Portland Day 5

The day at railvolution started off with the Community Streetcar Coalition meeting. The big news coming out this meeting was that Utah will receive a $26 million tiger II grant for construction of the Sugarhouse Trolley. So not only will we have four TRAX lines and another commuter rail line opening by 2015, we should have our first modern streetcar in the next couple of years.

In addition $200 million in new start money will be freed up with the cancellation of the ARC tunnel project that would link New Jersey and New York. The tunnel has been very controversial with even rail advocates on opposing sides of the issues.

I went to several outstanding sessions including the Impacts of Streetcars on Neighborhoods and Development, Biketopia which had some great information on how biking can effect development, Partnerships and Streetcars plus Blogging for rail.

Finally the head of the American Public Transit Association gave a speech on the status of transit today.

Blog Entries of Note...

Image via WikipediaFrom Streetsblog San Francisco:

Bike, Ped Improvements Part of Portland’s Stimulus Plan

Many places are being criticized because their stimulus plans is too highway oriented but Portland is looking to finance bike and pedestrian improvements.

Obama Nominee Ray LaHood Appropriated Big Money to Road Lobby

Obama's nominee of LaHood has been criticized across the board and will most likely be the most dividing nominee of the Obama administration.

From the Daybreak Blog:

Daybreak's New Community

Daybreak is creating a community that is for the over 50 crowd. However, it will not be an exclusive area, just one that has the features that the over 50 crowd is looking for. With this part of the population getting bigger and needing more pedestrian friendly environments, it is nice to see Daybreak comeing to the table.

From the Bike Utah Valley Blog:

Why we Build Roads Instead of Transit

Some common sense from Brad down in Utah County.

From the Denver Infill Blog:

#7: Downtown Streetcars!

People in Denver like many other cities across the country are starting to consider streetcars as an alternative to buses.

From the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

The Latest Stimulus News from D.C.

The blog shows the breakdown of where the money for transit will go as apposed to the money that will allocated for highway projects.

From the California High Speed Rail Blog:

"A Revolution In Travel Habits"

Spain is seeing big changes in riding habits since the opening of the new high speed rail line between Madrid and Barcelona.

From the Amtrak Tracking for my Commute Blog:

2nd Hudson Rail Tunnel Clears Key Federal Hurdle

New Jersey Transit is getting closer to building the new tunnels under the Hudson that will connect the Northeast corridor to New York City. While on the face of it this is a project that will give badly needed capacity, it is also a project that shows the typical transit menatily blinders that keep from seeing the bigger picture. The new project will not connect up with other regional carriers and not improve transportation throughout the region.

From Streetsblog:

Streetfilms: Sharing Street Space in Paris

How Paris drivers share the road with bicycles.

From the Cap'N Transit Rides Again Blog:

The Failing Railbanks

Railbanking seemed like such a good idea. Take a rail line that is not currently being used by may be needed in the future then rail bank it as a trail for the time being then reactivate the rail line when needed. However, the trail advocates want the trail to themselves and fight to keep rail lines from being reactivated.

Blog Entries of Note...

Image by btobin via FlickrFrom the Daybreak Today Blog:

TRAX in Daybreak - Real Estate Boost?

From the Stephen Rees Blog:

Federal government, Ontario agree on $3.3B auto bailout package

The US isn't the only place were automakers are looking for a bailout. Canada plus the providence of Ontario has agreed to a bailout for the beleaguered automakers.

Funding Transit Elsewhere

Stephen Rees notes that voters in Manchester England voted down congestion pricing while Seattle is still trying to figure out what to do with the infamous viaduct. Many would like a San Francisco type option with the removal of the viaduct with increased transit service but the state constitution forbids highways funds being used to fund transit even if its part of a highway project.

From the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

In the Bronx, Pedestrians Bring the Business

A local community board charges that the loss of parking for bus service is causing a downturn in business (of course its not the economy!!). However numbers show that the area generates more pedestrians than even the famous London shopping district of Regent Street

Older Pedestrians at Risk in the Region; Gov. Paterson Responds

As the average age of the population increases, it will be more important that ever to insure that elderly people feel safe while doing such everyday things as walking across the street.

Groups, Electeds: CT Must Put Rail Project on Fast Track

This commuter rail project is along a stretch of track owned by Amtrak. While it is considered part of the northeast corridor, it has been the poor step child of the main north east corridor.

From the California High Speed Rail Blog:

Will Obama Repeat Clinton's Failure?

Clinton made some big promises about rail transportation in 1992 that never happened. Will Obama fail transit and rail transportation just like the Clinton Administration?

Bay Guardian: Build the Downtown Extension

One of the biggest problems with effective transportation planning is politics. We have seen it locally and here is an example from California. Caltrain currently ends south of downtown San Francisco and should be extended to the Transbay Terminal which would also allow High Speed Rail to use the facility. However, will politics get in the way?

Obama And Congress To Screw Up The Stimulus?

More on the possible outcomes for the stimulus package and where the money will most likely go.

From the Transit Miami Blog:

Public Transit Up; Auto Industry Down

While the 3rd Quarter looked good, you have to wonder what the 4th quarter will bring with the lower gas prices.

From the Trains for America Blog:

Amtrak NEC ridership down sharply in November; long distance ridership up

From the Streetsblog LA Blog:

Streetsblog Network: No Way to Build a Sidewalk

Story about a pole in the middle of a Louisville, Ky sidewalk. The question is asked why pedestrians have to deal with this and not motorist. They make a good point but if they drove 3300 South westbound west of about 1700 East, would they make the same claim? After all you cannot tell were the road ends, the telephone poles begin and were the pedestrians should run for cover.

Blog Entries of Note...

Image by SheepGuardingLlama via FlickrFrom the Bike Utah Valley Blog:

Transportation Open House Report

Brad over at Bike Utah Valley has some good comments about the recent transportation meeting. One comment he makes is that UDOT is still UDOT and is solely thinking about highways. Once again this shows that the people who are advocating turning UTA over to UDOT have one purpose in mine: to get UTA's funds transferred to highways because they are highway foamers.

My Dream for Orem

Brad tells us his dreams for Orem including rail instead of BRT which makes a lot of sense. I would only add that a rapid and regular streetcar would work fine instead of full blown LRT on some of his route suggestions.

From the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

NJ Pioneers an Urban Approach to “Safe Routes to School”

A New Jersey program that is designed to win federal funds that are targeted toward pedestrian improvements around schools. Creating safer environments for pedestrians especially school children is very important to build a truly pedestrian friendly area.

New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Line Scoping Hearings Announced

Connecticut DOT who operates commuter rail service in the state is looking at changes to Amtrak's neglected step child of the northeast corridor the New Haven to Springfield line.

ConnDOT, NYSDOT Commissioners Tout Transit-Oriented Development at Mayors’ Institute

New York and Connecticut are pushing transit oriented development to lesson the need for cars in the very congested region.

From the California High Speed Rail Blog comes:

Why is Adrian Moore Lying to the LA Times?

There is several good points made in this blog. First it has a link that shows how much oil money the supposed "independent" so-called think tank the Reason Foundation gets (much like its counterpart the Heartland Institute home to anti-transit mouth piece Wendell Cox).

It also shows how much new passengers high speed rail is carrying in Europe.

From the Track Twenty-Nine Blog:

Streetcars V 2.0

Washington DC is already looking at one streetcar line but Matt shows his proposal for a comprehensive streetcar network that would benefit much of the Washington DC area.

From the Transit Miami Blog:

Of Buses and Trams

According to the University of British Columbia, modern streetcars are the most cost effective and efficient investment of transit dollars. Second is Light Rail (which serves a different market from streetcars), followed by trolleybuses.

Coming soon to a Health District Near You!

A new health center being built just a third of a mile from a Tri-Rail commuter rail station but will have tons of parking but still qualifies for silver LEED certification.

From the Trains for America Blog:

Amtrak offers national rail pass

For years Amtrak has a rail pass but it has only been available to international tourist. They also have had another product that US residents could by but it required you to travel at least one segmant on the VIA rail network in the United States.

Now you can purchase a rail pass for US only trips.

From the Overhead Wire Blog:

Euclid Corridor BRT opens in Cleveland

Interesting article about the Federal New Starts program and how their effectiviness is calculated by the FTA.

From the Streetsblog (New York) Blog:

Park, Ride and Wash in Fahrradfreundliche Muenster

While UTA and Salt Lake proceed on thier bicycle center, maybe they can take some ideas from Muenster, Germany.

Blog Entries of Note...

Image by Amber Rhea via FlickrFrom the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

Where the Sidewalk Continues…

In September 2006, NJ Gov. Jon Corzine launched a five-year, $74 million statewide pedestrian safety initiative that included money for several NJDOT pedestrian safety programs, traffic calming infrastructure, “traffic-stat” technology, and increased inter-agency coordination. Two years in, the results are visible around the state.

This is what we need in Utah, a program to improve pedestrian safety.

From the Xing Columbus Blog:

62 New Bike Racks Installed in Past Three Months

Columbus, Ohio has installed a large number of bike racks around their city recently. One of the problems many bicyclist face is the lack of facilities to park their bikes. The next time you are out see how often you see bike racks available.

From the Overhead Wire Blog comes:

Pushy SF1

Another great entry from the Overhead Wire about so called free market and new urbanism.

From Streetsblog LA:

Metro Making Room for Bikes on Their Trains

Metro in Los Angeles actually banned bicycles during rush hour periods but is now reversing itself and doing the same thing as UTA: removing seats from trains to give more room for bicycles.

Transportation for America Launches Legislative Campaign

Campaign to improve transit and rail infrastructure.

From the Steve Munro Blog:

Diesels, Not Hybrids, At Least For Now

Back when UTA implemented the fuel surcharge people scream why doesn't UTA buy more Hybrid buses (UTA currently has three in the fleet). In Toronto, they have decided to order more diesel buses because the batteries are only lasting a quarter of the time they were supposed to.

From the Orphan Road Blog:

Parking Ruins Everything

Some interesting information about a couple of different boroughs in New York.

Blog Postings from this week...

Image by xde19 via FlickrFrom the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

TSTC Is Kicking Transit-Oriented Development Up a Notch

Two organizations in the Tri-State area of New Jersey, Lower New York and Connecticut are working together to provide grants for transit oriented development. While some road warriors will use this as ammunition against transit projects, as not in this blog and others there is plenty of subsidies going to big box retails and developers.

From the California High Speed Rail Blog:

Orange County Knows Better on Proposition 1A

Orange County's Ultra-Right Wing newspaper has come out against the proposed high speed rail bill that is on the November ballot. No surprise there but there is some good comments about public/private ownership.

From the Transbay Blog Comes:

Freeway Revolts of the Future

For those not familiar with the situation, San Francisco is the first and so far only place in the nation to actually tear down a freeway after it was damaged in the 1989 earthquake. Instead of a elevated two story freeway along the water front you have a nice pedestrian friendly boulevard with the F line historic streetcars traveling north of Market Street and the quasi Light Rail/Streetcar lines traveling south. Who will be the next to get rid of a freeway?

From the Trains for America Blog:

Amtrak funding bills tied into rail safety, pass house

A bill that will give Amtrak $13 Billion over the next five years about also include privatization and safety improvements has passed the house.

From the Streetsblog Los Angeles:

City Council Moves Bike Sharing and Advisory Committee Reforms

Los Angeles may be moving to offering a bike sharing program.

From the RT Rider Comes:

Tax Increment Financing For Transit

I have mentioned in the past that one of the biggest problems transit agencies face is that they are usually totally dependent on the sales tax which is very cliclical. The RT Rider in Sacramento hsa some alternative ideas to the sales tax that may be worth exploring since something like a property tax is dead before it gets started.

From the N-Judah Chronicles comes:

Assessing The Damage Caused by Crazy Governor, Goofy Legislature on MUNI, BART, et al...

What would happen if they actually turned UTA over to UDOT? Would we be dealing with the same kind of stupidity that California is now facing? It just proves the stupidity of that idea but we must remember it is promoted by the people pulling the puppet strings who want UTA's money to highways.

From Baltimore Inner Space comes:

Pratt Street

Talk about making a street in Baltimore better.

Blog Postings from this week...

Image via Wikipedia First up from the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

In NJ, “Son of Toll Hike” is Born

While Utah looks at the possibility of its first toll road, the New Jersey turnpike authority is looking to increase toll charges in order to replenish the state highway trust fund. A portion would go to the New Jersey Transit project to build additional tunnels from New Jersey to Penn Station in New York to deal with train congestion out of the area.

From the Denver Transit Stop Blog:

Public Private Partnership Pilot Program (Penta P)

This talks about the RTD in Denver looking at Public-Private partnerships in order to get some lines built in its Fastracks program.

The author has an excellent description of the various types of partnerships and how they work so it is differently worth a look.

From the Xing Columbus (Ohio) Blog:

Money Never Disappears for Sprawl

The blog mentions that Ohio has instituted a policy of fix it first meaning that it will fix existing highways before starting new ones.

From the Transit Miami Blog:

Boondoggle

A couple of weeks ago an article was published in some magazine that listed the biggest boondoggles (by who's classification?) and Transit Miami points out while its own project the expansion of Metro Rail has not happened so far, you have to question some of the others on the list including the unique Sydney Opera House.

From the Transbay Blog:

Sunday Streets and More, This Labor Day Weekend

San Francisco closed a street to create a pedestrian fair.

From the Overhead Wire:

Making San Francisco More Accessible by Amtrak

There is a couple of ways to get to San Fransisco by Amtrak. First by long distance train you can get off in either Emeryville or Oakland and take a bus to the San Fransisco or if your on one of the corridor trains you can take BART from Richmond (which I did on multiple occasions).

However, the post points out about the disconnect between local, state and national carriers which was pointed out in the intragration series.

Battlefield NIMBYism

Article from New Jersey were NJ Transit wants to put commuter trains on a existing rail line but people who run a revolutionary war battlefield think railroad tracks are a blight and should be eliminated.

From the RT Rider:

The cost of free parking

Growing a transit lifestyle in barren soil

John talks about difficulties in buidling a transit lifestyle in Sacramento. You can see the comparisons to many places in along the Wasatch Front.

From the N-Judah Chonicles:

Just What IS A "Green Bus Shelter" Anyway?

Putting grass on top of a bus stop shelter makes it a green shelter?

From the CTA Tattler:

Higher gas prices mean big CTA ridership increase

Chicago is also having a major increase in ridership in both rail and bus.