House Panel Releases Freight Transportation Report

In a rare display of bipartisan functionality on Capitol Hill, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation has released its final report on the current state of freight transportation in the U.S. and its recommendations [...]

New SMACNA HVAC Duct Construction App Makes Constructing Duct A Snap

The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) has a new app for its flagship manual, “HVAC Duct Construction Standard—Metal and Flexible, 3rd edition.” This app greatly simplifies the process of finding construction options for rectangular du [...]

Americans' appetite for Amtrak service growing

While politicians can’t agree on much, Iowans and the majority of Americans surely agree on one thing: They want more Amtrak service, not less. On the heaviest traveled passenger rail corridor in the nation, the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak keeps breaking ridership records. But [...]

SSA, RRB benefits to rise by only 1.5 percent

WASHINGTON – Social Security benefits for nearly 58 million people will increase by 1.5 percent next year, the government announced Wednesday. The increase is among the smallest since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975. It is small because consumer prices haven’ [...]

Boardman to Senate: Invest in NEC

The Northeast Corridor is a national transportation asset and Congress should stop taking it for granted, Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Boardman told a Senate committee yesterday. The corridor is aging, failure prone and lacks redundant systems to keep it o [...]

Americans Love Amtrak

The following op-ed appeared in the Des Moines Register and was co-authored by SMART Transportation President John Previsich and Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department. “While politicians can’t agree on much, Iowans and the majority of America [...]

Sheet Metal Workers Train For the Challenge

A profile of the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 206 Joint Apprenticeship and Training Center in San Diego.  San Diego Planning Commissioner Anthony Wagner attests to the value of a quality training program like that available through Local 206.  “The sheet metal workers hav [...]