Green Light For Van Nuys Corridor, Long Beach Diesel Emissions, Has Gas Demand Peaked?, Alternative Mobility, Stimulus Audit & More

The Los Angeles Transportation Headlines will be on holiday beginning tomorrow, December 24. We will return Monday, January 3.

Thank you for your readership and support in 2010.

We look forward to 2011, continuing to gather and provide access to news and information relevant to the past, present and future of transportation in the Los Angeles region.


Alternative Mobility Tops List Of 2011 Green Trends
Los Angeles Times

Audit: State Agencies Over-Reported Stimulus Jobs
California Watch

Calif.'s High Speed Rail Gets An Extra Boost
Southern California Public Radio

Diesel Emissions Reduction Act Updated, $4M To Port Of Long Beach
Long Beach Post

FTA Gives Metro The Green Light To Study Transit Alternatives For Van Nuys Corridor
The Source

FTA Program Promotes Advanced Fuel Cell Technologies To Power Cleaner, Greener Transit Buses
Federal Transit Administration

Localities Back Streetcar Lines, Even If Feds Won't
Infrastructurist

New App Tells Parkers Where The Spaces Are In Hollywood
Curbed LA
Streetline And The City Of Los Angeles Unveil First Real-Time Parking App For iPhone
Los Angeles Daily News

A Physicist Solves The City
New York Times

The "Sunnyvale Decision" And Phase II Of Expo: Game Changer Or Footnote?
StreetsBlog LA

Trains On Van Nuys Boulevard? Metro's Considering It
Curbed LA

TransMilenio: Ten Years Down The Line (A look at BRT in Bogota after a decade in service)
The City Fix

US Gas Demand Should Fall For Good After '06 Peak ("By 2030, Americans will burn at least 20 percent less gasoline than today, experts say, even as millions of more cars clog the roads.")
Associated Press

Wilshire Bus Lane Controversy Update
Brentwood News

Union Station Sold, Judge Rules For Expo, Van Nuys Gets Funding & More

10 Useful Activities You Can Do While On The Bus
Travelin' Local

Brown To Eliminate State Office Of Inspector General: The Office, Led Since 2009 By Former L.A. City Controller Laura Chick, Has Been Responsible For Overseeing More Than $50 Billion In Federal Stimulus Funds.
Los Angeles Times

Census Numbers Give Hint Of What's To Come In Washington
StreetsBlog DC

Digital Displays For Transit: Can More Information Mean More Riders?
The City Fix
DDOT Unveils District's First Multi-Modal Digital Display: State-Of-The-Art Screen Supplies Travelers With Real-Time Information
DC.gov

Downtown's Union Station Being Sold To Texans
Curbed LA
ProLogis Announces $505 Million Agreement With TPG Capital For Sale Of Catellus Retail And Mixed-Use Assets
ProLogis Press Release
Yes, They Have Trains And Buses In L.A.
Wall Street Journal

Expo Line Phase 2 Gets Judge's Blessing, But Neighbors Vow To Appeal
LA Weekly

Five Reasons To Be Happy About LA Transportation
CityWatch

FTA Announces $25.7 Million To Help Communities Evaluate, Select Best Transit Options
Federal Transit Administration Press Release

Judge Gives initial Ruling In Favor Of Expo
StreetsBlog LA

Long-Gone Madera Co. Town Begins High-Speed Rail Line (What became of Borden California - the proposed northern terminus of the first leg of California high-speed rail)
Fresno Bee

Marketing A "Bowl Of Tangled Noodles" ("Why do so many transit agencies not provide clear maps highlighting basic user-critical features such as frequency?")
Human Transit

ONT May Get New Operator: Private Interests Sought For Airport
Redlands Daily Facts

Preliminary Work On High-Speed Stations To Start Soon?
Curbed LA

San Francisco's Latest Pavement To Parks Project Brought To You By Audi ("With construction for the Central Subway on Stockton Street right around the corner, Audi’s gift couldn’t have come at a better time.")
StreetsBlog SF

Senate Vote Will Give GOP A Crack at The Transpo Bill Sooner
StreetsBlog DC

Top 10 Green Stories Of 2010
Grist

Van Nuys Gets $2 Million From Feds To Improve Transit
Southern California Public Radio

Where Are The Minority Contractors On California's High Speed Rail Project?
Change.org

You Might Be A Transpo Geek If...
How We Drive

Expo Line Goes To Court, Shared Rail Corridors, Pay-As-You-Drive Insurance, Motorists' Identity Crisis, State Transportation And Climate Change & More

Angels Flight To Celebrate 109th Anniversary With Penny Fares
Blog Downtown

Best Careers 2011: Urban Planner ("An expanding population has created the need for additional transportation systems, affordable housing, and schools in many parts of the country. The urban and regional planning field is expected to grow 19 percent, from 38,400 jobs in 2008 to 45,700 jobs by 2018, according to the Labor Department. Most of the new jobs will be with state and local governments.")
US News & World Report

Brown To Abolish State Inspector General's Office ("Chick, who first made her name as a councilwoman and city controller in Los Angeles, has put out a number of reports about subjects ranging from the state's high-speed rail system to local redevelopment authorities.")
California Watch

California's Pay As You Drive Insurance Program Could Reduce Driving
StreetsBlog SF

Car-Sharing: How It Works, Why It's Awesome
Riding In Riverside

A Comprehensive Development Plan For A Multimodal Noise And Emissions Model (296p. PDF)
Airport Cooperative Research Program

The Federal Interest In Non-Highway Transportation
Planetizen

Future Architects' Downtown Of The Future: USC "Mega Review" Takes Over City National Plaza
Los Angeles Downtown News

"Gravity Always Wins": How The U.S. Can Face The Crisis Of Unsafe Bridges
StreetsBlog DC

High Speed Rail For America? Not So Fast (interview : U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood)
NPR

Highway Bill Could Bring Back BABs (Build America Bonds)
Reuters

Huge Projects Planned For Downtown Santa Monica (preparation for Expo Line's arrival)
Santa Monica Mirror

Human Transit: Toward Aggregated Information?
Trillium Solutions

LaHood: High Speed Rail Will Be Our Generation's Legacy
StreetsBlog DC

A Lot Of Noise Over The Expo Line: It's A Vocal Minority In Cheviot Hills And Rancho Park Who Oppose Construction Of The Light-Rail Line
Los Angeles Times

Matching Money Announced For Calif. High Speed Rail Construction
Transportation Nation

The Motorist's Identity Crisis ("When a Los Angeles bus rider asked presidential candidate George W. Bush about transit improvements in 2000, Bush responded, "My hope is that you will be able to find good enough work so you'll be able to afford a car." Bush was undoubtedly sincere. Like many Americans—probably most—he saw a bus (like a bicycle) as a nothing more than a pathetic substitute for a car...But if cyclists and transit users no longer seem to envy motorists, then motorists might be facing a crisis of confidence.")
Planetizen

New Report: U.S. States Failing At Reducing Transportation Emissions
The City Fix
Getting Back On Track: Aligning State Transportation Policy With Climate Change Goals (66p. PDF : "The analysis here evaluates how well state-level transportation decisions are aligned with efforts to reduce GHG emissions by examining a selection of key transportation policies currently in place in the 50 states. The findings suggest that there is tremendous potential for states to make progress on reducing transportation-related carbon emissions.")
Smart Growth America ; Natural Resources Defense Council

On The Waterfront: Strong Port Volume Raises Hopes For '11
Long Beach Press-Telegram

RelayRides Lets You Share Your Car For Cash
Wired

Sharing Of Rail Corridors: Building Realistic Expectations And Partnerships & Upcoming TRB Research Projects On Shared-Use Passenger And Freight Rail Corridors (p. 13-16 of 16p. PDF)
U.S. Transportation Research Board Intercity Rail Passenger Systems Update

Social Media Boom And Bust
Governing

[Today's] Main Event: Neighbors For Smart Rail Gets Its Day In Court ("The group is arguing that the Final Environmental Impact Report certified by the Expo Construction Authority Board for Phase II of the Expo Line is faulty because, in their view, the documents didn’t properly consider the California Air Quality Act (CEQA) when deciding issues such as how to design the controversial grade crossings.")
StreetsBlog LA

Transit Faces Tough Road Ahead In U.S. Congress ("None of the Republican appointments represent major urban districts, which means urban transit proponents will have to negotiate creatively if they want to see their priorities implemented.")
Reason Foundation

Why All The Whinging About High-Speed Rail? ("High-speed rail has become part of America's never-ending culture war.")
The Economist

Expo Line Phase II Trial, L.A. Labor Pact, Pocket Airports, Transit Riders' Tax Benefits, The Resurgence Of Cities & More

All I Want For Christmas Is 30/10 And The Subway To The Sea
Huffington Post

Bob Hope Airport Raises Parking Fees
Los Angeles Times

California Ports To Test Hydrogen-Powered Trucks
Commercial Carrier Journal

Can Streetcars Save America's Cities? (Streetcars are increasingly seen as boons to local economies. And with a $130 million federal fund aimed at streetcar projects, some are expecting more systems to develop. Others, though, still question the investment)
CNN

DesertXpress Top Executive Retires From High-Speed Rail Project
Las Vegas Sun

Do Anti-710 Freeway Advocates Have A Friend In Jerry Brown?: Activists Are Hoping The Governor-Elect Can Kill 710 Extension Once And For All
Eagle Rock Patch

Everyone To Norwalk: Expo Line Phase II Trial Starts Next Week
Curbed LA

Gas-Powered Carriage Didn't Have Much Speed To Burn: Created By J. Philip Erie And S.D. Sturgis, The Vehicle Made It's L.A. Debut At 2 A.M. On May 30, 1897. The Innocent-Looking Black Tally-Ho' Never Reached The 25 MPH "Concealed In Its Vitals"
Los Angeles Times

House Celebrates Norman Mineta, Ignores His Ideas
StreetsBlog DC

Houston Metro Cancels Controversial Contract With Spanish Rail Car Company
Transportation Nation

Is America's Aging Infrastructure A Recipe For Disaster?
Infrastructurist

Labor Pact To Require Residents Be Hired: Officials Say Program Will Create More Jobs Within City ("Villaraigosa said he hoped the city agreement would serve as a model for contracts issued by Los Angeles County and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.")
Los Angeles Daily News

Metro Decisions: Good Politics, Not Good Transportation
CityWatch

More Southland Residents Hitting The Road This Holiday
Los Angeles Daily News

New Census Numbers Confirm The Resurgence Of Cities
Sustainable Cities Collective

Opinion: The Postman Always Pings Twice ("The service’s thousands of delivery vehicles have only one purpose now: to transport mail. But what if they were fitted with sensors to collect and transmit information about weather or air pollutants? The trucks would go from being bulky tools of industrial-age communication to being on the cutting edge of 21st-century information-gathering and forecasting.")
New York Times

Planning Commission Leadership Strengthens Bike Plan
StreetsBlog LA

"Pocket Airports" Would Link Neighborhoods By Air
Gizmodo

Readers' Forum: People Must Be Made To Understand High-Speed Rail Strategy
Contra Costa Times

Streetcar Projects Advance Nationwide Thanks To Local Initiative
Transport Politic

To Ensure Continued Funding, Limited Expectations On Federal Transportation Reform
Transport Politic

Transit Riders Keep Same Tax Benefits As Drivers
StreetsBlog DC

The Trolley Took Us There (Historic images from the Metro Library's Archive are discussed, including the W car coming down Figueroa at York Blvd heading towards Downtown Los Angeles in 1948)
Highland Park 90042

U.S. Planning Isolationism ("There are indeed troubling signs about the manner and extent to which US planning academics and US planners more broadly engage our colleagues elsewhere in the world.")
Planetizen

Gold Line Foothill Extension, CA Mayors Push For Smart Transportation, ZipCar Heads To Hollywood, Amtrak's HSR Dreams, Tube Transportation & More

As Acela Turns 10, Amtrak Envisions High-Speed Rail Expansion
Washington Post

Big Brotheresque App Kills Your Automotive Anonymity ("A new app that lets frustrated drivers vent their anger at boneheaded motorists already has branded your bumper with a “How’s My Driving” sticker, and it could raise your insurance premium. It’s like having thousands of unmarked police cars and speed cameras on every roadway, and it could spell the end of anonymity behind the wheel...which may not sound like much until you realize all the information — along with date, time and location of the “offense” — is sent to the DMV and insurance companies.")
Wired

CA Mayors Ask Sen. Barbara Boxer For A 21st Century Transpo System
StreetsBlog DC

California Mayors Support Smart Transportation Investments As Key To Economic Recovery And Public Health
Transportation For America
List Of Coalition Partners

Coastal Commission Sides With County Over Widening 101
Ventura County Star

Cutting Soot Counteracts Warming In California
Science

Cycling Super Highways (Are they the "X Factor" to transform our cities, lifestyle and health, in addition to revolutionizing the way in which we travel?)
Planetizen

Development Of Levels Of Service For The Interstate Highway System (50p. PDF)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

DOT's "Buy America" Website: Helping Keep American Companies Healthy And American Workers On The Job
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Field Of Dreams: Although No Team Is In Line For L.A., AEG Unveils Possible Stadium Designs
Los Angeles Downtown News

From East To West, A Time-Lapse Take On CicLAvia
Curbed LA

The Future Of Sustainable Urban Mobility: Change People's Behavior
The City Fix

Gold Line President & Web Site ("As the Gold Line gets closer to the construction stage, starting Arcadia, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority has launched a comprehensive new informational Gold Line web site and elected Glendora Mayor Pro Tem
Doug Tessitor as chairman of the Board of Directors.")
Arcadia's Best
Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority New Web Site Now Online

A Hotter Future: Climate Change And The Global City ("In the United States, cities such as San Francisco have a smaller carbon footprint than cities such as Houston. In San Francisco, residents live in smaller housing units at higher population density. They are more likely to use public transit and due to the temperate climate, they consume less electricity. Electricity generated in California creates less greenhouse gas emissions than other cities because the power is generated using natural gas rather than coal.")
World Policy

How Shared Space Challenges Conventional Thinking About Transportation Design ("Shared streets -- the idea that pedestrians, bikes and cars can all navigate together in the same space -- is a fundamental rethinking of the underlying philosophy related to the design and operation of transportation facilities.")
Planetizen

Impacts Of VMT Reduction Strategies On Selected Areas And Groups (78p. PDF)
Washington State Department Of Transportation (WSDOT) Research Report

L.A. Dry Run Shows Urban Nuke Attack "A Survivable Event" (The leaders of a dozen local, state and federal agencies decided to simulate their attack "at a metro station a stone's throw from Universal Studios.")
USA Today

LA Port Export Volume Highest Ever For November
Daily Markets

[D.C.] Metro To Start Random Bag Searches
Washington Examiner

Pneumatic Fantastic: The Enduring Allure Of Tube Transportation
GOOD

Proximity To Freeways Increases Autism Risk, Study Finds: More Research Is Needed, But The Report Suggests Air Pollution Could Be A Factor
Los Angeles Times

Rahall Confirmed As Top Dem, Mica Names New GOP Members Of T&I (Transportation & Infrastructure)
StreetsBlog DC

Reliability Centered Maintenance: A Case Study Of Railway Transit Maintenance To Achieve Optimal Performance (118p. PDF)
Mineta Transportation Institute

Report And Poll Shows There Are Two Stories To The Los Angeles Commute ("It is a bit appalling 22% report encountering a breakdown in the past month and that 35% of bus riders report being passed up during the same period.")
StreetsBlog LA

Roll Out The Red Carpet: ZipCar Goes To Hollywood
PR Newswire

Some Cities Bailing On Red-light Traffic Cameras
San Diego Union-Tribune

Subway Controversy Offers Beverly Hills A Lesson In Planning ("The principles that planners learn everywhere from Harvard and MIT to UCLA and Cal Poly somehow go out the window when they are pit against a public figure like Korbatov -- someone at the heart of this country's
education crisis – and the public at large. So passion, not planning, still rules the day.")
California Planning & Development Report

AQMD Interviews Art Leahy, Freeway Expansion Construction Delays, Jaywalking Ticket Fees Breakdown, HOT Lanes, Walkable Cities & More

America's Most Walkable Cities ("A majority of Americans--six in 10--say they would prefer to live in walkable neighborhoods, in both cities and suburbs, if they could.")
The Atlantic

AQMD On The Air: Art Leahy (video)
South Coast Air Quality Management District via YouTube

Breaking Down The Cost Of Jaywalking: Where Does Money From A $190 Ticket Go?
Blog Downtown

Car That Runs On Thin Air (video : Meet the Air Pod, a three-wheeled vehicle with no steering wheel whose creators think it could be the future of urban transportation -- and it is powered by a compressed air engine)
CNN

Developers Announce Deal With City, Labor To Tear Down, Rebuild Wilshire Grand Hotel (Plans for new office tower and luxury hotel at 7th and Figueroa)
Southern California Public Radio

The Federal Interest In Non-Highway Transportation
Planetizen

Freeway Expansion Coverage Focusing On Construction Delays, Still Missing The Magic Question ("There are so many people that don’t drive because of congestion, that relieving that congestion induces more driving and leads to new lanes being filled more quickly than we can
build them. When construction will create delay for years, as it will for this project, one really has to question whether the project would be worth it if it were free.")
StreetsBlog LA

Help Kickstart CicLAvia Into A Successful 2011! ("With events planned in April, July, and October, CicLAvia is going to generate more smiles, more health, more foot traffic for the local economy, and more civic pride.")
CicLAvia

Is High-Speed Rail Travel In America's Future?: The U.S. Lags Europe And Asia, But Critics Say There Are Reasons For Caution (A look at high speed rail's future in the U.S. by first looking at rail's domineering past, noting the huge change after the Interstate Highway Act along with the land use changes the auto brought, but concludes it all comes down to the American voter)
Consumer Affairs

Nearly $1 Billion Sought For Pet Transport Projects
Reuters

Renderings Unveiled For NFL Stadium Next To L.A. Live
Blog Downtown

Santa Monica Picks Up Speed Toward Cycling Sustainability
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog

Third Quarter 2010 Public Transit Ridership Declines Slightly
APTA

Transit Benefit (Wrapped In Tax Cuts) Clears The Senate
StreetsBlog DC

The Truth About HOT Lanes (interview with Jack Finn, head of toll services for HNTB Corporation, the infrastructure firm that designed the toll system for Route 91 in Orange County, the country's first HOT Lanes which opened 15 years ago this month)
Infrastructurist

Why Did The Elk (Or Bear Or Deer Or Lynx) Cross The Road?: Landscape Architects Compete To Create Highway Overpasses For Wildlife That Allow Safer, Free Roaming Across Habitats
Wall Street Journal

California Leads Green Transpo Policies, America's Best And Worst Commutes, Southwest At Risk For Climate Change & More

America's Best And Worst Commutes ("According to U.S. Census data, roughly 76% of U.S. workers drive to work alone. Twelve percent carpool, 4.7% use public transportation, 3.3% work from home, 2.9% walk to work and 1.2% used other means (including a motorcycle or
bicycle).")
Bundle
Best And Worst: 90 Cities Ranked (infographic)

California Leads Nation In Green Transpo Policies, How Does Your State Rank?
StreetsBlog DC

California's Climate Laws Undermined By Weak Transpo Policies, Investment
StreetsBlog SF

Getting Back On Track: States, Transportation Policy, And Climate Change
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog

Highways And Labor Markets II
Planetizen

Interview: Matt Roth On The Price Of Driving (Congestion pricing and HOT lanes)
KALW

Light Appears At The End Of A Long Bike Plan Tunnel
StreetsBlog LA

Mass Transit Tax Break Could Provide Numerous Benefits
Marketplace

Mayors Support Smart Transportation Investments As Key To Economic Recovery And Public Health ("The leaders of California’s population centers issued a call to the incoming Congress to update the nation’s transportation program to address their citizens’ 21st-century needs,
from upkeep of roads and bridges to a cleaner, more efficient transit network.")
School Transportation News

Metro Offering Free Rides On Christmas & New Year's Eves
LAist

"Oscar Tribute Reel" To Bus Routes No Longer With Us
MetroRider LA

Scientists See The Southwest As First Major U.S. Climate Change Victim
New York Times

Senate Approves Up To $230 Per Month Deduction For Commuters
NJ Online

Transit People Posts Guide On Hosting "Free Transit" Field Trips
StreetsBlog LA

What Will Be The Fate Of The Livable Communities Act?
Sustainable Cities Collective

Density And Car Ownership In L.A., Parking Spaces Census, Glory Of Rails, New And Notable, Bay Area's Brewing Toll War & More

AAA Gets An Earful From Members About Equality For Bikes
StreetsBlog DC

Airport's Tailspin Imperils Development In Ontario
California Planning & Development Report

Critical Vote For Congestion Pricing
San Francisco Examiner

Density, Car Ownership, And What It Means For The Future Of Los Angeles
StreetsBlog LA

Despicable Them: Fewer Buses, Higher Fares, Subway-To-Sea Do Not Make A Transit System
Ron Kaye L.A.

The First Nationwide Count Of Parking Spaces Demonstrates Their High Environmental Cost (500 million and counting)
Knoxville News Sentinel

The Glory Of The Rails (Part One of a two-part essay : "More than any other technical design or social institution, the railway stands for modernity. No competing form of transport, no subsequent technological innovation, no other industry has wrought or facilitated change on the
scale that has been brought about by the invention and adoption of the railway.")
New York Review Of Books

Grant Will Help Monrovia Officials Develop Transit Village
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Metro Reduces And Discontinues Routes
Pasadena Star-News

[New York] MTA Workers Falsified Signal Inspections
Wall Street Journal

New And Notable: Oil On The Brain, Transport Geographies & Early Downtown Los Angeles
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

New Round Of Tests For Subway Around Wilshire
KABC-7

Peninsula Threatens Toll In Response To San Francisco ("With San Francisco officials poised to consider rolling out a not-so-friendly welcome mat to commuters from the south -- a $6 daily toll -- fuming San Mateo County leaders have threatened to enact their own toll of $12 a day for San Francisco residents to enter the Peninsula from the north...instigating what one Peninsula politician said would be a border war.")
San Jose Mercury News

Solar Serpents In Paradise ("Turn the freeways into urban powerplants! With solar-technology and an efficient narrative design, the freeways will re-emerge as structures for the future." Includes several diagrams)
Mans Tham

Tax Break For Transit Commuters Extended In Bill
Baltimore Sun

This Is How Cities And Technology Should Work ("Shown at CEOs for Cities' Connectivity Challenge conference yesterday, the piece was produced by Veoila Transport, who operates public transit systems throughout North America. It's a great illustration of the ideal way
that our mobile devices should interact with our cities.")
GOOD

Weight In On Bicycle Plans For L.A., Santa Monica
Southern California Public Radio

Will Republican Revolt On High-Speed Rail Projects Derail Obama's Plan?: $8 Billion Stimulus Project Mired In Political Challenges
ABC News

WMATA Says Google Transit In Mid-January
Greater Greater Washington

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

Wilshire Bus Lane Approved, 710 Tunnel Pricing, Expo Line Price Up, Metro Service Changes, CicLAvia Modifications, CAHSR 1st Leg Extended,

Another Study Proves What We Already Knew: Walkability Improves Quality Of Life
GOOD

Arrow Station Project OK'd ("With the Gold Line expected to reach Montclair by 2016, Councilman Bill Ruh said the two projects send a strong signal to builders that the area is ripe for potential residents and shops.")
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

As Ohio And Wisconsin Sink Into Self-Imposed Austerity, California And Florida Profit On Rail
Transport Politic

Brown Act? Public Notice? Metro Board Almost Changes Policy For All Measure R Projects
StreetsBlog LA

California High-Speed Rail: All The Way To Bakersfield ("$616 million will go towards extending the first segment of the rail system all the way to Bakersfield, instead of terminating it in Corcoran as was originally planned. The rest of the money will go to Caltrans to
improve existing rail transit.")
Transportation Nation

Coming Soon ("Teams have been hard at work these past few months, readying a new website for the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. The revamped site will feature the latest on the Foothill Extension project — including a 3D video aerial tour of
future station locations and information on cities along the alignment. Stay tuned…the site will go up in coming days.")
I Will Ride

Controversial Wilshire Bus Lane Approved, With One Missing Link
Los Angeles Times

Effort To Price 710 Freeway Tunnel Stalls Again
Burbank Leader

Future Of Sustainable Urban Mobility: Switch To IT Networks
The City Fix

Highways And Labor Markets II
Planetizen

House Passes Extension Of Transportation Reauthorization
StreetsBlog DC

Imagining A Livable L.A.
Occidental Weekly

Impacts Of Public Policy On The Freight Transportation System (113p. PDF)
National Cooperative Freight Research Program

In NELA, D.I.Y. Sharrows Remain, But L.A. Is Moving On
StreetsBlog LA

L.A.'s Light Rail: Overdue & Over-Budget (audio : Gene Maddaus, LA Weekly reporter; Darrell Clark, co-chair of Friends4Expo Transit)
Southern California Public Radio

Mass-Transit Tax Break To Shrink While Fares Rise
WTOP

Maybe Modifying The CicLAvia Route -- Part 1: East End and Part 2: West End
CicLAvia

Metro Board Doesn't Trust Staff, Removes Selby/Comstock Segment From Wilshire Bus-Only Proposal
StreetsBlog LA

Metro Service Changes For Sunday, December 12, 2010
MetroRider LA
December 12, 2010 Service Changes
Metro

Metro Will Let School Kids Ride Free For Field Trips
LAist

MTA Approves $28.5 Million Expo Increase, As Gloria Molina Fumes
LA Weekly

MTA Joins With Huizar In Plans For First Street Project
Los Angeles Wave

Open Letter To The Metro Board Regarding Wilshire Bus Only Lane
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

Population Barely Budges For State, County
Los Angeles Daily News

Seniors And Disabled Need To Switch To Metro TAP Card By Dec. 26
EGP News

Top Transit Technology Innovations 2011 (survey & nominations : "We will recognize 20 innovations for their contributions to the industry as part of our February 2011 issue.")
Mass Transit

Transport Funding: Who Gets The Big Piece of Pie? ("The U.S. Department of Transportation’s second round of stimulus funding for infrastructure development exposes a widening gap between U.S. roads, rails, and bridges and government special interests.")
Inbound Logistics

U.S. Shifts $624 Million To California Bullet Train: Sens. Boxer And Feinstein Appealed To Officials For Money From States That Cancelled High-Speed Rail Projects. Congress May Seek To Pull Back Funds Over Concerns On Budget Deficit
Los Angeles Times

Wilshire 405 Fly-Over Ramps Coming
Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Third District

Wireless Carriers Join Forces On Mobile Tap-To-Pay -- But Will It Fly?
CNN

5th & Flower Fight Goes On, Monrovia Transit Village, Smart Growth Awards, How To Start An Infrastructure Bank, Amtrak Sets Records & More

55-Hour Closure Planned On 110 Freeway This Weekend
Pasadena Star-News

2010 National Award For Smart Growth Achievement (This year's award winners, plus continuing achievements of past recipients)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Airport To Raise Parking Fees: Short-Term Rate At Bob Hope Will Now Be Slightly Higher Than At LAX
Glendale News-Press

Americans Don't Want The Gas Tax Raised. Big Surprise!
AltTransport

Amtrak Sets Thanksgiving Record
Washington Post

Boyle Heights' Historic Boyle Hotel Finally Getting A Facelift ("Tomorrow afternoon is a kick-off party for the $24.6 million renovation of the 1889 Boyle Hotel, located on the edge of Mariachi
Plaza and the new Gold Line station.")
Curbed LA

China's "Technology Transfer" Draws Ire ("Foreign companies helped China build high-speed trains, and in the few years since, China has taken that technology, "re-innovated" or built on it, and are now calling it their own, creating tensions with the companies who fear they're now having to compete with China.")
NPR

City Receives Nearly $1 Million In Grant Funding For Open Space Project: The Walking Path Will Be Built As Part Of The First Phase Of The Station Square Transit Village
Monrovia Patch

Court Upholds Calif. Air Regulator's Pollution Fee ("The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the local air district's rule requiring developers to reduce emissions from new housing projects by building features like bicycle lanes and energy-efficient cooling systems. If they don't do enough to preserve air quality, they must pay fees that have averaged about $500 per house.")
Fresno Bee

Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council Opposes 710 Freeway Tunnel, Funds "Reach Our Community Kids": Council's Anti-710 Resolution To Be Presented To MTA And L.A. City Council As Part Of Public Record
Eagle Rock Patch

Editorial: California's Pork-Barrel Bullet Train
Daily Breeze

Editorial: Ugly City LA: Considerations On How To Transform Los Angeles Into A Beautiful -- And Livable -- Model City ("The city needs the courage to create ongoing programs. Instead of closing streets once a year, close a few permanently. Santa Monica did this with its 3rd Street Promenade, and it’s become by far that city’s biggest urban attraction.")
Architect's Newspaper

Fight Continues Over 5th & Flower Station For Regional Connector
Blog Downtown

The Future Of Urban Sustainable Mobility: Go Beyond The Car
The City Fix

High-Speed Rail Project Hit By Civil Rights Complaint: Two Groups Contend That Minority Businesses Have Been Largely Left Out Of California Bullet-Train Contracts So Far
Los Angeles Times

House Punts On Budget, Votes On Yearlong Extension Instead
StreetsBlog DC

L.A. Might Allow Residents To Park In Front Of Their Driveways
Los Angeles Times

Let "Mad Men's" Peter Kartheiser Sell You On Public Transit
Curbed LA

Lisa Korbatov Takes Over As BHUSD President (Top priority: "Fighting the MTA's plan to possibly tunnel under the high school as part of the Westside Subway Extension. I have so many other goals for the district, but everything I do will be for naught if there are subway tunnels under the high school.")
Beverly Hills Patch

Mica Confirmed As Transpo Committee Chair
StreetsBlog DC

Minority Groups Demand Feds Pull California High-Speed Rail Funds
San Jose Mercury News

Monrovia Gets Major State Grant For Gold Line-Related Development
Pasadena Star-News

Najarian On 710: Before We Pay For EIR, Let's Know The Cost
StreetsBlog LA

New Tax Deal Puts Build America Program In Jeopardy
Infrastructurist

Serpentine Swedish Setup Turns Freeways Into Power Plants ("The entire paved surface of the Santa Monica Freeway between downtown L.A. and the coastline offers 10 million square feet of space for solar panels, which Tham estimates could provide 115 MW — enough to power the needs of a city like Venice, California.")
Wired

So You're Thinking Of Starting An Infrastructure Bank... ("There may be one reform on which the Obama Administration and the new House regime can agree: the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank.")
Transportation Nation

Temporary Extension Of Surface Transportation Law Will Enable Next Congress To Pursue Transformation Reauthorization In 2011
Transportation For America

This Is What A Bicycle Parking Garage Looks Like (video)
GOOD

Transportation Infrastructure Policies May Leave Economy Gridlocked ("The American Society of Civil Engineers continues to urge Congress and the White House to take a leadership position on ensuring that the nation's transportation infrastructure is able to meet our needs, both
now, and in the future.")
PR Newswire

Crumple-Proof Metrolink, Guide To New LEED Draft, Transit Card Security, CAHSR And Safety, Remembering Jack Kyser, Walking And Social Capital & More

2.5-Mile Path Opens Along The L.A. River, And A New Map Launches
KCET Departures

Americans Strongly Oppose Proposed Gas Tax Hike
Reuters

Brentwood N.C. Wants Out Of Bus-Only Lanes
StreetsBlog LA

Card Makers Hope To Upset Transit Card Security Status Quo
PC World

The Future Of Sustainable Urban Mobility: Make The Poor A Priority
The City Fix

High-Speed Rail Agency Urged To Rethink Planning
San Francisco Chronicle

If I Forget Thee O Los Angeles Public Transportation
Huffington Post

Insurance Commissioner Poizner Approves California's First-Ever Pay-As-You-Go Drive Auto Insurance Program
California Department Of Insurance Press Release

Measuring Walking & Cycling With PABS: A Low-Cost Survey Method For Local Communities (2p. PDF)
Mineta Transportation Institute

Metrolink Unveils "Crumple-Proof" Cars
Los Angeles Daily News

Noted Southland Economist Jack Kyser Dies (The founding economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation was chief economic adviser at the Southern California Association of Governments, studied transportation economics for Union Pacific Railroad)
Los Angeles Daily News

Plans For L.A. State Historic Park Scaled Back: The State's Budget Deficit Forces Parks Administrators To Redesign a More Modest Project Atop A Former Railroad Yard East Of Chinatown Near Downtown Los Angeles ("The new plan for Los Angeles State Historic Park calls for a more modest main entryway, a scaled-down visitors center and a 16-foot-high graded-berm walkway that would overlook an archeological dig that is slowly unearthing the railroad roundhouse that served the train yard in the late 1800s.")
Los Angeles Times

Putting The Mute In Commute
Boston Globe

Recovery Act Upgrade Of California's SR 91 Crosses The Finish Line In Anaheim
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Safety Should Be Job 1 For High Speed Rail
California Progress Report

Southland Gas Prices Rise To Highest Since Fall 2008
Los Angeles Daily News

Walk Places, Meet People, And Build Social Capital (Research involving the subject of people who live in walkable communities being more civically involved and having greater levels of trust than those who live in less walkable neighborhoods. This increase in so-called 'social capital' is associated with higher quality of life)
Science Daily

Watchdog Panel Raises Concerns About Bullet Train: Money, Staffing And Planning Challenges Must Be Met Swiftly, Report Warns
Los Angeles Times

What Is AAA Saying? (Should the Federal Highway Trust Fund be restricted to just highways?)
Rails To Trails Conservancy

What The GOP Spending Rollback Would Mean For Transportation
StreetsBlog DC

A Whole New Name Game: Parks, Transit, Schools Consider Corporate Monikers In Bid To Plug Budget Gaps
Wall Street Journal

Would An Infrastructure Bank Have The Power To Reform Transportation?
StreetsBlog DC

Your Guide To The New Draft Of LEED ("A new credit for Reduced Automobile Dependence would replace the old Sustainable Sites (SS) credit for public transportation access. The credit is also completely rewritten. The “transit-served location” roughly encompasses the LEED 2009 version of this credit, but with requirements that appear to be more inclusive. A new “metropolitan planning organization” option would offer credit for project in areas with low vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT).")
Building Green

California Annual Legislative Summary, L.A. 2050, Future Of The Port Of L.A., Road-Trains, Transportation Earmarks, Megacities On The Move & More

California's Economy Will Pick Up Somewhat In 2011, Forecasts Say: The State Will Add Jobs And Unemployment Will Drop But Still Exceed The Nation's Jobless Rate
Los Angeles Times

Chinese Train Hits A Record Breaking 300 MPH ("The line is expected to reduce travel time between Beijing and Shanghai from 10 hours to 5 hours.")
Time

Conflicting Visions Of Future Of Port Of L.A. Could End In Court Fight
Long Beach Press-Telegram

Cyclists Gaining Momentum For Planning Push
Santa Monica Daily Press

D.C.'s Metro Sees Cycling As An Opportunity To Grow Ridership
StreetsBlog DC

Dem Lawmaker Wants Rep. Oberstar's Name On Fed Building ("A Democratic congressman is mounting an effort to rename the Department of Transportation headquarters after Rep. Jim Oberstar, one of serveral House committee chairmen defeated in the midterm elections.")
USA Today

Democrats And Republicans Agree On Higher Gas Taxes, Just Not In Public All The Time
AutoBlog Green

European Road-Train Tests Move Forward ("A project to link cars headed in the same direction into semi-autonomous “road trains” is moving from concept to reality...Engineers hope to increase aerodynamic efficiency and reduce congestion with no changes in infrastructure,
while giving drivers all the benefits of carpooling with the privacy of an individual car.")
Wired
Tests Within The Development Of Safe Road Train Technology Soon Ready For Takeoff (video)
via YouTube

Experts Criticize High-Speed Rail Financial Plan
San Jose Mercury News

An Extensive New Addition To Dallas' Light Rail Network Makes It America's Longest
Transport Politic

For The Want Of An Earmark ("Is it possible to shepherd a major transportation-funding bill through Congress without greasing the skids with earmarks? Or does the earmark ban simply mean members need to get more creative in seeking help for their projects? Does an earmark ban put more or less power in the hands of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which will be tasked with the minutia of the bill? Will the experience of negotiating a surface-transportation bill without earmarks convince lawmakers that maybe they're not so bad
after all?")
National Journal Transportation Blog

Guiding The Selection And Application Of Wayside Energy Storage Technologies For Rail Transit And Electric Utilities (64p. PDF)
Transit Cooperative Research Program

It's Time To Update The Definition Of "Smart Growth" (The smart growth agenda gets proposed updates for the 21st century)
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog

Japan To China: You've Hijacked Our High-Speed Rails
MSNBC

Main Street Roundabout Removed From Civic Center Plan
Santa Monica Mirror

Megacities On The Move: Scenarios For The Future Of Sustainable Urban Mobility
The City Fix

Metrolink Unveils Newer, Safer Passenger Cars (video)
KABC-7

Metrorail Map And Train Locator ("Data, provided by WMATA’s developer api, gives the same information found on the information boards in metro stations. After finding the approximate time distance between stations, the application simply interpolates latitudes and longitudes between those stations (with minute granularity) to determine an estimated location.")
Unofficial D.C. Visitor Guide

No Designated Bus Lanes For Beverly Hills?
Beverly Hills Courier

Our View: Measure Leads To Tougher Consequences ("Wherever the chips fall on the High Speed Rail board issue, it's a good sign that a voter initiative designed to shine light on the process of drawing state and congressional districts is spreading to other areas of governance.")
Pasadena Star-News

Pedestrians Take To The Streets, Motorists Learn To Coexist
New Urban Network

Resources To Know: California Transit Association & Its Annual Legislative Summary
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Roundabouts: An Informational Guide (407p. PDF)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Truckers Say L.A.'s "Green" Port Costs Them Money: The Dispute Who Should Pay For Leasing And Maintaining "Clean" Rigs Could Go To The Supreme Court
Los Angeles Times

The View From L.A.: Hartford Can Change, Too (A USC graduate student tells Hartford, Connecticut to look to Los Angeles as a model for public financing and transit planning to break away from auto dependency)
Hartford Courant

Why Reformers Should Care How We Pay For Transportation
StreetsBlog DC

Workshop Notes From "L.A. 2050" Event At Occidental College
StreetsBlog LA

BRT In Condo Canyon, Pacific Electric West Santa Ana Branch Corridor, Expo Contractor Award, Cornfield Park, 21 Coolest Roads, Steepest Street & More

21 Coolest Roads In The World (photo essay)
Huffington Post

110 Freeway Work To Speed Travel, But Only After Two More Years Of Construction
Blog Downtown

Artists And New Infrastructure Part Of Boyle Heights Improvement Project Along Gold Line ("Friday, Metro’s CEO and LA City Council member Jose Huizar kicked off a $12 million project to improve the infrastructure surrounding the new rail line.")
Southern California Public Radio

Augmented Reality Meets The MBTA: Introducing NextTrain T Tracker
BostInnovation

Battle Lines Drawn In Battle Over Fate Of Wilshire BRT In Condo Canyon
StreetsBlog LA

Big Blue Bus Gets A Big Green Thumbs Up: Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus Has Been Honored With The 2010 Project Of The Year Award From The Southern California Chapter Of The American Public Works Association (APWA)
Westside Today

A Bigger And Better Cornfield Park: State Parks Department To Unveil $18 Million Plan For 32-Acre Attraction
Los Angeles Downtown News

Bike Computer Study Proves Rush-Hour Cycling Is Faster Than Driving
Fast Company

California High-Speed Rail: Only 49 Little Hoovers Left
Examiner

Caltrans Repairing Angeles Crest Highways For Opening By The End Of the Year
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Cities' Fiscal Nightmares: What Next?
Citiwire

Could An "Oil Security Fee" And Increased Transportation Options Ensure Better Energy Security?
Transportation For America

Deficit Commission Pushes For Anti-Sprawl Reforms
Streetsblog LA

Does $100-A-Barrel Oil Threaten The Recovery?
The Atlantic

Drive Less, Pay Less: New Insurance Plans For California
LAist

Editorial: Our Pork-Barrel Bullet Train
Long Beach Press-Telegram

Email The Metro Board Of Directors To Express Your Support For The Wilshire Bus-Only Lane
LA Subway Blog

Expo Line Contractor Awarded $25-30 Million For Delays
LA Weekly

How Hyperlocal Media Are Taking Urban Planning To The Streets
Next American City

Is Transit Benefit Good Transportation Policy?
Washington Post

Meeting Set On Pacific Electric Right-Of-Way
Orange County Register
Pacific Electric Right-Of-Way / West Santa Ana Branch Corridor
Alternatives Analysis Project Overview (6p. PDF)
Southern California Association Of Governments
Factsheet (PDF)
Pacific Electric Corridor Study Area Map

Metro Gets OK To Nix Bus-Only Lane Around Condo Canyon
Curbed LA

Metropolis II: Chris Burden's Elaborate "Portrait Of L.A." (With Hot Wheels)
GOOD

Muni Builds Case For Subway Need
San Francisco Chronicle

Pearl Harbor Day Train Ride Gives A Taste Of 1941: Along The Route From Los Angeles To San Diego, Passengers Interact With Actors In Period Dress And Talk With World War II Veterans
Los Angeles Times

Plan B: High-Speed Track Could Be Used By Conventional Trains
Bakersfield Californian

Playful Train Provides A Spark: Holiday Toy Express Chugs Through Glendale, Lifting Spirits And Gathering Gifts
Glendale News-Press

Some Thoughts About Amtrak And HSR
California High Speed Rail Blog

The Steepest Road On Earth Takes No Prisoners (It's not in Nepal or the Andes...it's in Pittsburgh!)
Wired

Supervisor Knabe To Deliver State Of The County Address On December 8
Long Beach Post

Transit Subsidy Will Drop $110/Month Unless Extended, APTA Warns
AASHTO Journal

Traveling Into The County's Future
Ventura County Star

TreePeople's Urban Forest Principles Guide Retrofit Of L.A.
Planning Report

With New Grants Federal Railroad Administration Continues Its Pursuit Of Clean Transportation Options
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Zero Emission Container Moving System May Be Built -- Some Day, By-And-By, Or Maybe Not At All
Cunningham Report

Revised Bus Lanes, Next CicLAvia, New Freeway Lanes, LoGrande Speaks, Oberstar Departs, Social Media Tackles Traffic, 2010 Urban Planning Books & More

1 Mile Break In Wilshire Rapid Line Won't Affect Funding
LAist

Announcing Sunday April 10! And More... ("The 4-10-2011 route will be pretty much the same as the 10-10-10 route – 7.5 miles from East Hollywood to Koreatown to MacArthur Park to Downtown to Little Tokyo to Boyle Heights. We’re also looking to set the date for two more
CicLAvias later in 2011.")
CicLAvia

Board OKs 1st Section Of CA's High Speed Rail Line: Officials Approve $4.3B Construction Proposal Of California Bullet Train's 1st Segment
Associated Press
Press Release
California High Speed Rail Authority

Clock Ticks On A Popular Way To Pay For Infrastructure
StreetsBlog DC

Cyclists Pedal Faster On Wednesdays, Reveals Smart Bike Data: The First Analysis Of Data From Shared Bicycle Networks In Europe, Reveals Some Surprising Urban Cycling Patterns ("For the first time [urban planners] have real data to show where to build cycle lanes and how well they will be used. So expect to see more of this kind of analysis as data from smart bike systems in other cities becomes available too.")
MIT Technology Review

Downtown Adds 54 Percent Of County's Apartments In 2010
Los Angeles Downtown News

Eagle Rock Residents Pushing For A Slimmer Colorado Boulevard
StreetsBlog LA

Expo Line Mess Offers Cautionary Tale For Subway Lovers
LA Observed

The Future Of Los Angeles As "Multiple Cities In One": Los Angeles City Planner Michael LoGrande And Los Angeles Times Architecture Critic Christopher Hawthorne Discuss City Planning
Eagle Rock Patch

High Speed Rail Authority Approves What Critics Call "Train To Nowhere": First Segment Would Run From Tiny Borden To Corcoran, An Area Hit So Hard By The Recession And Agriculture Declines That It Has Been Dubbed The New Appalachia
Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Engineers Say Economic Health And Public Well-Being Will Benefit From Gas Tax Increase
PR Newswire

The Money That Won't Go Away ("There is money available "to do something" about the mess that is Glendale Boulevard where it cuts through the west side of Echo Park. The sum is $12 million, and exactly how best to spend it has left the MTA, Caltrans and neighborhood residents at odds for over a year.")
LA Observed

MTA Says Changes To Proposed Rapid Bus Lane Won't Jeopardize Funding
Los Angeles Times

New And Notable: Smart Growth Manual, "Unplanning," & Asphalt And Politics
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

New Eastbound Lane Opens On 91 Freeway
Southern California Public Radio

New I-10 Lane Means Four Through S.B. County
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Oberstar Gets Standing Ovation In Final Transportation Hearing
Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Planning Director LoGrande Working On NFL Stadium, Partnering With Metro
Curbed LA

Rancho Palos Verdes Withdraws From MAX Commuter Bus Service
Daily Breeze

Rep. Oberstar Chairs Final Transpo Hearing After 46 Years Of With Committee
Transportation Nation
Exit Interview: Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) (audio)
The Takeaway

Santa Monica: City Council Authorizes Three-Way Land Swap With Metro, Santa Monica College For Light Rail Maintenance Yard
The Argonaut

Santa Monica Prepares For Bicycle Master Plan
Santa Monica Lookout

Social Media Tackles Traffic ("One traffic-related social network service already up and running is called Roadify. With Roadify, commuters send and receive updates that help them find available parking, catch the next bus or train, or avoid traffic snarls before it’s too late.")
Wired

Street Sign Squabble Is MUTCD Ado About Nothing
Wired

Top 10 Urban Planning Books Of The Year For 2011 (Ninth annual list of the ten best books in urban planning, design and development published in 2010)
Planetizen

Toy Express To Make Stops In Region ("Metrolink's 14th Annual Holiday Toy Express will begin its 2010 tour Saturday in Burbank and Glendale.")
Pasadena Star-News

Why A Gas Tax Is About Deficit Reduction
The New Republic

Wrecking Ball About To Hit Transbay Terminal
San Francisco Chronicle

Gas Tax Proposal, MUTCD Explained, Expo Expose, L.A. Live Controversy, Rosa Parks Anniversary, Zipcar's Green Factor & More

55 Years After Rosa Parks Stayed In Her Seat, FTA Pursues Equal Transit Access For All
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Attorney General Says Local Transit Officials Cannot Serve On State Bullet Train Board
Los Angeles Times

Breaking Down The Cost Benefit Of High-Speed Rail
GreenTech Media

City To Sue Itself Over Two Hour Parking
Beverly Hills Courier

Controversy Over High-Speed Rail's Starting Point, Big Decision Tomorrow
Curbed LA

Deficit Commission: Raise The Gas Tax, And Soon
Transportation Nation

ExpressPark Aims To Give Smarts To Downtown's Parking Spots
Blog Downtown

Free Workshop For Disabled Transit Riders Dec. 16
Santa Clarita Valley Signal

GOP Demands A Stop To Stim Spending. What Will It Mean For Rail Projects?
StreetsBlog DC

Growing Conservative Strength Puts Transit Improvements In Doubt
Transport Politic

Head To Head: Is High-Speed Rail A Valuable Addition To Infrastructure, Or A Boondoggle?
Sacramento Bee

L.A. Live: Pinnacle Of Modern Design, Or Bad Urbanism? ("While accessibility via transit is one of the components that made L.A. Live a banner project for the ULI, it doesn’t mean the development itself is an accessible one.")
StreetsBlog LA

L.A.'s Light-Rail Fiasco: How Rail Service To The Westside Jumped The Track ("Just as L.A. transit planners are lobbying Washington for money to build a dozen projects over the next decade, the Expo Line has become an embarrassing public failure.")
LA Weekly

MTA To Cut Nine L.A. Bus Lines By Dec. 12
LA Weekly

Private Hiring, Construction Show Some Strength
NPR

Ray LaHood: Street Signs Plan "Makes No Sense"
CBS News

Republicans Cut House Climate Panel
The Hill

Resources To Know: The MUTCD -- A Book In The News This Week You May Never Have Heard Of That Impacts You Every Day
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Sports Arena On Its Way Out, But Does LA Need Another MLS Stadium?
Curbed LA

Wheels When You Don't Need Them: As Zipcar Moves Into The Black, Is It Less Green?
Next American City

Why The U.S. Will Not Get China's High Speed Rail
The Atlantic

L.A.'s Bridges, First Stretch Of CAHSR, More On L.A. Jaywalking, LA Marathon Route, Tighter Transit Security?, Freight Rail Creating Green jobs & More

Amtrak To Let Passengers Bring Guns On Most Trains
Sacramento Bee

Borrowing From Matt Yglesias, California's High-Speed Train May Be Positive
USC Annenberg Neon Tommy

C-Minus For Safety, But LA Bridges "In Good Shape"
CBS Los Angeles

California's Confusing Choice For Its First Stretch Of High-Speed Rail ("If you're going to do the Central Valley first, why not at least try to link Fresno to the larger city of Bakersfield? Here's why...")
GOOD

California Would Feel Federal Transit Spending Cuts ("In California’s urban regions – which is where our transportation policy is made – the focus is increasingly on modes other than private automobiles. California is an urban state and grows more so by the year. There’s a recognition that we cannot build out way out of urban congestion with highways and roads, which is precisely what many land use planners have been saying for decades.")
California Planning & Development Report

Cash-strapped MTA To Eliminate 9 Bus Lines
Daily Breeze

Concerns About Safety? Muggings? LAPD Announces "Zero Tolerance" On Downtown Jaywalkers
StreetsBlog LA

Destination 2035: Moving Toward A Greener Tomorrow (OCTA Draft Long Range Plan : 174p. PDF)
OCTA
Draft Executive Summary (8p. PDF)
Slideshow (13p. PDF)

Editorial: High-Speed Boondoggle Could Derail
Orange County Register

Expo's Farmdale Stop Clears Hurdle, Station Construction Can Start
Curbed LA

Failure To Extend Transit Commuter Benefits Equals Higher Costs For The Middle Class
APTA Press Release

The Final Push To Preserve An Important Benefit For Transit Riders
StreetsBlog Network

Full Speed Ahead: Creating Green Jobs Through Freight Rail Expansion (16p. PDF)
Blue Green Alliance ; Economic Policy Institute

Helping Scandal-Plagued Bell: Here Come The Urban Planners
Curbed LA

High-Speed Rail Projects Land In Tug Of War Between Governors
USA Today

Honda LA Marathon Unveils 2011 Course: Stadium To The Sea 2.0 (Sunday, March 20 : "Race to be more runner-friendly, add loops through Chinatown & Little Tokyo; starts at Dodger Stadium, finishes just steps from the Santa Monica Pier.")
Honda LA Marathon Press Release
Course Map
Honda LA Marathon
Animated Fly-Through Map (video)
via YouTube

In Los Angeles, A Subway System Grows
Second Avenue Sagas

Lather, Rinse, Repeat ("it’s been the same messages to be revisited, repeated and rehashed for those new to the subject of why we don’t have an coherent transit network to serve the entire City and County of Los Angeles.")
CityWatch

Napolitano Eyes Tighter Security For Trains, Ships, Mass Transit
Fox News

An Odd Twist In A Tale Of Honesty: After A Seriously Ill Vietnam Vet Turns In Nearly $1,000 He Finds On An MTA Bus, The Transit Agency At First Says He Can Keep The Money If It Is Not Claimed. But Later He's Told That's Against Policy
Los Angeles Times

Officials Mark Start Of Esplanade Improvement Project
Daily Breeze

Studies Show The Connection Between Travel Times To Food Stores And Public Health
The City Fix
The Grocery Gap: Who Has Access To Healthy Food And Why It Matters (44p. PDF)
PolicyLink ; The Food Trust

Tis The Season For Tickets: LAPD Plans Holiday Crackdown On Jaywalking And Other Offenses
Los Angeles Downtown News

Traffic Signal Retiming Practices In The United States (92 p. PDF)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Where The Rubber Meets The Rails: BART To San Jose Will Ride On Old Tires
San Jose Mercury News