Today's Headlines - more at Metro

2/04/2011

Metro's 2-Minute Films, Expo Line Contract, South Vermont Subway?, Stimulus' Transportation Jobs, Bicycle Transit Center, Taxis Of Tomorrow & More

Architecture Firm Gensler To Move From Santa Monica To Downtown L.A.
Los Angeles Times

Award-Winning Transit-Oriented Development May Never Get Transit
StreetsBlog Network

Bicycle Transit Center
(includes impressive photos and architectural plans for Bikestation, Washington's Capital Bikeshare program's storage, repair and retail facility at D.C. Union Station)
Designboom

Bringing Science To Bike Sharing
Wired

Cavernous Crusades: With A Variety Of Construction Solutions, $15 Billion Worth Of Mass Transit Construction Is Well Under Way In New York City
Engineering News-Record

Editorial: A Bus Only Brouhaha: Bus-Only Lanes For Wilshire Boulevard Are The Latest Casualty Of The Political Wars Over Transit Policy In L.A.
Los Angeles Times

Expo Board Awards Light Rail Contract, Satisfied That Questions About Firms In Joint Venture Are Not Serious
Los Angeles Times

Feasibility Of A South Vermont Subway Line
Wilshire/Vermont

High-Speed Rail Leaders Delay Release Of Bay Area Plans For At Least A Year
San Mateo Mercury News

In U.S., Alternative Energy Bill Does Best Among Eight Proposals
Gallup

L.A. Air Officials To Vote On Pollution Trading
Los Angeles Times

LA's First Bus-Only Lane Hits Some Roadblocks
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog

Montebello City Council To Consider Full Trench Resolution: A Townhall On Grade Separation Of The Alameda Corridor Railroad Tracks In Montebello Is Set For Feb. 24
EGP News

New Report Reveals Smart Transportation Spending Creates Jobs, Grows The Economy
Smart Growth America
Recent Lessons From The Stimulus: Transportation Funding And Job Creation (16p. PDF : February, 2011)
Smart Growth America
Which States Squandered Their Stimulus Money?
The Daily Beast

NYC Tunnel Tour, Part 1: Inside The Second Avenue Subway
(video : Insider tour of the first phase of a long-planned $4.5-billion Second Avenue Subway serving Manhattan's East Side)
McGraw-Hill Construction

Planning Department Considering Stronger Bike Parking Ordinance
StreetsBlog LA

Rosendahl Cuts Bus-Only Lanes In His District, Then Urges Santa Monica To Add Them
Santa Monica Lookout

SANBAG Board Balks At Condemnation Plan For Transit Project
Riverside Press-Enterprise

South Bay Group Submits Highway Projects List To MTA
Daily Breeze

Submit Your Videos About L.A. To Screen On The City's Buses
("Out The Window is looking for two-minute videos that are either created by local artists and filmmakers, or prominently feature Los Angeles as a subject or a setting. The selected videos will be shown on more than 2,000 Metro buses driving throughout the county daily -- that's an audience of over one million viewers a day.")
GOOD
Out The Window: About/By/In Los Angeles
Freewaves

Taxi Of Tomorrow (Outcome of Invitation to auto manufacturers and designers to submit their best ideas for a purpose-built vehicle to serve as a New York City taxicab. Whichever of these designs that the City selects, if any, will be the next New York City taxicab)
City Of New York

With A Deep Dig into Its Past, Perugia Built An Energy-Saving Future ("Perugia shows how even a small city can reap benefits from investment in pedestrian-friendly infrastructure. All it took was a succession of progressive-minded city officials, urban planners, and resident-dreamers who saw how Perugia’s geographic and historical preservation challenges could be used to its advantage.")
National Geographic

2/03/2011

Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes, Figueroa Redesign, CicLAvia II, Transpo Bill & Transit Jobs, Title VI, Flickr Milestone & More

1,000,000 And Counting: Metro Library's Historic Photo Collection On Flickr Hits A Major Milestone
Metro Transportation Library's Primary Resources Blog

AEG Lobbies Legislators For NFL Project In L.A.
("may be seeking a controversial environmental exemption.")
Los Angeles Times

APTA Survey: Transpo Bill Delay May Force Job Losses In U.S. Transit Industry
StreetsBlog DC

Commuters Look For Options As Road Work Causes Closures, Congestion In San Bernardino County
Redlands Daily Facts

Council Stands Ground On Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes
NBC Los Angeles

Council Votes For More Study For Wilshire Bus Only Project
StreetsBlog LA

Design Your Figueroa: Workshops To Preview Design Upgrades For Figueroa Corridor
Los Angeles Downtown News

The Dividends Of Car-Free Parenting
StreetsBlog Network

Florida Republican John Mica Could Be A Key Ally On High-Speed Rail
Transportation For America

Gas Prices Drop In LA County
Los Angeles Daily News

Interstate Of The Union
(audio : Discussion of President Obama's plans for transportion as laid out in the State of the Union address)
WNYC

L.A. Council Requests Study Of Shorter Wilshire Busway Route: Transit Officials Are Asked To Study A 5.4-Mile Alternative To The Planned 7.7-Mile Wilshire Busway. Both Routes Run From MacArthur Park To S. San Vicente Boulevard; The Longer Route Picks Up Again From Westwood To Centinela Avenue
Los Angeles Times

Planning Transit-Oriented Development Around High-Speed Rail Stations In Fresno And Bakersfield: Best Practices, Current Planning Efforts, And Recommendations
(148p. PDF)
Daniel Krause, San Jose State University

Residents Of Award-Winning, Transit-Oriented Development Say No To Transit
Sustainable Cities Collective

S.F. Parking Meters To Alert Drivers When Spot Is Open
Government Technology

Some Congressional Republicans Backing HSR
California High Speed Rail Blog

Transit Agency Compliance With Title VI: Limited English Proficiency Requirements (20p. PDF)
Transit Cooperative Research Program

We Love LA! (County And City!): Valentine's Celebration And Spring Transportation Conference (2p. PDF : February 17)
Move LA

What Are Best Practices In Transit Branding, Marketing And Communications? ("You can see elements of LA Metro uniform design guidelines across various print materials. This helps maintain a unified brand so that the agency is easily recognizable to its customers and other stakeholders.")
The City Fix

What Will Become Of Amtrak If It's Left Out Of Plans To Expand HSR?
StreetsBlog DC

What's Left Of BRT?: Bus Rapid Transit Won't Be Coming To Berkeley And Will Only Extend A Short Distance Into San Leandro. Even In Oakland, It May Face A Tough Road
East Bay Express

Wheels Are Rolling For A Second CicLAvia
Blog Downtown

Wilshire BRT Envy: Size Matters In Transit, Too
LA Observed

2/02/2011

Metro Service Changes, L.A. Port Plan, Carpooling & Freeway Lanes, Post-Petroleum World, Research Roundup & More

8 Weirdest-Looking Roads Around The World (photo essay)
Huffington Post

As Number Of Carpool Riders Fall, Why Is L.A. Doubleing Down On New Lanes?
StreetsBlog LA

Back Of The Bus: Mass Transit, Race And Inequality
Transportation Nation

Beverly Hills Residents Fight Westside Subway Extension Shop
USC Annenberg Neon Tommy

China To Create Largest Mega City In The World With 42 Million People
Telegraph (U.K.)

City Council Candidates Warn MTA At Subway Forum: Candidates For Beverly Hills City Council And BHUSD Board Members Lead Criticism Of MTA At Community Meeting
Beverly Hills Patch
MTA Plans Two More Beverly Hills Forums: The MTA Is Also Seeking Citizens To Join A Station Advisory Group To Help Plan The Design Of Each New Station
Beverly Hills Patch

Cut Or Restore? Metro Bus Service Changes for June 2011
StreetsBlog LA

House GOP Readies Severe New Restrictions On EPA
Huffington Post
Democrats Plan To Neuter EPA's Climate Regs
Mother Jones

Is Extending South Bay Bike Path Worth A Debate? LADOT, NIMBY's Say No
StreetsBlog LA

Key Democratic Panel Approves McDonnell's Transportation Plan
Washington Post

L.A. Council Rejects 1,000-Job Shipyard Plan For Fear Of Complicating Port's Channel-Deepening Project
Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Aims To Win NFL Team As Farmers Insurance Puts Name On Stadium
Bloomberg

The Moms Aren't Wrong: Why Planning For Children Would Make Cities Better For All
GOOD

MTA Staff Wants To Cut 10 More L.A. Bus Lines By June, Shrink 16 Others
LA Weekly

New Metra CEO Vows To Boost Passenger Satisfaction, Bring Reforms: Former Los Angeles Transit Official Launches Customer Survey
Chicago Tribune

Official Wants To Downsize Busways Linking Downtown L.A. And Westside: L.A. Councilman Bill Rosendahl Proposes That The Bus-Only Lanes End At Beverly Hills And That The Westwood Section And The Remaining Route To Santa Monica Be Eliminated. Environmentalists And Transit Advocates Oppose His Plan
Los Angeles Times

Opinion: Renovating CRAs: The State's Community Redevelopment Agencies Should Be Reformed. Gov. Brown's Plan To Eliminate Them Is Overkill
Los Angeles Times

Peering Into A Post-Petroleum World: As Protests In Egypt Underscore The Hazards Of Relying On Imported Oil, A Bus And Bike-Riding Scientist At UCLA Is Working On Clean Fusion Energy That Could Wean Us From Foreign Fuel
Los Angeles Times

Recession Slows Use Of Orange County's Toll Roads: Drivers Are Opting To Spend More Time On Freeways And Less Money On Tolls
Los Angeles Times
O.C. Toll Roads Hit By Recession: Would You Pay For A Faster Commute?
Los Angeles Times

Red Light Cameras: Money Makers -- And Life Savers
Transportation Nation
Effect Of Red Light Camera Enforcement On Fatal Crashes In Large US Cities (18p. PDF)
Insurance Institute For Highway Safety

Re-Thinking TOD: The Transportation Planner's Dilemma To Transit Oriented Development
The Alan Note

Research Roundup: Which High-Speed Rail Corridors Are Poised For Success? How Does Smart Growth Promote Wealth? Why Is Intercity Bus Travel The Fastest Growing Transportation Mode?
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Transit Plans Topic Of Neighborhood Forum
Blog Downtown

2/01/2011

Expo Bike Lane?, Sunset-405 Bridge, High-Tech Intercity Buses, Pacific Electric Photostream, New & Notable Titles, Reading L.A., Brown's Budget & More

Above It All In L.A. Traffic (Taking public transportation around Los Angeles proves surprisingly easy and enjoyable)
Washington Post

Alhambra To Discuss Response To High-Speed Rail's Aerial Structure
Pasadena Star-News

Amazing Image From The Future: The Sunset-405 Bridge Of Tomorrow: The MTA Has Released An Artist's Rendering Of What We'll See When The 405 Construction Project Is Finished
Brentwood Patch

BHUSD's Softer Approach Aims To Calm Dealings With MTA
Westwood-Century City Patch

Biggest TRB Meeting Ever Highlights Visionary Bicycle Research
StreetsBlog DC
Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting (Washington, DC : January 23-27, 2011)

Brentwood On The Bus: What Are The Odds?
Westside Today

Brown Argues For His Budget Plan In State Of The State Address
Los Angeles Times

City Submits Its Proposal To Run ONT
San Bernardino Sun

Cloud Computing In Government Explodes
Governing

Committee Of 100: Most Of The Streetcar Routes Make Sense (The Committee Of 100 On The Federal City is a non-profit planning and land-use advocacy organization which has been studying the viability of a streetcar system in Washington, D.C.)
Washington City Paper
Building A World-Class Streetcar System For A World-Class City: System Recommendations And Route Assessment (95p. PDF)
Committee Of 100 On The Federal City

Get On The Bus!: New Project Puts Endangered Species On [S.F.] MUNI Buses
Bay Nature

The High-Tech Bus Is The Fastest Growing Form Of Intercity Transportation
Transportation Nation

How Cars Won The Early Battle For The Streets
StreetsBlog Network

Interesting Pacific Electric Photographs
Various Sources on Flickr via Flickriver Application

Is A Vehicle Mileage Tax Coming To A State Near You?
Infrastructurist

More Republicans Take To Obama's High-Speed Rail Plan
AltTransport

National Bike Summit
League Of American Bicyclists

New And Notable: Reinventing The Automobile Through Personal Urban Mobility, Sustainable Urban Development Reader & Urban Design For An Urban Century
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

New San Francisco Bike Lanes Too Dangerous To Use: Shared Lanes In The Middle Of Busy Downtown Streets Are Going Unused -- Just One Of the Challenges Facing The City's Bike Plan (includes video)
Bay Citizen

Rail Transit: Reliability Of FTA's Rail Accident Database (10p. PDF)
U.S. Government Accountability Office

Reading L.A.: Louis Adamic And Morrow Mayo (Discussion of the first two titles in the foundational literature of Los Angeles' urban development. Two titles will be discussed each month for the rest of the year)
Los Angeles Times
Reading L.A.: An Update And A Leap From 25 To 27
Los Angeles Times

Twitter, Facebook Are Part Of New Terror Alert System: National Terrorism Alert System Replaces Former Color-Coded Alerts
Federal Computer Week

Watching Our Words: "Route" Or "Line"?
Human Transit

Will President Obama Raise The Gas Tax?
Washington Post

Will West LA Have A Bike Path Along The MTA Expo Line? It Depends Who You Ask
Rancho Park Online

1/31/2011

MTA New Natural Gas Bus, 710 Tunnel Forum, OC Freeway Project, BRT Growth, Green Line Anniversary & More

20 Years Ago Today: Groundbreaking For The "Fully Automated" Metro Green Line...But Why Doesn't It Go To LAX?
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

$277 Million Freeway Project Will Take Nearly Four Years: Aimed At Improving Carpool Traffic Between The 22, 405, And 605 Freeways, The Connector Project Asks Commuters To Suffer Today For Long-Term Improvements
Belmont Shore-Naples Patch

Angeles Crest Highway Will Likely Be Closed Until Spring Due To Rain Damage
Los Angeles Times

Area Leaders Discuss Proposed 710 Tunnel: A Forum On Public Transportation On Jan. 22 In Pasadena Drew A Large Crowd
South Pasadena Patch

A Crash-Less Course In Driving MTA's New Natural Gas Bus ("Nothing matches the experience of driving a 16-ton bus around a training course and then slamming on the brakes...Using natural gas saves L.A. from nearly 300,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions over diesel buses. Per day.")
Los Angeles Times

Egypt's Unrest Sparks Fear About Oil
("Congressional Republicans quickly called for a greater push for North American energy production, including accelerating oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Democrats will undoubtedly use high prices to pursue more conservation and oil-alternatives.")
Politico

The Explosive Growth Of Bus Rapid Transit
American Society Of Landscape Architects' The Dirt Blog

A Friendlier Figueroa Street In L.A.
GOOD

Glimmers Of Progress On Highway Reauthorization
Trucking Info

High-Tech Infrastructure: Vision Versus Reality ("How do traditional transportation companies that are oriented toward government dollars work together with private-sector telecom companies that put in the lion's share of investment towards Internet access? Is Obama's vision of a totally connected nation -- through rail and Internet -- a bit too futuristic? If so, what needs to happen in government and in the private sector to make it a reality?")
National Journal Transportation Blog

House Transportation Committee Knocks High-Speed Rail Funding Plan
Travel Management

Is State Wasting Money On Bloated Car Fleet? Gov. Orders Car Cuts
StreetsBlog LA

LAX Grows, ONT Shrinks
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Long Beach Constructs First Ever Separated Bikeways
Southern California Public Radio

Memo To Metro: "Additional Details" On Bus Cuts AWOL
StreetsBlog LA

Metro Considers Station Branding To Boost Revenue ("Is L.A.'s Metro next on the branding bandwagon?")
Blog Downtown

MTA Proposes Service Changes: Transportation Officials Encourage Residents To Voice Their Ideas At Several Upcoming Community Meetings
Glendale News-Press

The Nation's Outlook On Trains: Bullet Trains May Be Sidetracked, But Not Commuter Rail
Governing

Once Popular, Carpools Go The Way Of Hitchhiking
New York Times via Oakland Tribune

Our View: Still Stuck In Traffic, No Longer No. 1
Pasadena Star-News

Perspectives Offered On The 710 Freeway Tunnel
Crescenta Valley Weekly

Political Landscape: Frommer Faces Roadblocks On Transportation Issues
Glendale News-Press

Republicans Embrace Obama Rail Initiative
The Hill

Road Tax Alternative: Pay For Each Mile You Drive
CNN

Schedule For Transpo Bill Listening Tour Announced
(Southern California Feb. 21-23)
StreetsBlog LA

Six Ideas For The Future Of Transportation
("road trains," gas stations of tomorrow, bike-friendly taxis, flying cars and more)
Infrastructurist

Some Business Leaders Worry Panama Canal Expansion Could Threaten Jobs In Valley, Region (How the Alameda Corridor East, Colton Crossing, Clean Truck Program, Southland ports and other transportation issues could be affected)
Pasadena Star-News

A Sputnik Moment For Smart Growth
Huffington Post

The Trolley Took Us To The End
(Local blogger signs off after more than 4 years with a photo essay of streetcars that served Highland Park and the northeast Los Angeles area; photos courtesy of Metro Transportation Library & Archive)
Highland Park 90042

Will "Intelligent Cities" Put An End To Suburban Sprawl?
USA Today

A Village Grows In Los Angeles (In the heart of Koreatown, an experimental community too over two arpartment complexes in the '90s. Today, it's a thriving group of neighbors trying to live greenly in the city)
GOOD
L.A. Eco-Village Blog

We've Got To Get Creative On Transit Funding
Shoshin Project

Where Is Verdugo Village? Just Look For The New Signs
Eastsider LA