knapsack / flickr By Yogesh Khandelwal and Dan Liggett Advertising billboards, for better or worse, are part of the American landscape. Commonly seen from our many miles of interstates and national highways, billboards are considered an essential marketing tool of business. Some motorists feel they provide useful information, while others regard them as eyesores or unnecessary distractions from the nation’s natural beauty. As usage and popularity of billboards began to escalate in the 1950s, the federal government took initial steps toward regulation. Signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, commonly known as the “Bonus Program,” was an incentive for states to establish control of ODA within 660 feet of the right of way along interstates. States that did so received an additional one half of one percent of their interstate construction costs.

                                Washington State Department of Transportation / flickr The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, passed by Congress in December 2015, authorizes $281 billion in federal funds for highway, transit and highway safety programs over five years. Combined with state and local matching dollars, the nation now has a substantial sum for much needed transportation improvements. FAST Act is a fully paid-for reauthorization of federal highway, transit, highway safety, motor carrier safety, hazardous materials and passenger rail programs.

Andy Tucker / flickr Cities across the United States are completing and planning improvements to their public transportation systems. These improvements are efforts by metropolitan transit agencies, in concert with local, state and federal governments, to relieve congestion on city streets and provide a transportation alternative that will save money for individual citizens and reduce fuel usage. The federal government pumps billions of dollars each year into public transportation improvements. Local and state sources provide funding, too. The improvements include bus, streetcar and light-rail projects.

Congested right of ways complicate completion of infrastructure projects. Utility and telecommunications systems, and water and sewer lines are examples of existing infrastructure that can create nightmares for transportation project engineers. Historically, the lack of good records and technology has been the contributor to timeline overruns, accidents and, in some cases, loss of life when dealing with subsurface obstructions. To counter these dangers, the rise and adoption of subsurface utility engineering (SUE) makes projects safer, especially when paired with the conflict matrix. Absent of taking these steps, critical issues would not be addressed before the first shovels hit the ground.

By Yogesh Khandelwal and Dan Liggett Advertising billboards, for better or worse, are part of the American landscape. Commonly seen from our many miles of interstates and national highways, billboards are considered an essential marketing tool of business. Some motorists feel they provide useful information, while others regard them as eyesores or unnecessary distractions from the nation’s natural beauty. As usage and popularity of billboards began to escalate in the 1950s, the federal government took initial steps toward regulation. Signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1958, commonly known as the “Bonus Program,” was an incentive for states to establish control of ODA within 660 feet of the right of way along interstates. States that did so received an additional one half of one percent of their interstate construction costs.

Government needs its tax dollars in order to operate and provide services to residents. To accomplish this task, the government places a tax lien on your property for nonpayment. Then after a certain period of time foreclose on that lien and hold an auction to recoup its funds. Foreclosure is a judicial proceeding where the- lien holder, or claimant, files a court action to enforce his rights to receive payment for his lien and force a sale of some asset in question. All governments have a mechanism to accomplish the end result of payment of taxes. It may be called by different names and have varying procedures from locality to locality. In Florida, the section in the statutes that controls tax deeds and certificates is Chapter 197 of the Florida statutes. In the hierarchy of quality of deeds an owner can receive, tax deeds are some of the poorest or lowest quality. A general warranty or special warranty deed is the typical deed used for transferring title, where a quit claim deed is used as a curative deed. But instead of having a willing buyer and seller in a typical real estate transaction, tax deeds are adversarial. Tax deeds transfer the title of a parcel of land for nonpayment of real estate taxes to new owners from the legal title owners.

A recent report commissioned by the American Public Transportation Association and the National Association of Realtors found that homes with access to public transit weather downturns in the economy better that those without. With Americans preferring to live in more traditional neighborhood communities, a new generation of homebuyers is willing to spend more to gain access to employment, groceries, housing and shopping that is within walking distance.  Around the United States, hundreds of light rail projects are planned or under way, and there are many more public works projects in various stages of development intended to improve basic service. This is due in part to the public’s desire to live in urban environments where amenities outside of the home and office are easily accessed without the need for an automobile. Today the public is trading large homes in rural areas for the close-knit communities our grandparents would recognize closer in urban areas.