strong Towns and YIMB...
www.maxdubler.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Good write up. Honestly as someone who reviewed housing elements at HCD, I found that time and again local planners and consultants used sneaky tactics to reduce the feasibility of multifamily housing. I find the insistence on local bottom-up reform to solve the housing crisis hopelessly naive.
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
we defeated the scourge of a third parking garage within a 3-block radius once, and we'll defeat it again
BUSD is reviewing plans for a campus expansion on Milvia Street, which may or may not include two floors of parking for school staff.
Berkeley High parking garage development is back on the table
BUSD is reviewing plans for a campus expansion on Milvia Street, which may or may not include two floors of parking for school staff.
www.berkeleyside.org
November 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
we defeated the scourge of a third parking garage within a 3-block radius once, and we'll defeat it again
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
A great reason to be a transit service planner instead of a transit infrastructure planner is that we service planners deal mostly in cost numbers that are easy to explain.
Unfortunately, they tend to be tiny numbers. The big money goes into rounding errors and contingencies for infrastructure.
Unfortunately, they tend to be tiny numbers. The big money goes into rounding errors and contingencies for infrastructure.
It's impressive how contemporary projects' budgeting practices in Canada are made of very thin actual analytical estimates based on quantities and unit prices on top of which there is an entire enormous castle of random percentages of percentages of percentages which are suspiciously multiples of 5.
November 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
A great reason to be a transit service planner instead of a transit infrastructure planner is that we service planners deal mostly in cost numbers that are easy to explain.
Unfortunately, they tend to be tiny numbers. The big money goes into rounding errors and contingencies for infrastructure.
Unfortunately, they tend to be tiny numbers. The big money goes into rounding errors and contingencies for infrastructure.
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Trégey Tower by Lambert Lénack, completed in 2025: 15-story neo-brutalist high-rise in Bordeaux (the tallest single-stair France allows prescriptively). It has a single winding stairway protected by a vestibule (likely pressurized), seven mostly 2-3BR units per floor. divisare.com/projects/541...
November 8, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Trégey Tower by Lambert Lénack, completed in 2025: 15-story neo-brutalist high-rise in Bordeaux (the tallest single-stair France allows prescriptively). It has a single winding stairway protected by a vestibule (likely pressurized), seven mostly 2-3BR units per floor. divisare.com/projects/541...
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Every single corner and every place two different materials meet is another potential leak
One way to reduce condo defect liability: stop forcing architects to design buildings that leak. HCD’s “objective design standards” guide *encourages* making building envelopes more complex, heightening leak and therefore defect lawsuit risk cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/Ap...
November 7, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Every single corner and every place two different materials meet is another potential leak
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
I'm going to steal the phrase "playing Moneyball" for transportation improvements.
It's a great metaphor; we leave so many easy pickings on the table.
It's a great metaphor; we leave so many easy pickings on the table.
Service-led planning is exactly for use cases like this! The whole region should be playing moneyball to squeeze performance improvements wherever they can be found. And by “performance” I mean better experiences for riders.
@seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social
@dereksagehorn.bsky.social
@seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social
@dereksagehorn.bsky.social
previous 60 bus to campus departed 2 minutes before the Berryessa BART train arrived.
seems like a little coordination of BART schedules and 60 bus schedules could reduce the wait time for transferring passengers a lot
seems like a little coordination of BART schedules and 60 bus schedules could reduce the wait time for transferring passengers a lot
November 7, 2025 at 4:04 AM
I'm going to steal the phrase "playing Moneyball" for transportation improvements.
It's a great metaphor; we leave so many easy pickings on the table.
It's a great metaphor; we leave so many easy pickings on the table.
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
At Terner Fall Colloquium, Buffy Wicks signals that the next big reform for the state legislature is going to condo liability reform and ownership housing units
November 7, 2025 at 2:00 AM
At Terner Fall Colloquium, Buffy Wicks signals that the next big reform for the state legislature is going to condo liability reform and ownership housing units
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Californians:
November 7, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Californians:
@alfredtwu.com absolutely had the right idea getting ornamentation into the North Berkeley BART design standards as an option in lieu of articulation/breaking up the massing/dissimilar materials. We should keep adding provisions like that, and make the nice building below possible here once more.
Imo Chicago infill architects are getting pretty good at these historicist brick facades
November 6, 2025 at 4:08 PM
@alfredtwu.com absolutely had the right idea getting ornamentation into the North Berkeley BART design standards as an option in lieu of articulation/breaking up the massing/dissimilar materials. We should keep adding provisions like that, and make the nice building below possible here once more.
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
November 6, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Crazy that there's no statewide agency that would look at the success of Caltrain and just copy that model for Metrolink and the Coaster.
Caltrain popularity among riders at all time high: https://blog.bayareametro.gov/posts/caltrain-popularity-among-riders-all-time-high!
Caltrain popularity among riders at all time high
Caltrain released the results of its 2025 customer satisfaction survey last week, with the rail agency receiving a record high satisfaction rating of 4.41 out of 5, up from 4.02 in 2024.
blog.bayareametro.gov
November 5, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Crazy that there's no statewide agency that would look at the success of Caltrain and just copy that model for Metrolink and the Coaster.
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
I'm co-hosting a fundraiser for two Bay Area orgs working on improving transit: @transbaycoalition.bsky.social & @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social! Barnali Ghosh, Cecilia Lunaparra, & others also co-hosting!
Sunday, Nov 9, 2-4pm, in West Berkeley near San Pablo Ave.
www.eventbrite.com/e/transbay-c...
Sunday, Nov 9, 2-4pm, in West Berkeley near San Pablo Ave.
www.eventbrite.com/e/transbay-c...
Transbay Coalition & Seamless Bay Area Fall Fundraiser Garden Party
Come celebrate our recent wins, meet Transbay Coalition and Seamless Bay Area supporters and help raise money for Bay Area transit advocacy.
www.eventbrite.com
October 25, 2025 at 6:48 AM
I'm co-hosting a fundraiser for two Bay Area orgs working on improving transit: @transbaycoalition.bsky.social & @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social! Barnali Ghosh, Cecilia Lunaparra, & others also co-hosting!
Sunday, Nov 9, 2-4pm, in West Berkeley near San Pablo Ave.
www.eventbrite.com/e/transbay-c...
Sunday, Nov 9, 2-4pm, in West Berkeley near San Pablo Ave.
www.eventbrite.com/e/transbay-c...
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Ride @bart.gov @sfmta.bsky.social @rideact.bsky.social or other Bay Area transit agencies ? You're about to save a bunch of money with Clipper 2.0! Our trip saving calculator built w/ @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social & @tsch.uy will show you how much. See for yourself > clipper2.hikingbytransit.com
Clipper 2.0 Savings Calculator
clipper2.hikingbytransit.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Ride @bart.gov @sfmta.bsky.social @rideact.bsky.social or other Bay Area transit agencies ? You're about to save a bunch of money with Clipper 2.0! Our trip saving calculator built w/ @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social & @tsch.uy will show you how much. See for yourself > clipper2.hikingbytransit.com
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Forget hydrogen or batteries. Just electrify trains like the rest of the world, with simple overhead line that allows efficient engines to pull power direct from source.
Congrats to @caltrain.com, where newly electrified trains are delivering vastly improved service - and rave reviews!
Congrats to @caltrain.com, where newly electrified trains are delivering vastly improved service - and rave reviews!
We love good news! 🤭
Survey Says: Riders Love Caltrain! Read more: https://www.caltrain.com/news/survey-says-riders-love-caltrain.
Survey Says: Riders Love Caltrain! Read more: https://www.caltrain.com/news/survey-says-riders-love-caltrain.
Survey Says: Riders Love Caltrain | Caltrain
2025 Customer Satisfaction Survey shows widespread exuberance over electric service
www.caltrain.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Forget hydrogen or batteries. Just electrify trains like the rest of the world, with simple overhead line that allows efficient engines to pull power direct from source.
Congrats to @caltrain.com, where newly electrified trains are delivering vastly improved service - and rave reviews!
Congrats to @caltrain.com, where newly electrified trains are delivering vastly improved service - and rave reviews!
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
I truly never thought I’d see the day when Marin County voters went pro-housing; but they appear to have opted to upzone parts of Sausalito(!) and rejected the housing-centric recall effort against the mayor of Fairfax.
November 5, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I truly never thought I’d see the day when Marin County voters went pro-housing; but they appear to have opted to upzone parts of Sausalito(!) and rejected the housing-centric recall effort against the mayor of Fairfax.
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
tired: leaders throw folks under the bus
wired: leaders invite folks on the bus in a dedicated lane
wired: leaders invite folks on the bus in a dedicated lane
November 5, 2025 at 3:44 AM
tired: leaders throw folks under the bus
wired: leaders invite folks on the bus in a dedicated lane
wired: leaders invite folks on the bus in a dedicated lane
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Massive moment for the utility relocation streamlining for transit projects community
November 5, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Massive moment for the utility relocation streamlining for transit projects community
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
Quick build separated bikeway upgrade installation underway now, 17th Street In Downtown Oakland from San Pablo Ave to Telegraph.
November 4, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Quick build separated bikeway upgrade installation underway now, 17th Street In Downtown Oakland from San Pablo Ave to Telegraph.
Reposted by Infrastructure Weak
I’m proud of how the spooky L turned out! Always lovely to see so many families enjoying the Great Hauntway from all over the city.
Thanks to @sunsetdunes.org for all the work that goes into the Great Hauntway, and the support in getting the Spooky L authorized again.
Thanks to @sunsetdunes.org for all the work that goes into the Great Hauntway, and the support in getting the Spooky L authorized again.
October 26, 2025 at 11:56 PM
I’m proud of how the spooky L turned out! Always lovely to see so many families enjoying the Great Hauntway from all over the city.
Thanks to @sunsetdunes.org for all the work that goes into the Great Hauntway, and the support in getting the Spooky L authorized again.
Thanks to @sunsetdunes.org for all the work that goes into the Great Hauntway, and the support in getting the Spooky L authorized again.