Today's Headlines - more at Metro

12/13/2010

OC Interchanges To Be Linked, Union Station Buyer?, Ports' Exports Up, California Planning For 2011, Parking Spaces' Impacts & More

Arcadia's 5-Year Metamorphosis
Arcadia's Best

Back To You, Planning Dept.: City Responds To Zoning Code Lawsuit
Curbed LA

"Castle" Star Seamus Dever Says He's In Love With L.A.'s Subway System
Southern California Public Radio
Sierra Club Alternative Travel Project

CHSRA Board To Consider Modifying Initial Corridor Selection
California High Speed Rail Blog

Downtown NFL Stadium Called "Pipe Dream"
Orange County Register

Downtown's Get A Fresh Lease: Suburbs Lose Office Workers To Business Districts, Reversing A Post-War Trend
Wall Street Journal

Editorial: Bullet Train Looks More Likely Now
Bakersfield Californian

Exports At L.A. And Long Beach Ports Are At A Near-Record Pace
(LAX is on track for an all-time high for outgoing cargo)
Los Angeles Times

Feds Insist That First Leg Of Bullet Train Reach Bakersfield
Bakersfield Californian

Few Surprises In 2010; What Will 2011 Hold?
California Planning & Development Report

Finally, A Draft Bike Plan That Cyclists Actually Like
StreetsBlog LA

Group Backs ONT Control
Riverside Press-Enterprise

High-Speed Rail: Political Football, Anyone? ("Is investment in high-speed rail really an economic stimulus if it's going to take years to complete the system? With fiscal hawks swooping on Capitol Hill, wouldn't it make more sense to put some of that money to fund a long-term transportation bill? How much power should the administration or Congress have over how a state invests in its transportation system? Why is high-speed rail such an attractive idea? Is it just because it's cool?" Experts weigh in.)
National Journal Transportation Blog

List-O-Mania: City Rankings Are Popular, Profitable And Sometimes Influential
Next American City

Major Construction Ahead On 405, 22, And 605 Freeways: The Project At Two Orange County Interchanges, To Create A Seamless Link Between Carpool Lanes And Ease Rush-Hour Bottlenecks, Is To Last Through 2014
Los Angeles Times
Detailed Maps And Timelines Here

Metro In Talks To Buy Union Station? ("An item that went before the agency's board this week suggests so, and the facility is certainly on the market.")
Blog Downtown

No Free Parking: The First Nationwide Count Of Parking Spaces Demonstrates Their High Environmental Cost ("There are at least 500 million empty spaces in the United States at any given time. The 250 million cars and trucks on America's roads get a bad rap for being environmentally unfriendly. Climate scientists say that automobiles add an array of greenhouse gases and harmful particulates into the Earth's atmosphere, yet little research has been done to estimate the impact parking spaces -- where those automobiles spend 95 percent of their time -- have on our planet.")
Physics Central

Opinion: Park Officials Need A Plan B
("The 18-month park construction period is not scheduled to start until 2013, and the high-speed rail route could be selected by the end of 2011. It is possible that the route will be determined before a park shovel ever hits the ground, meaning the ugly scenario of building then disruption would not come to fruition.")
Los Angeles Downtown News

Opinion: Reliable Rail?
("More survivable rail cars should be just a start on safety improvements.")
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Opinion: Subsidy Train To Nowhere: Can We Sell You A Ticket To Borden? It Only Costs $4.15 Billion ("A realistic concern is that the state will have to terminate the project after completing the first segment because the feds and private investors won't pay to finish it. California doesn't need a high-speed train it can't afford, and we hope Republicans on Capitol Hill will pull the plug on this and other trains to insolvency next year.")
Wall Street Journal

Our View: Fund Passenger Train Safety Advances ("We need another ACE-like agency or direct funding to Metrolink to help prevent cars and passenger trains from crashing into each other, utilizing either better gates or grade separations.")
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Roadmap To The Future
("Here are some ways in which the desperately needed transportation system of the future can be made more efficient, safer, and cleaner.")
On Earth

Seven Bid On Cleantech Site
Los Angeles Downtown News

Superstructures: Adding Sensors And Other Devices To Bridges, Tunnels And Buildings Can Turn Them into "Smart Structures" Capable Of Sensing And, In Some Cases, Even Responding To Problems
The Economist

System Trials To Demonstrate Mileage-Based Road Use Charges (193p. PDF : "This report presents an analysis of factors to be considered in designing and implementing large-scale trials of mechanisms for collecting such road-user charges, based on vehicle-miles of travel (VMT).")
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Transit Village Will Impair Transit, Residents Say
Santa Monica Lookout

Transportation Center Nears Construction: Airport Transit Hub Will Be Ready To Break Ground If Environmental Report Clears
Burbank Leader