Portland Day 6 and Day 7 to Seattle

Today was the final day at Railvolution and the my final day in Portland.

There was two workshops today and I attended the one discussing employment centers near TOD and an introduction to complete streets. The first session had some good information from Los Angeles on the concentration of employment on the subway the sea which was followed by a presentation from a Bellevue, Washington planner discussing how that city is planning to develop two station areas beyond the downtown alignment controversy.

The session on complete streets showed what states have passed legislation mandating complete streets (which also points out how little is being done about it). The session also talked about some of the difficulties being experienced getting road engineers on the program because it isn't part of their "little black book".

Finally I went on my final mobile workshop of Railvolution which discussed some successes and difficulties of developing suburban TOD in the Portland area. We had the opportunity to check out several TOD projects and I will be discussing what was talked about on those tours and some of the things that was not talked about.

That finishes up my time at Railvolution and Portland. On Friday I head up to Seattle on Cascade Talgo operated by Amtrak. For anyone who has not had the opportunity to ride the Talgos in service in the northwest I highly recommned it.

Upon arrival in Seattle I had the opportunity to take my first ride on Link light rail but it was only through the downtown tunnel. From there I picked up a rental car since I will be heading to areas with poor transit service during the week and non-existant service on the weekends.

Seattle, Portland, and Dallas Open new Light Rail Lines

Image by Oran Viriyincy via Flickr

While I have been away over the last couple of months two cities have opened light rail extensions and my favorite city Seattle has finally opened its first light rail line.

Both Portland and Dallas opened new light rail lines last month and ironically their both referred to as the Green Line.

In Portland the new line goes from Clackamas Town Center to downtown and shares right of way with the existing Blue and Red Lines from the Gateway station to the Rose Quarter. From Rose Quarter through downtown the Green Line shares right of way with a rerouted Yellow line along the former bus mall.

For more information check out the Tri-Met website.

Dallas also opened their new green line and more information can be found on the DART website.

Dallas, like Salt Lake City is working on several new light rail lines and extensions that were approved by the voters a few years ago.

Finally light rail has come to Seattle. Some thought it would never happened but it has finally opened. Ridership has not been what it should be but it will be extended to SEATAC by the end of the year and that should boost ridership. Work is now progressive on the extension to the University of Washington.

For more information check out the Sound Transit website.

Blog Posts of the week...

Image via Wikipedia Here are the blog posts that I found interesting this week:

From a new blog simply called Light Rail Transit comes this entry:

Economic Impact of Light Rail - Dallas, Texas

Good information on how properties appreciated around DART line at a faster rate than those not close to a DART line.

From the blog Track Twenty Nine comes this entry:

"History's Gonna Change"

The author talks about the movie Back to the Future (a favorite of mine), and how the changes in the town square from 1955 to 1985 and on to 2015. While the movie was actually shot on the Universal back lot (the entire town area burned to the ground in their recent fire, to does a good job of showing the decline of downtown and its rebirth.

From the Overhead Wire comes a story about Los Angeles Rail ridership being up:

Rail Ridership in LA Up Again

What is interesting is that Los Angeles may be voting in may for to increase taxes for more rail lines. Of course the Bus Riders Union is opposed along with the areas usually cast of transit haters. Just put things in perspective, the Blue Line between Los Angeles and Long Beach is carrying 86, 000 passengers per day.

From the Streetsblog Los Angeles Blog comes these:

Transit Stimulus Bill Needs Co-Sponsors in Senate

Wiki Wednesday: Urban Bicycling With Children

From the Smart Growth Around America Blog comes this entry:

Poor sidewalks, bikeways and transit service a barrier for older Americans seeking relief from high gas prices

Interesting post, I have several neighbors who should not be driving but do to how pedestrian unfriendly my area can be most of them have to drive.

From the Seattle Transit Blog:

Central Link Tukwila Live Wire Testing

It is nice to see something about to happen in Seattle. The company I was working for at the time temporarily had me living in Seattle when the vote for this project took place and that was 1996. Long time to wait for progress. Look what Salt Lake has done in that time!

But 100,000 hours is a lot of buses

Sound Transit in the Seattle area provides regional service while the the counties and one city in the Puget Sound region provide for local service. With a tax measure going to the voters in November, some are wanting more buses now instead of light rail in the future. The Seattle Transit Blog has some good answers to this.

From the Planetizen Blog:

Walkable Neighborhood Grocers

This is an excellent posting about how important walkable grocery stores are to making a walkable city.

From the CTA Tattler in Chicago:

Dire Straits band rides the Red Line to Wrigley for a game

What, you mean they didn't ride in their luxury motor home?

That's it from this week.

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