Bridge Set Me Up: New Jersey governor Chris Christie held a press conference Thursday after email and text exchanges emerged suggesting that some of his staffers may have been involved in closing lanes providing access to New York City's George Washington Bridge (already "the world's busiest for motorists") last September to intentionally cause traffic jams in Fort Lee, N.J. in apparent political retaliation against the New Jersey city's mayor. Christie has fired a deputy chief of staff and asked his campaign manager not to seek the state’s Republican Party chairman position. New Jersey's U.S. Attorney's office is investigating.
"All I can do is to apologize for the people who worked for me," Christie said at the press conference.
NBC News has a list of other Washington Bridge factoids.
Other stories driving the day:
Speaking of bridges, the new Frederick Douglass Bridge spanning the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., won't connect commuters to the Suitland Parkway Trail, even though the trailhead is just a mile from the bridge. A missed opportunity. [Greater Greater Washington]
The Women in Architecture Awards shortlist has been announced. [Architects' Journal]
Marvel Entertainment and Hero Ventures released images of the new traveling superhero theme park, featuring a six-story dome. The theme park, "The Marvel Experience," will tour cities in U.S. and Canada, setting up for several weeks at a time. [Forbes]
Atelier Manferdini and Ball-Nogues Studio are two of the firms involved in "Almost Anything Goes," a show of art by architects at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara. [Santa Barbara Independent]
Why would you content yourself to being on a boat when you can be on the city of Monaco on a boat? [Business Insider]
Alex Bozikovic weighs in on the announcement of the five firms shortlisted to design the new Vancouver Art Gallery. He notes that the budget for the project is tight: about $800 per square foot, as compared to (for example) the $1,200 per square foot spwent to build the Broad in Los Angeles. [The Globe and Mail]
Why no Vancouver firms made it to the shortlist. [Vancouver Sun]
Construction is slated to resume on the Afragola rail station designed by Zaha Hadid, Hon. FAIA, in Naples, Italy. [Designboom]
The California Geologic Survey released maps of West Hollywood that illustrate a fault line running along Sunset Boulevard, where many projects are underway or approved. [WEHOville]
Last year, Starbucks opened its first store on a train. Now, the coffee chain is launching new stores with high-end "localized" design and designing up to 60 percent of new U.S. cafes to be drive-thrus. So far, 11 Starbucks drive-thrus made of shipping containers have popped up across the country. [Wired]
Sotirios Kotoulas, an architect who designed and signed the drawings for a 24-story tower in Winnipeg, is not in fact a licensed architect. [Winnipeg Free Press]
Architect Nonda Katsalidis and his investors have sold their stake in Australia 108, which will be Melbourne's tallest tower, if it is ever built. Katsalidis may have pulled out financially, but he is still the architect behind the project. [The Sydney Morning Herald]
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat in Illinois has listed the a new Marriott hotel in New York at the top of its list, knocking a Marriott in Detroit down to 2nd place. The Courtyard-Residence Inn Central Park opened on Dec. 29 and is 750 feet tall. [USA Today]
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