Public Works

For years, Oregon has been diligent about reducing the state's dependence on fossil fuels, but its environmental consciousness has come at a stunning price -- gas tax revenue is down $4.8 million a year compared with 2006. That drop, caused by lower fuel consumption and a slowing economy, has prompted Oregon to consider a new way to pay for road repairs: Democratic Gov. Theodore R. Kulongoski's upcoming budget calls for a highway tax based on mileage, not gasoline purchases.

Three months ago, Los Angeles' plan for a $3-billion solar energy installation seemed like it had come out of nowhere, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and seven City Council members saying they needed to act quickly to get it on the March 3 ballot. With events moving so rapidly, Department of Water and Power General Manager H.

If swimmers in Santa Monica Bay bump into trash or bacteria this summer, one culprit will be California's budget impasse. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of voter-approved projects have been halted because of the state's financial problems. That includes $12 million that the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission was counting on to prevent dirty storm water and filthy runoff from draining into the bay. "People expect to be able to enjoy the beach and not come home sick," said state Sen.

For residents of eight modest houses on a lone block in Wilmington, a replacement bridge and truck expressway planned for construction nearby means a slightly elevated cancer risk. The government agency that used computer modeling to assess this risk has proposed a solution: new air-conditioning filters to remove the project's toxic emissions.

Once the shadowy and violent domain of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, Medellin has undergone a renaissance over the last decade due to enlightened civic policy and public works, offering government officials proof that urban decline can be reversed. Once one of the world's deadliest cities, Medellin's homicide rate has dropped by more than 90% since the mid-1990s.

First Hollywood floated the plan. Now, Santa Monica is talking about adding open space by building over freeways. City officials in Santa Monica are exploring the idea of "capping" the 10 Freeway between 17th and 14th avenues as a way to add seven acres of land to the city and possibly create more open space. The City Council voted Tuesday night to authorize city staff to submit an application to the state for $250,000 in grant money to fund a feasibility study for the idea.

The great sewer wars of Malibu have finally drawn to a close. Sewers won. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board agreed late Thursday to ban septic systems in central and eastern Malibu, a move that would end years of fierce debate over the wastewater devices still commonly used in one of Southern California's most picturesque and exclusive coastal communities. New septic systems will not be permitted in Malibu and owners of existing systems will have to halt wastewater discharges within a decade.

The sensation is palpable, if not slightly remarkable. There you are hurtling southbound in the No. 3 lane on the Long Beach Freeway. Your car is rattling, your tailbone jumping to the rhythm of a concrete washboard abused by years of heavy trucks and piecemeal repairs. Then it happens, between the 105 and Rosecrans. You hit a bump, and suddenly your tires purr, your coffee settles in its cup and the radio reception seems more crisp. You may not know why -- it is the nature of freeways that we seldom consider their mechanics -- but you are now experiencing the I-710 Long Life Pavement Project, as Caltrans calls it. Begun in 2001 and scheduled for completion in the next five years, the transformation of one of Southern California's most neglected freeways is hardly an exercise in speed.

It is a six-mile stretch of guardrail near a manufactured lake in a desolate patch of the Oklahoma Panhandle. There's little reason for anyone to visit. Weeds are overgrown; the lake bed is virtually dry. Yet repairing the guardrail is on a list of projects developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to tap into President Obama's $787-billion economic stimulus program. The price tag: more than $1.1 million.

Two prominent governors, California's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pennsylvania's Edward G. Rendell, sent a memo to President Obama saying he needed to assert more political leadership instead of leaving it to Congress to draft a plan for improving the nation's aging highways, bridges and ports.