25Open questions and known gaps
The short version: What we looked for and could not pin down well enough to print. If you can source any of it, the corrections desk below wants to hear from you.
Still digging
16 things we could not source well enough
Each of these would make the guide better. Send a source and we will add it, with credit if you want it.
- Number of combined sewer overflows in Europe and the UK as a whole
- Whether Boston's tall buildings mostly use rooftop tanks or basement booster pumps
- Whether Boston Water and Sewer Commission has a target date for replacing all lead service lines
- The voltages Eversource uses on its Boston distribution feeders
- What share of US streetlights are owned by utilities vs by cities and towns
- How far Boston's gas-lamp-to-LED conversion has progressed as of 2026, and whether networked smart-lighting nodes are installed
- How long Boston bars digging up a newly repaved street, and which agency sets that rule
- Which Boston roads MassDOT maintains, and a full split of city versus state streets
- How many street cleaners Waring employed in New York's "White Wings" force
- When US cities stopped dumping plowed snow into rivers
- Boston's ticket and tow amounts for parking on a snow emergency artery
- Whether Boston pre-treats roads with brine
- National 2026 count of 911 centers that are fully NG911-capable or accept text-to-911
- Telephone central offices under city streets
- Paris city government, the Metropole du Grand Paris, and who runs Paris roads; who runs Tokyo's national and ward roads
- Origins of the mayor-council form of US city government