Tagged: transportation

 Taxi cabs have a new breed of competitors. New companies like Lyft, Uber and Sidecar give smartphone users the ability to reserve a ride through an app on their phone. Some of the companies use private car owners as their main drivers. Will traditional taxis fall by the wayside? How are these new companies regulated? Ross Reynolds talks with KUOW’s transportation reporter, Derek Wang.  

Correction 6/4/2013: A previous version of this story had a typographical error. The bridge is scheduled to be closed June 5, not June 6.

King County plans to close an old bridge near Kent earlier than originally scheduled, officials said Monday.

The Alvord T. Bridge is both structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. It’s the first such closure since last month’s I-5 bridge collapse in Skagit County.

The 1920s and 1930s are sometimes called "the age of the dirigible." Dirigibles were giant, steerable blimps and zeppelins, and they used to be a popular way to transport crowds of people from place to place. But then there was the fiery Hindenburg disaster. And during wars airplanes could easily shoot them down. After that airships were pretty much reduced to flying above football games and other kinds of surveillance.

A Persistent Problem Overcome

Dirigibles never regained popularity because of a basic problem: they could only dock at special places where they could be tied down. Otherwise, they'd spring up into the air the moment you off loaded the cargo.

Now engineers have overcome that problem by simply compressing the helium upon landing. It's such a simple fix that its inventors are kicking themselves for not having thought of it sooner, and because dirigibles can lift extremely heavy loads much more efficiently than airplanes, the new airship's inventors believe we could see a new age of dirigibles.

Full list of stories from KUOW Presents, May 30:

News From Congress: Rep. Jim McDermott
Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington's 7th District in Congress joins us to discuss how congressmen and woman have become essential advocates for safer infrastructure after a crisis hits their district. McDermott is calling for more resources to avoid disasters like the Skagit River bridge collapse. Also, the latest on the IRS, the Affordable Care Act and the Alaska Pebble Mine. 

Rite Of Spring
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Paris premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky.  The performance provoked a riot.  Critics and audience members wrote afterwards there was so much noise that the dancers couldn’t hear the music over the audience boos.  What made "Rite of Spring" so provocative?  Why has its centennial been marked by contemporary artists and academics around the world? Marcie Sillman and Dave Beck explore the history and legacy of "The Rite of Spring."