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These layoffs surely must be a fad of the times, it can't be true that almost every major organization has over hired in the last few years.

The IRS is looking to revert their reduction in force program, which I discovered via TheMorningNews.

The Internal Revenue Service is no longer planning to pursue layoffs as it seeks to rebuild parts of its workforce. The tax agency is now working to plug staffing holes with hiring, reassignments and rescinding the administration’s deferred resignation offer for some employees upon finding mission-critical staffing gaps.

In other news, Trump issues an order to create the National Design Studio to improve government websites for the people. Seems good on paper until you realize DOGE shutdown 18F whose job it was to do exactly this.

Chick-fil-A's distribution centre at Union Pacific's Prime Pointe Industrial Park in Dallas, Texas, is ready to receive hash browns, waffle fries and other tasty potato products via rail from Oregon. According to Union Pacific's press release, the distribution facility will serve 200 stores in the area, receiving an average of size rail cars a day, offsetting the equivalent of "100 long-haul trucks off the road each week."

The potato products I assume are produced by Lamb Weston's located by Union Union Pacific's Portland Subdivision railway line that runs along the Columbia River in Oregon.

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) launched the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program to fund projects that improve safety around level crossings. This $1.1 billion grant program aims to create grade separation through tunnels or bridges over railways, close crossings, relocate track, protect or improve protection at existing crossings, and plan works involving the crossings. Since opening for applications in September of 2024, 123 projects have been accepted, covering over 1,000 crossings.

These goals are very similar to those of the Dutch National Level Crossings Improvement Program (LVO) started in 2014 to improve safety and traffic flow at crossings, and the NABO program, launched in 2018, aimed at eliminating all passively protected level crossings in the country. While the funding mechanisms for these projects are slightly different—where the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management funds up to 50% of the project, the US FRA fund up to 80%—the outcomes are the same.

This paper written by nine researchers talk about how the presence of bicycles lanes have a traffic calming effect for motor-vehicle users at intersections. That is to say it not only makes the street safer for cyclists but micro-mobility users and pedestrians as well.

we found that the effect of the delineator-protected bicycle lane (marked with traffic cones and plastic delineators) was associated with a 28 % reduction in average maximum speeds and a 21 % decrease in average speeds for vehicles turning right. For those going straight, a smaller reduction of up to 8 % was observed. Traffic moving perpendicular to the bicycle lane experienced no decrease in speeds. Painted-only bike lanes were also associated with a small speed reduction of 11–15 %, but solely for vehicles turning right. These findings suggest an important secondary benefit of bicycle lanes: by having a traffic calming effect, delineated bicycle lanes may decrease the risk and severity of crashes for pedestrians and other road users.

The paper also mentions that the road width decreased slightly when adding the temporary bicycle lanes which in itself is considered a traffic calming measure by the Federal Highway Administration.

Discovered via Taras Grescoe.