Potential delays in the implementation of congestion pricing has led New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority to approve the sale of $1 billion in bonds supported by sales taxes. The money would go toward the agency's five-year, $51.5 billion capital plan that includes efforts to modernize subway signals, fund new buses and upgrade tracks.

Major highway expansions, commuter rail lines and bus rapid transit are part of a nearly $173 billion, 30-year Metro Atlanta transportation plan approved by the Atlanta Regional Commission Board. The plan covers 20 counties and about 450 projects designed to reduce congestion amid rapid population growth.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., wants to finalize a bill on surface transportation in March and have the committee vote in April. Legislators must finalize a highway bill by Sept. 30, when the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act expires.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has selected Stantec to develop a plan to guide the design, zoning, policy planning and stakeholder engagement for an expected bus rapid transit program along the West 25th Street Corridor. The plan will also explore opportunities to connect future developments to adjacent transit connections.

Dredging the Vermilion River in Louisiana to a depth of eight or nine feet would spare only 175 homes in Lafayette and cost $150 million, according to a study by the Army Corps of Engineers and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Dredging "would help to a certain extent some hundreds of homes but not the thousands of homes, the 7,300 homes in this area that were impacted by the 2016 floods," said Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La.

The smart city of the future will use data from buildings and other infrastructure to inform city officials' decisions, but rigid, citywide master plans are losing favor. Approaches that are on the rise involve a human-centric focus, financing such as bonds and grants, and community-first rather than city-first thinking.

A number of areas around the world that face severe stress over water supplies are beginning to turn to digital solutions from companies such as Black & Veatch. The company uses smart technology that employs sensors across infrastructure to gather water data that is then analyzed with artificial intelligence to maximize water supplies and minimize costs.

The Sisters of St. Joseph in New Orleans have leased a 25-acre parcel to the city for $1 per year so officials could turn it into one of the country's largest urban water gardens to help mitigate future flooding. The parcel was the site of a convent that suffered significant damage during Hurricane Katrina.

The Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York is applauding New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's decision to accelerate regulatory clearance for green projects across the state. The move could add tens of thousands of jobs while also going a long way toward addressing renewable-energy infrastructure needs.

Nur Yazdani, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington, is developing a web-based tool to design concrete slab elevations to protect coastal homes against flood waters. Yazdani will monitor the failure of pier-beam concrete slabs reinforced with carbon fiber and then create a complementary decision-making software and guidance manual.

Anchors are designed and built to resist the overturning moment placed on a structure because of outward soil movement. In an analytical model proposed in ASCE's "International Journal of Geomechanics," researchers apply the limit equilibrium principle to estimate the ultimate pullout capacity of a vertical anchor embedded in frictional soil. Get this technique free for a limited time, courtesy of ASCE Library.

Inspired by seeing a friend go to a career fair without a suit and tie, a younger member has opened a good discussion on what is appropriate dress for interviews. Is casual more permissible these days? Share your perspective in the ASCE members-only forum at ASCE Career by Design.