A look at the Gold Line in Los Angeles

Image via Wikipedia
The Gold Line in Los Angeles has been beat up since its opening in 2003. Ridership has been disappointing and everyone is quick to point fingers including blaming light rail despite the extreme success of the other light rail lines in Los Angeles.

In a way, the Gold Line is near and dear to my heart. The line operates along the former right of way of the Santa Fe Railroad that was home to the Santa Fe's most famous passenger trains the Super Chief and El Capitan. For the first 19 years of my life, I lived most of them within a few blocks of this line and during high school the railroad went behind the home that my parents owned.

The best way to learn how to make a system successful is to look at what is done right and what is done wrong within a transit system.

First of all, the gold line travels from Union Station in Los Angeles to Sierra Madre Villa in Pasadena (I am only going over the original line, not the recently opened East Los Angeles extension). As mention the route travels along the former right of way of the Santa Fe railroad which was abandoned in 1994 for construction of the Gold Line.

The line starts at Los Angeles Union Station. While Union Station is an architectural marvel, it sits outside the main downtown area and requires a transfer to reach anyplace in the downtown area. Once of the big downfalls of the Gold Line presently is that there is no connection between itself and the Blue Line between downtown and Long Beach. While the Red Line does provide connecting service anyone wanting to travel from the Blue Line to the Gold Line must make two transfers to make the connection.

The Regional Connector project that will link up the Gold Line with the Blue Line and the under construction Expo Line will be a boon for the Gold Line allowing single ride and single transfer connections between the different light rail lines.

In addition even transferring at Union Station takes effort. Because the Red Line subway was designed before plans were made for the Gold Line, making connections between the two requires several trips down an escalator, a walk down a tunnel under the Amtrak and Metrolink station tracks, then up a ramp to the gold line station.

The next stop on the route is the Chinatown Stop. This stop is located in the more industrial part of the Chinatown area and is a couple of block walk to the main action in Chinatown. In addition the area looks run down and does not give the average person confidence if walking after dark. Metro also lists several buses that connect at this station but several of them are located a few blocks away.

Lincoln and Cypress is another stop that shows multiple bus routes serving them but most of the bus routes run on Figueroa which is a pedestrian unfriendly walk from the Gold Line Station. The best option would be to have routes 90, 91, 94, and 794 feed directly into the gold line once the regional connector is finished. To accomplish this the presently small parking lot will need to be replaced by a parking garage with a bus turnaround located at ground level.

Next up is the Heritage Square station. This route does have parking and is served by route 83. However METRO lists the station as being served by Route 81 but it is several blocks away. After the Heritage Square station comes the Southwest Museum stop. Yes, the stop serves the Southwest Museum plus the surrounding community but has no parking.

Highland Park is another station that shows being served by multiple routes but truly only has one route directly serving the station. The station also has parking available however the neighborhood is heavly gang infested so walking to the other buses or leaving a car in the parking lot would not be the best idea.

If you ride the line after the Highland Park Station you cross the Arroyo Seco on a spectacular bridge. Below you will see the Pasadena Freeway, one of the first freeways in the nation and one of the most hair raising experiences for a driver. It is not too bad when you get on where the freeway starts on the north or from the south but if you get on at most any other on ramps you are in for an experience. First you have to come to full and complete stop then accelerate into the freeway lane. There is no acceleration lanes, when you move from your stop you are in a main traffic lane with people coming at you at high speed.

The next stop is the single stop in South Pasadena. South Pasadena is best known for fighting the extension of the Long Beach freeway (I-710) through town. However, don't think that these people are some big transit supporters looking to stop a freeway, they are the ultimate NIMBY's. They just want the freeway moved to the lower income part of town (lower income by South Pasadena's standards, not the average person).

Metro shows there is parking available at the station but it is extremely limited. There is a neighborhood shuttle to the station during peak hours plus Metro line 176. The problem is that most residents of the city would have to access the station via car due to the lack of available transit service so it limits the number of potential riders at the stop.

All the remaining stations are in the Pasadena area. First up is Fillmore which for years has mainly been an industrial area. The street immediately to the east of the Fillmore and Del Mar station is Arroyo Parkway which becomes the Pasadena Freeway. The area around the station seems to be transforming since the coming of the Gold Line but still has a ways to go.

I talked about the Del Mar station when discussing TOD and TAD a few months back. Both the Del Mar and Fillmore Station do have service from ARTS and one Metro bus route with most of the other Metro lines located at least a block or more away. The next station at Memorial Park actually had an apartment complex built on top of the station back when it was still a mainline railroad but once again would probably be classified as Transit Adjacent Development not Transit Oriented Development.

The next two stations are both located in the center of the Interstate 215. The lake street station has seen some development nearby but both it and the Allen Station suffer from the problems of being in the middle of a freeway: hard to access, limited redevelopment possibilities and large amounts of noise for waiting customers.

The current end of the line is at Sierra Madre Villa. The station has a multi level parking garage and some recent development around it. However, once again the station is hard to access because of being in the middle of the freeway.

So what is keeping the Gold Line from reaching its full potential:

First of all, the lack of the regional connector from Union Station to the Blue line at the Flower/7th has been a major factor in the Gold Line not being the success it should be (although ridership is still adequate, just not what it should be). Once the regional connector is finished, it will be a major boon to the line.

Second factor hampering the Gold Line is Metro which has done a poor job of integrating bus service with the Gold Line. Transfers from bus to light rail should be seamless and easy for the customers. Metro has altered several bus lines to serve the Sierra Madre Villa station, however that is at the east end of the system and is of little help for people traveling to the main shopping and employment areas of Pasadena unless they want to back track. The number of buses serving the station will be very helpful once the line is extended to Azusa and beyond.

One idea would be to take Pasadena ARTS transit route 10 and modify it so that it would service the Del Mar light rail station and service the major retail and employements centers in the city. The route already does a good job of this but needs to be integrated with the light rail line to make it more effective.

Another long term problem facing the Gold Line is the lack of expansion capacity. Several stations were designed for only two cars trains and how many trains can be at the station at one time. The South Pasadena and Highland Park stations would be difficult to expand due to nearby streets but could be done. While capacity may not be an issue at the present time, looking long term capacity issues will need to be dealt with.

The final problem facing the Gold Line is the lack of parking. While the stations close to downtown do not need parking, the farther out you get from the center of the town, the larger need there is for parking. Yes, in a perfect world we would love to see the line be able to do without parking, but until we start seeing a fundamental change in development patterns, parking is going to be needed.

While the Gold Line does have issues, the line has the potential to become a super star. It is up to Metro and the cities involved to make it happen.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Good and Bad Density, TOD's and TAD's (transitinutah.blogspot.com)
• Metro Gold Line extension breaks ground (abclocal.go.com)
• Gold Line Train to Montclair Gets some Funding (laist.com)
• L.A. light rail takes a big step into the San Gabriel Valley (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
• Gold Line Foothill Extension to Break Ground Saturday (laist.com)

It's Been Five Years!!!

Image via Wikipedia

It is hard to believe, but it was five years ago today that I started Transit In Utah.

We have seen some good times in the last five years with the opening of Front Runner, the first of what we hope will be transit oriented development, plus the ground breaking and construction of several new light rail lines.

On the other hand we have seen the problems caused by the many problems with the economy (which we don't seem to learn our lessons from), the subsequent cutting of services due to the downturn in revenues and distractions of organizations such as the bus riders unions that have been popping up despite the damage done by the most famous of bru's in Los Angeles.

Of course our local bus riders union seemed to put on a few dog and pony show's courtesy of the anti-hunger organization but otherwise has been a non-factor.

When I first started this blog I had no idea where I was going to go with it and to some extent I still have no idea where it might evolve. I have toyed with the idea of changing the name and focusing more on general issues instead of being Utah based. This may still come to pass as my work and life may take me to other pastures in the future.

However, I also believe there is so much to learn from what other systems are doing and is being proposed so I am probably going to start talking about some of the issues, problems and successes of other systems. This will especially be true of areas that I am very familiar with such as Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Spokane, and Charlotte.

In the last five years I have had the pleasure of reading many excellent blogs about transit. Because they are done by people with lives beyond the blog like I do, some of them have faded into the night while others are going strong. I always hate to see when of the writers I like decided to hang up the keyboard because I think we loose something when an excellent writer moves on.

I just to mention a few of the blogs that I regularly read and give them a nod for the work they do. I am not doing them in any particular order, just the way they are bookmarked on my computer which is not exactly alphabetical.

First up is the Cap'n Transit Blog out of the New York metropolitan area. Over the time I have been reading this blog there has been some great postings about coordinating services and other important issues.

Another blog I regularly follow is the Orphan Road blog out of the Puget Sound Region. Another Seattle based blog is the Seattle Transit Blog.

More great information can be had at the Streetsblog network. There is several now but I ones I most often reference is the original in New York, plus the ones in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Out of the Miami area is the Transit Miami blog. Before I traveled down to Railvolution which was a held in Miami a few years ago I was able to catch up on many issues down in that region and check them out.

A great blog that focuses on development and transit issues in the Denver area is the Denver In-Fill Blog.

A couple of blogs I have discovered more recently is Human Transit and Transport Politic.

Finally we have the Transit Sleuth blog. Adron who runs the blog recently moved from Portland to Seattle and is changing over his services which means I have been missing it for the few weeks. He has excellent incites in transit issues from a Libertarian point of view.

Hope you take a look at this excellent blogs.

Well its been five years and I have no idea where this blog will go in the next five years but I am sure it will be a ride :-).

The Clearfield Front Runner Station

Image via Wikipedia

Clearfield to reveal alternate plan to UTA

For those of you that had the pleasure of spending time at the Clearfield Front Runner station, you should ride on the UTA bus routes that services the station. You will enter a large swath of parking lot. Do a couple of tight maneuvers and arriving at the station with very little to attract people to.

UTA proposes to change this and make it a vibrant new transit oriented development. However, some in Clearfield apparently are worried that too many new residents would come and their little city will be overwhelmed. Therefore they are coming up with their own development plan that will most likely do nothing to enhance the area around the station and basically create another poorly designed suburban development.

In fact, Clearfield should be looking forward to having some life shot into it. If you ride the 470 along State street what you will see on both sides of the street is a town that is dying. It seems that the city council of Clearfield has their heads in the sands about the future of their community.

Sorry, I don't have much faith in what the Clearfield city council will come up with.

Reducing Unnecessary Auto Trips

Image by LA Wad via Flickr

Trip Numbers

Anyone who has paid attention to transit advocacy over the years have been hit in the face by the road warriors with the statement: "Transit represents only a small portion of trips".

First of all when it comes to numbers, numbers can be manipulated any way you want to make your point especially if you have a agenda to extend. What the trip numbers don't tell you is several things:

1. They do not compare how many trips are taking in a particular corridor say from the area of the Sandy TRAX station to downtown.
2. Second, this numbers also include business trips including commercial deliveries and pick ups.
   

Second, the logic of the road warriors is that all these people driving instead of other options "choose" to drive. The truth is that people have little choice but to drive but there are ways to reduce the driving numbers.

Do we have choice?

The question is, do people choose to drive or is there no alternatives.

As I said in my posting about Density, TOD and TAD, few people have the choice to reduce auto trips. Even higher density development throughout the area is truly auto centric and does nothing to reduce auto trips.

As I mentioned in that article, if a person needs some basic supplies at a grocery store or basic convenience items the only choice is to talk a mile or more but more realistically is to get into the car and drive.

Statistics show that many auto trips are less than two miles in length.

Reducing Trips with TOD

As I mentioned in the TOD article, one of the important aspects of TOD is to reduce unnecessary auto trips. This is done by providing businesses such as cleaners, restaurants, small grocery stores near these developments.

If people live in these developments, they can quickly walk to these services without getting in their car. When I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina back in 1990-1992 my apartment complex had a shopping center within its confines. In fact several apartment complexes were withing walking distance of this shopping center.

Instead of driving to the grocery store or other stores in the shopping center I could walk reducing many unnecessary auto trips. In fact my walk to the shopping center was probably less than many people's trips across the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Not only do these provide services for the residents in the TOD developments but they can also reduce trips for those that park at transit stations. A person could get off their TRAX train, grab their dry cleaning, pick up a gallon and milk and head home. The alternative is the person first gets off TRAX, drives to the dry cleaners, then drives to a grocery or convenience store, then finally drive home.

Reducing Paratransit Trips:

As I have mentioned before, the biggest cost facing transit systems is the unfunded mandate to provide ADA Paratransit service. I am not saying this service is necessary for the people that use it, but what the Federal Government did was burden transit systems to provide service without any additional funds to provide it.

However, one of the benefits of TOD is that it gives those with physical disabilities the ability to live in areas where they don't need paratransit service as frequently as they do now. Not only does this allow the mobility impaired to have more options but it will reduce the number of extreme paratransit trips.

Government and Other Services

Another problem with our current system is the how hard it is to access many government and other services such as libraries, government buildings, and post offices.

Post Offices

Few people realize that until a couple of years ago the Postal Service did not have to abide by our current bad zoning ordinances much less any transit friendly ones. Many post offices are extremely pedestrian unfriendly such as the one in Midvale despite it being close to the Midvale Central TRAX Station.

Also many main post offices have been moved to where it is convenient for their trucks to hub not for their customers. For example the one at 2100 South and Redwood is close to transit but is very hostile to pedestrians.

The future of the postal service is beyond the scope of this blog but there needs to be a thoroughly study on what its future is. Should people living in urban areas continue to subsidize the mail delivery in rural areas? How much is it costing to provide home mail delivery service across the suburbs?

One solution would be to put small contracted postal stations in TOD developments in addition to other retail development. Like other services the postal service should concentrate new post offices close to transit connections.

Libraries:

Libraries are another government service that need to focus their locations where transit access is easy and convenient.

Lets take a look at the Holladay library as an example since I frequent that one. While it is currently on a bus line by moving it either to the new a few blocks away to either the new Holladay Village center or to the largely abandoned center at the northwest corner of Murray-Holladay and Highland that badly needs to be re-purposed.

Another solution would be to create pick up points at TOD developments so that people could order books and pick them up on the way home from work or while running other errands.

Other Government Services

Too many recent government buildings have focused on building Taj Mahals facilities that have poor access for citizens. New government buildings should be designed economically and with easy acccess for transit riders and pedestrians.

Final Thoughts

This was a small example of how we can reduce short auto trips.

It will take collaboration between private businesses, government agencies, and other organizations that provide services. It will not happen overnight and will have resistance, but in the long term a more sustainable area will be created.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Good and Bad Density, TOD's and TAD's (transitinutah.blogspot.com)
• Estimating the impacts of smart growth: the importance of forecasting traffic correctly (switchboard.nrdc.org)
• Cost of rides for disabled soars at T (boston.com)
• Outlook grim for Postal Service as revenue ebbs (sfgate.com)

Good and Bad Density, TOD's and TAD's

One of the big issues around last year's city council election in the city of Holladay focused on density. The existing council promoting density including Holladay Village and the rebuilding (if it happens...) of the former Cottonwood Mall sight. On the other side were the people running against the incumbents who fear density, thinks it will bring in "those kind of people" and basically want to stick their heads in the sand wishing there little enclave of acre lots will never change.

One of the problems when you mention the word density is that people picture this:


This condo development located at the corner of Van Winkle and 1300 East is the perfect example of bad density. This complex does not in any way encourage the use of transit or walking. While people may walk out of the complex, the builders did not make it easy to do.

In addition there is nothing within easy walking distance of this complex. If you need anything you either have a very substantial walk (which people are just not going to do) so they are going to drive. A complex like this does nothing but increase traffic congestion which and this is what comes to most peoples minds when it comes to density.

Now take a look at this development in Pasadena, California.




This place is near and dear to my heart. Not only did I grow up four blocks from these buildings, but this complex is situated around the former Santa Fe passenger station that I spent a lot of time at growing up.

This is what is often referred to as Transit Oriented Development. It focuses residential and commercial development at a transit station in this case the MTA's Del Mar Gold Line station. Now there is some good and bad associated with this complex.

First the good.

Residents have easy access to transit. All they have to do is walk a few feet out of their apartments and they can board a Gold Line train to Los Angeles.

However that does not make good transit oriented development. What makes good transit oriented development is whether the complex reduces the number of short automobile trips. One of the benefits of this complex is that there is plenty of restaurants within walking distance. Even the former Santa Fe station has now been turned into a restaurant so residents do not have to jump in their car to get a bite to eat.

On the other hand, the downside is that there is no grocery shopping in the immediate vicinity. While there is a Trader Joe's a few blocks away, if you need to grab an item or two the only solution is driving. There is a convenience store located across the street but it has a very limited selection even by convenience store standards.

To make matters worse there is very little bus service in the area. Metro (MTA) has done a very poor job of coordinated bus service and rail service in the Pasadena area. The bus along Del Mar only runs hourly and you have to walk a couple of blocks to reach Colorado Blvd where most of the bus service exists.

Another term that has recently come into use is TAD or transit adjacent development. While TOD encourages the use of transit or walking, TAD is located near transit but does not encourage the use of transit.

Some extreme transit, pedestrian and bicycle advocates will paint anything that has parking as being TAD instead of TOD. However, the reality of today is that parking is still going to be needed and a complex will loose market share with out it. While it would be nice to be completely car free there is many people not willing to make that jump yet and 80 years of auto centric development has made it even more difficult. I applaud the people who have been able to become completely car free but right now they are a small minority.

Now that we have traveled from Holladay to Pasadena lets had back to the Salt Lake Region and look at this new complex going in:




This is the Meadowbrook Station complex going in near, you guessed it, the Meadowbrook TRAX station. However, is this complex going to be TOD, or is it more TAD?

At first glance things look positive. The complex is located within walking distance of the Meadowbrook TRAX station and is planning to have a retail element to it.

However, then there is the current downsides.

First of all, this complex is located in the middle of an industrial area. While the complex may eventually have retail and restaurants, at the present time there is nothing within walking distance of this complex. A person will have to use a car for most trips. In addition even bus service is hard to access because you have to walk to the far side of the TRAX station to even reach it.

In addition the complex still has a big focus on parking. Like I said you do not want to eliminate parking altogether but this complex (along with the new apartment complex at Daybreak) still focus too much attention and the parking lot and not making access to transit easier.

Hopefully, the area around the complex will eventually change and hopefully will create a transit oriented corridor all the way from the Meadowbrook Station down to the Murray North Station at Fireclay. Until that happens this complex will really have to be classified as TAD instead of true TOD.

Now here is an interesting building located right on State Street in downtown Salt Lake:



Notice at the bottom of the picture on the left the grocery store? That's right people in this complex and the surrounding area do not have to get in their cars in order to get a couple of items. They can just walk into this little store and get what they need. How many auto trips does this little grocery store eliminate by providing residents with an easy place to buy groceries?

Now back to Holladay and the issue of Holladay Village. Will Holladay Village be good density or bad density?

Well first of all it does have 3 bus lines servicing it from good bus service (45) , to barely adequate bus service (228), to useless bus service (223).

Second there will be shops available for residents to shop in and restaurants nearby so the complex could eliminate some automobile trips. Finally there is a grocery store located across the street so residents do not have to drive to the market. In fact by the time they go through the parking lot to their car they would be halfway to the Village area so why bother driving? ( I know many still would..).

So Holladay Village would not be a bad development. It could actually eliminate more auto trips that the new Meadowbrook Station complex.

Density, TOD, and TAD are complex emotional issues that you need to look beyond the surface and truly see how the development will function and be part of the community.

Streetsblog Talks about a Portland TOD Project

Image via Wikipedia

On Thursday the Streetblogs network had an excellent article on financing transit oriented development:

How Portland Sold Its Banks on Walkable Development

The articles discuses a project in Gresham, Oregon which is on the far eastern side of Portland's MAX light rail system. The article shows how the county planning agency took the lead to see that a TOD project was built and now it is leading to additional investments in the area.

In 1987, I made my first trip to Portland to stay for a few nights and I happened to stay in Gresham proper since it was near the then new "MAX" light rail line. At the time the city was typical suburbs with park N ride lots at the transit stations but nothing near by similar to what TRAX started out with.

However, by 2004 when we made multiple trips to the city, the whole area has begun to change. There is more development near the transit stations giving residents a choice to leave near a transit station and use a car less.

Here in Salt Lake City we are starting to see the first phases of TOD taking shape. The Fireclay project is starting to expand, the new transit station is accepting residents which sits near the 3900 South station (although I have some reservations about that project and I will share them in the future), and new homes are going up at the Sandy Civic Center TRAX station.

Another problem the article mentions is when economic development councils subsidize car oriented development. We have seen this when certain big box retailers are given substantial subsidies to build in certain locals with politicians salivating over the sales tax that they will bring in despite the evidence that these developments often cost more than they bring in through additional infrastructure cost.

Like the problems with the Davis county NIMBY's, the problem comes down to a lack of experience with something new. As these developments become more common, the banks will be more willing to invest in these projects.

All of the new TRAX lines now being built have excellent TOD possibilities, so now is the time to get projects under our belts and allowing all concerned to become better acquainted with the concept that will allow new alternatives to our present development patterns.

Blog Postings of Note...

I should probably point out even though I have been posting these links for months, is that I do not always agree with all that is said in these postings, but I feel that they provide good information on what is happening around the country and a good source of debate.

From the Imagine No Cars Blog:

Creating Bike/Pedestrian Friendly Neighborhoods

Gathering Storm Over Zoning Rewrite

From the Transport Politic Blog:

What’s Taking Austin So Long?

Washington Considers Covering Transit Operating Costs

Raising the General Fund Option

Lackawanna Cutoff Program Cleared for Engineering

Winston-Salem Proposes Modern Streetcar Line

Electrification Suddenly in Vogue Again

Washington Hesitates on the Next Transportation Bill

From Streetsblog San Francisco:

To Reduce Driving, Put a Real Price on Parking

Ingleside PD Crosswalk Sting Results in Numerous Tickets, Tows

Muni Bus-Stop Spacing Analysis Shows 70 Percent of Stops Too Close

Will Memphis Rise to the Transit Challenge?

Revisiting the San Francisco Freeway Revolt

Call for Regional Coordination of Land Use and Transportation

Assembly Passes Law Cracking Down on Disability Parking Permit Abuse

New Urbanism, Old Urbanism and “Creative Destruction”

The Two-Wheeling Future of Fort Worth

Now Arriving: Transit-Oriented Development

$388 Million Streetscape Measure Could Deliver Complete Streets — or Not

The Failure of Design in Downtown New Haven

U.S. Dot Clocks High-Speed Rail at 110 MPH, Give or Take

LaHood Asks for 18-Month Extension of Four-Year-Old Transpo Law

Bike and Ped Infrastructure Depends on Federal Funds, Too

Oberstar’s New Transportation Bill: Get The Highlights

From Stephen Rees's Blog:

Shifting Gears II – Walking

Electrification evaluation expands

Metro Vancouver’s growth strategy hits interference

Parking restrictions will fail in their aim

From the Denver Infill Blog:

Paris Observations, Part 2

From the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

There’s No Place Like Home… Especially in a Transit Village

From the Transit Sleuth Blog:

Light Rail Schedule

TriMet’s Portland Bus Mall

New Urbanism, Old Urbanism, Traditional Neighborhoods

From the Transit Miami Blog:

Boston Unveils Smart Code

Department of Energy: Peak Oil Closer Than We Thought

Florida In Running for High Speed, Not Likely To Receive Funding

From the Transbay Blog:

Peninsula Investments

From the Trains for America Blog:

China promises new generation of bullet train in 2011

Rail transport quote of the day

Fantastically desperate arguments against Amtrak

Ohio’s Gov. Strickland lobbies for state’s HSR (read: passenger rail) plan

BNSF still interested in electrification

In China, big rail push leading to big IT jobs – UPDATED

Georgia governor Purdue is HSR convert

New York Times Magazine talks HSR, reminds us why we like Ray

On the future, new urbanism, high speed rail and other things that go bump in the night

HSR stimulus guidelines lay out federal objectives, aim for grants in late summer

From the Overhead Wire Blog:

Knew It Was Gonna Happen

Of Montréal Electrification

Drinking from a Firehose

It's a Shame About Ray

It's Psychological

The Battle for Salt Lake

More Busway to Tollway

Radical Transformation?

Dr. Evil's Rowhouse

Night Owl Links

Consumate Salesmen

From Streetsblog Los Angeles:

Council Tips Its Hand on Transit Priorities

Who Can We Turn To When LAPD Doesn’t Know Crosswalk Laws?

Does LADOT Fear Pedicabs?

Chicago Pays the Price for Parking Privatization

Less Parking, More Healthy Food

A Bright Beginning for Light Rail in Phoenix

House GOPers Propose Filling Trust Fund With Stimulus Money

Times’ Readers Freak Out at So. Pasadena School Bus Sting

From Streetsblog New York:

Kent Avenue: The Saga Continues

National Transportation Funding Is Ailing — Is Michigan ‘Patient Zero’?

End Central Park Road Rage: Keep Cars Out

City Council Bill Aims to Quiet Motorcycle Noise

Fifth Ave Merchants: Delivery Problems Have Nothing to Do With Bike Lane

The NYC Street Design Manual: Guidelines for a Livable City

In the Works: Senate Bill to Promote Sustainable Development

GOP’s New Attack on Health Care Reform Bill: It Promotes Walking!

Eyes on the Street: Broadway Improved Beyond Times Square

Do Pedicabs Belong in Bike Lanes?

From the Sprawled Out Blog:

Regret in the suburbs? Killing a fly with a sledgehammer will have consequences

Is the tide slowly turning against sprawl?

From the Smart Growth America Blog:

Chalk up a victory for Minnesota and neighborhood schools

EPA joins inter-agency effort to support livable communities and smarter growth

From the Seattle Transit Blog:

“We need to do everything possible to get new stations built quickly.”

358 Bus Stop Plazas

20/40/40 Under Fire

Amtrak Cascades - More Track work

Train Frequency and the Downtown Tunnel

Regional Rapid Transit news

News Roundup: $99,000,000,000

From the N-Judah Blog:

Wednesday Guest Blogger: Greening the N Route

Monday Morning Blues: Stop Consolidation and A Chance to Talk All Things BRT on Van Ness

Guest Blogger Wednesday: Going Car-Free In San Francisco

From the Cap'n Transit Blog:

Amongst our objectives...

Being proactive about the Niantic River Bridge

Phoenix Sky Train and the limits of intermodality

Another TOD project in Davis County

Image by ifmuth via Flickr22-story high-rises in Davis? It could happen

It looks like Clearfield may join Farmington with an eye toward Transit Oriented Development. Hopefully Clearfield can learn lessons from nearby Layton whose big box and mall construction has caused infrastructure strain.

New Development at Meadowbrook TRAX Station...

Image by LA Wad via Flickr75-Unit Transit-Oriented Condo Project to Rise in South SL

Transit Oriented Development is starting to take off in Utah. Just like other cities it takes a few years of successful service then the development starts coming. Of course as more people look to alternatives from higher gas prices TOD makes even more sense.

This goes along with the complex going up at the Sandy Civic Center TRAX station and the project the Murray North (4400 South) TRAX station.

However, as I have mentioned before, unless the city works toward making the entire area more walkable and pedestrian friendly the projects will only have moderate success.

Articles ...

Here are some articles from today's newspapers:

Work on Station Park gets under way

Work on the Station Park project is getting underway in Farmington at the Front Runner Station. I have previously talked about this project and my feelings on the project.

UVU may sell land for $3.6 million

UVU may sell land to UTA for a Front Runner Station along the UP mainline across the freeway from the University. A pedestrian bridge will link the campus and the Front Runner Station. While not the ideal situation, it is the probably the best that could be worked out.

UTA eyes route cuts if sales taxes remain flat

Another blow for riders will be possible service cuts. Of course this once again will give people the opportunity to beat their chest and demand that John Inglish loose when the problem lies that their primary funding source is the sales tax which is very cyclical.