Today's Headlines - more at Metro

4/02/2010

Transportation Headlines For Friday April 2, 2010

Another U.S. Federal Agency On Board With Sustainable Transport
The City Fix

A Bike Race Through The Deserted Streets Of Los Angeles (Los Angeles bicycle crew organizes a bike race along the route of the L.A. Marathon the night before the race. The closed streets create a 26.2-mile urban raceway that is seen only once a year)
GOOD

Clayton County Loses Vital Bus Service, Link To Atlanta: Many Workers Fear They’ll Lose Their Jobs Without The Transportation, Cut Off Because Of A County Budget Shortfall
Los Angeles Times

Five Things You Need To Know About High-Speed Rail
Planetizen
Planetizen Launches High Speed Rail News Blog

Friday Tolls Tops $10 On 91 Express Lanes Under New Rates
Riverside Press-Enterprise

How America Led, And Lost, The High-Speed Rail Race
Progressive Fix

Is Metro Ready For “30 In 10?”
StreetsBlog LA

Metrolink Board Considers Cutting Inland Trains, Raising Fares
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Moscow Subway Attack: Five Ways To Make Mass Transit Safer
Christian Science Monitor

Name The Train: ATL Turns To Social Media
Transit Wire

New Report: Congress Should Boost Truck Efficiency By Raising Gas Tax
StreetsBlog DC

New Survey: 84% Of Transit Agencies Facing Fare Hikes, Service Cuts
StreetsBlog DC
APTA Press Release
Survey Results (8p. PDF)

Sensors Make Cities Smarter: In The Not Too Distant Future, Cameras And Sensors Will Empower Officials To Monitor Constantly Changing Dynamics
Governing

Transit Agencies Search For Silver Lining To Financial Hardship: Is There A Silver Lining To The Budget Crises That Have Plagued Public Transit Providers Across The U.S.? (Top executives at some of the nation’s hard-hit transit properties respond)
Transit Talent

The True Cost Of A Miserable Commute
StreetsBlog

Up Your Alley: Hidden Development In SF Alleys
(Whether they've formed organically over thee years or through direct encouragement from city policies, a number of activated alleys in San Francisco show that these often overlooked urban areas can play a valuable role in the urban realm)
Examiner

Using Social Media To Make Transit Fun!
Planning Pool

4/01/2010

Transportation Headlines for Thursday April 1, 2010

Can New Technology Make Mass Transit Safe?
Infrastructurist

Could Gas-Tax Bonds Pay For The Next Federal Transportation Bill?
StreetsBlog DC

DHS Has Completed Incident Planning For A Moscow-Like Explosive Attack (but it is the only one of 15 hypothetical terrorist attack scenarios with a completed strategic guidance statement, strategic plan, concept plan and operations plan)
Government Security News

Half Of All [New York] Subway Security Cameras Don’t Work
Huffington Post

Housing And Transportation Squeeze Hitting Rural America, New Report Concludes
Transportation For America

How Long Will It Take To Bring High Speed Rail To California? (interview with Jeffrey Barker, Deputy Executive Director for Communications, Policy and Public Outreach, California High-Speed Rail Authority and Pat Merrill, Assistant Vice-President for Policy & Development West, Amtrak)
KPBS

Is Caltrans Running Over The History Of L.A.’s Oldest Freeway? (Highland Park Heritage Trust asks California Office Of Historic Preservation order a stop to construction work they claim threatens or damages historic features of the Pasadena Freeway)
Eastsider LA

Letter From India: Railway Exams Not A Free Ride (audio : India's Railway Exams, given to aspiring guards, ticket collectors and drivers, ask a surprising variety of difficult questions. Competition for jobs on the railway is extreme — by one account there are 20,000 applicants for one ticket collector job)
National Public Radio

Los Angeles: The "Psychology Of The Place?"
Human Transit

Metrolink Train Crews Threaten Boycott Over Personality Test Requirement
Los Angeles Times

Metrolink May Raise Fares, Cut Service
Orange County Register

National TOD Organization Offers A Hand To Los Angeles
StreetsBlog LA

New Film Series Showcases City Transportation Innovations
The City Fix
National Association Of City Transportation Officials’ Best Practice Videos

Personal Infrastructures Take You On The Metro, A Bike, And Into Your Neighbor's House
Curbed LA

Public Gets Peek At $444 Million I-5 Project
Orange County Register

Proposed Texting Ban For Commercial Truck And Bus Drivers Pioneers Innovative E-Rulemaking Partnership
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Restructuring The Commercial Strip: A Practical Guide For Planning The Revitalization Of Deteriorating Strip Corridors
(64p. PDF)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Success In The South Bay: South Bay Bicycle Coalition
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

TAD Or TOD? A Look At The W At Hollywood And Vine
StreetsBlog LA

What Happens When You Remove All Traffic Signs? A German Town Finds Out (In a counterintuitive approach to reducing car accidents and making streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists, a town has nixed all traffic signs and traffic lights in the town center)
Christian Science Monitor

What’s Bugging You? Parking Restrictions
(video : LADOT responds to complaints about outdated restricted parking signage on newly reconfigured James M. Woods Blvd. near downtown)
KABC-7

3/31/2010

Transportation Headlines for Wednesday March 31, 2010

48 Years Ago: Downtown Encircled By Freeways
Blog Downtown

Another Reason For Congestion Pricing
Yglesias Think Progress

Federal Sign Language Tests Local Budgets
Daily Reporter

Following The Money (In an effort to improve accountability, more government agencies are freeing data about public expenditures)
Next American City

How Quickly Will Caltrans Embrace Complete Streets Guidelines?
StreetsBlog SF

If Oil Production Declines, Will HSR Opposition Decline With It?
California High Speed Rail Blog

Light Rail Or A Streetcar For Warner Center? L.A. To Apply For Transit Grant (Woodland Hills’ “Centers Concept”)
LAist

Los Angeles: The Next Great Transit Metropolis?
Human Transit

MTA Ramps Up Security After Dozens Are Killed In Moscow Subway Blasts
Whittier Daily News

New Poll Shows Americans Strongly Support Public Transportation; More Walking & Biking
Transportation For America
Future Of Transportation National Survey (2010)
Detailed Findings

Osborn Architects Re-Imagines Paved Parking Lots As An Urban Forest (proposal to re-purpose struggling auto dealerships on Glendale’s Brand Boulevard)
Inhabitat

Regional Congestion Relief For The Cost Of A Latte
Greater Greater Washington

San Francisco First City In The Nation To Count Its Parking Spaces ("Without the basic knowledge, [city planners] have no basis on which to make decisions about future supply policy, about current management policy or even about how their transportation systems are working.")
StreetsBlog SF
SF Park (project collecting and distributing real-time information about where parking is available so drivers can quickly find open spaces)

Study: Only 2.5% Can Safely Drive & Phone
CBS News

Walkshed Technologies And The Smart City
World Changing

Wall Street Swaps Haunting Cities: How Many Transit Agencies Hold Them?
StreetsBlog DC

What Moscow’s Subway Terrorist Attack Really Means For LA
Huffington Post

Winging It: Transportation Funding Bridges Political Divide
Philadelphia Inquirer

3/30/2010

Transportation Headlines for Tuesday March 30, 2010

The 11 Mobile Apps You Need To Get Around Any City
Infrastructurist

Bike Corrals For The City Of Los Angeles
StreetsBlog LA

Bus Riders See Inequities In Proposed [D.C.] Metro Fare Increases
Washington Post

China Express Train Forces Airlines To Stop Flights
Reuters

Could D.C. Become Transit’s New Civil Rights Battleground?
StreetsBlog DC

Crenshaw Line Update Comes With Blocks And Play-Doh
Curbed LA

Cubic Smart Card System In San Diego County Gaining Momentum: Expanded Sales, Distribution Channels Available For Compass Cardholders
CNN

Denver 2022: Bid For The Games In Order To Win A $20 Billion Mountain Rail System
Colorado Independent

DesertXpress On Track To Break Ground This Year
California High Speed Rail Blog

“A Dozen Or So” Senators Delay Passage Of Oberstar’s Highway Funding Fix
StreetsBlog DC

Dreams Of El Monte Transit Village Inches Toward Reality
Pasadena Star-News

Forty Years Later, An Empty Pit Remains Across The Street From City Hall
Franklin Avenue

How To Cut Freight Pollution Part II: Prioritize Federal Spending To Support Innovation
Environmental Defense Fund Way2Go Blog

Illusions Of Travel Time In Transit Promotion
Human Transit

In Burbank, A Road Diet Appears On Verdugo Avenue
StreetsBlog LA

Metro And OCTA Call On CHSRA To Study Track Sharing For LA-Anaheim Segment
California High Speed Rail Blog

New Poll: Support For Transit Expansion Transcends Rural-Urban Divide
StreetsBlog DC

Our View: Continue Gold Line's Formula For Success
Pasadena Star-News

Politicians Ask, And The [New York] M.T.A. Jots It Down
New York Times

Streetcars Vs. Light Rail: Is There A Difference?
Human Transit

Successful Transit Oriented Development Requires Successful, Valued Transit
Rebuilding Place In The Urban Space

Transit Systems Reinforce Security Measures
Wall Street Journal

Transportation Infrastructure: How To Improve The “Transeconomy?” Invest In Infrastructure Now!
Logistics Management

Yale Directing Parking Students To Transit (Anyone who pays to park on campus and who lives within a quarter-mile radius of a Yale Shuttle or transit stop, or within two miles of a train station, will receive an e-mail outlining, in very specific and personalized terms, transit options)
Metro Magazine

You're Welcome, Mr. Antonovich, For The Foothill Gold Line
CityWatch

3/29/2010

Transportation Headlines for Monday March 29, 2010

Around The Muni In 80 Days: Man Plans S.F. Transit Odyssey (Quest to ride all 80 Muni lines in 80 days because “real life happens on Muni”)
San Francisco Weekly
His “Man Vs. Muni” Flickr photostream

California Led States In Increasing Taxes Last Year
Sacramento Bee

Caltrain Set To Approve Plans To Electrify Railroad
San Jose Mercury News

City Wants To Lower Red Light Camera Fines & Reap Higher Revenues At The Same Time
LAist

Corona Man Envisions New Commuting Option (He proposes stops along Highways 91, 55, 57 and 22 in Riverside and Orange counties, linked by vehicles that give riders their own space, provide a chair and table, and take them to the station of their choice for around 70 cents a mile in eight-person vehicles)
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Economy Roughs-Up Transit; Thousands Of Jobs In The Balance
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Gold Line To Azusa To Be Funded For 2014
Pasadena Star-News

How To Cut Freight Pollution, Part I: Port And Rail Corridor Examples
Environmental Defense Fund Way2Go Blog

L.A., Long Beach Ports Need A Rising Tide Of Exports: The Seaport Complex's Reliance On Imports Subjected The Region To More Economic Pain
Los Angeles Times

Let’s All Welcome The New Kid! (LADOT launches Bike Blog)
LADOT Bike Blog
LADOT Bicycle Services

Los Angeles’ Gold Line Foothill Extension Approved For Funding, Will Begin Construction Later This Year
Tranpsort Politic

New Life For L.A. Central: Moinian Extends Financing, Parking Returns
Blog Downtown

New Stimulus Data: Road Funds 77% Under Contract, Transit At 74%
StreetsBlog DC

New York Has The Edge In Learning To Share The Road
Los Angeles Times

Oberstar Stays Optimistic About New Transport Bill In 2010
StreetsBlog DC

Rumor: Metro Rescinds TAP Corner Notch Policy
StreetsBlog LA

Second TSA Nominee Withdraws His Name
Washington Post

Service Cuts Approved
Riding In Riverside

Should Next Surface Transportation Bill Add Provision To Keep Programs Going?
National Journal Transportation Blog

Slaughterhouse ’10: The Gutting Of State And Local Government
Huffington Post

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood: “We’ve Made Some Progress, But We Need To Do More”
Huffington Post

Underpass Park A Key Step In Don Lands Transformation (land underneath a Toronto highway overpass will be converted into a community park, with officials hoping it will spark a revival of an underused neighborhood)
Daily Commercial News And Construction Record

U.S. Officials Eager To Climb Aboard Villaraigosa's L.A. Transit Plan: Even Some Lawmakers From Other States See Merit In The Los Angeles Mayor's Idea For Massive Federal Loans To Ease Congestion And Create Jobs
Los Angeles Times

What's So Scary About Bicycle Infrastructure?
StreetsBlog