Today's Headlines - more at Metro

10/22/2010

Obama In L.A. Today, Federal Funds For Highway Removal?, Streetcar Entrepreneur, Megacity Sustainable Mobility, "L.A. Live Way" & More

ALL CAPS? Not OK On Road Signs, Federal Government Says
USA Today

All Carrot, No Stick: A Proposed Senate Bill Containing Some Of The Most Progressive Ideas In Urban Planning Today
Metropolis

Climate Regulations Coming For Trucks, Buses ("The Obama administration will propose the first-ever greenhouse gas emission limits for heavy trucks and buses next week.")
Politico
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43964.html

Customs To Test Ocean, Rail Manifest Systems
Journal Of Commerce

Democratic Sen. Jenny Oropeza, 53, Dies (The CSU Long Beach graduate served on the...Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board before she was first elected to the Assembly in 2000.")
Sacramento Bee

Downtown Loses Its Cherry Street, Becomes "L.A. Live Way"
Blog Downtown

EZ-Pass Saves Lifes
Think Progress

High-Speed Rail Sought For B.C. To U.S. Run
(Proposal for Vancouver to California bullet train)
CBC News

If You Come, They Will Build It: Notes On Livability From Rail-Volution
StreetsBlog DC

The Importance Of Sustainable Mobility In Megacities
The City Fix

The Man Who Wanted To Ban Cars From Manhattan (In 1961)
GOOD

More Evidence For A Shift Away From Driving
California High Speed Rail Blog

Older Commercial Drivers: Do They Pose A Safety Risk?
(40p. PDF)
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Rail & The Media
Progressive Railroading

Real-Time Bike-Share Maps Show America's Got Some Catching Up To Do
StreetsBlog NY

A Smarter Model For Bicycle Sharing
Next American City

The Story Of A Streetcar Entrepreneur
(video : looks at an American company which is building streetcars for some U.S. cities)
MSNBC via Infrastructurist

StreetVids: Politicians Laud The Crenshaw Line
StreetsBlog LA

We're Tearing This Highway Down, Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood Says
Grist

William Lind Makes A Conservative Case For Public Transit (Not Just Buses)
Grist

What To Know Before Obama Takes Over Los Angeles
Curbed LA

Why Transit Agencies Expand Capacity While They Cut Service
StreetsBlog DC

10/21/2010

TIGER II Grants Announced, Good News For Ports, L.A. As Subject This Saturday, Prop. 19 & Safe Driving & More

2 Area Transportation Projects Get $36M Grants
Daily Breeze

5th Annual Archives Bazaar: L.A. History - All Day, All In One Place
(Saturday, October 23 : more than 70 libraries, archives, museums, and other historical & cultural institutions assemble to share their collections and services with the public. This FREE event at USC's Doheny Memorial Library also includes various panel discussions, documentary film screenings and educational sessions)
LA As Subject
Full-Program Listing

Bringing Transit Decision-Making Back Into The Political Sphere
Next American City

California Needs To Fix HOV Lanes
California State University, Fullerton Daily Titan

California Releases Public Safety Communications Strategic Plan
Government Technology

California Still Tops List Of Desired Home States
Los Angeles Business Journal

Council Approves Zoning For Transpo Center
Orange County Register

For Local Koreans, High-Speed Rail Means Jobs, Convenience
New American Media

It's New Years In October With Expo Line Ride-Along Video
Curbed LA

LA Congressional Delegation And US DOT Voice Strong Support For 30/10 At Crenshaw Press Event
StreetsBlog LA

A Little Relief For Local Freeways ("Once built, port officials said, the rail yard will alleviate the need for 2,300 truck trips a day to transcontinental rail hubs like those south of downtown Los Angeles that take port cargo across the U.S.")
Los Angeles Times

Living In Denial (Transportation policy expert, Ken Orski, takes a different perspective in his column, "Living in Denial". Rather placing the blame on the American public and lawmakers denying the infrastructure crisis, he applies it to the transportation community.)
Infrastructure USA

London Agency Plans International Contactless Transit Card
American Banker

Meter Jam: Evolving To A Results-Driven Campaign
The City Fix

Port Of LA Gets Grant For Project Expected To Create 2,000 Jobs
Long Beach Press-Telegram

Ports Awarded Nearly $95 Million In TIGER II Infrastructure Grants
PR Newswire

Proposition 19: Will Legalized Marijuana Lead To Unsafe Streets?
StreetsBlog LA

San Gabriel Hears From Rail Authority And Residents
Whittier Daily News

San Pedro Red Car Trolley Line To Operate For Free On Weekend
Daily Breeze

Santa Clarita Transit Offers TAP Card Purchase, Reloading Online
Santa Clarita Valley Signal

Secretary LaHood Announces More Than 70 Innovative Transportation Projects Competitively Funded Under TIGER II: Requests Top $19 Billion For $600 Million Program
U.S. DOT Press Release

Should We Raise The Price Of Street Parking?
Infrastructurist

State And Local Officials: The Litmus Test For Federal Transportation Reform
Mobilizing The Region

This Week's Poll Question: Will You Use The Planned Crenshaw Light-Rail Line To LAX?
Daily Breeze

TIGER Grant Recipients Showcase Innovation In Both Rural And Urban Communities: Program's Merit-Based Project Selection Is A Model For Next Transportation Authorization
Transportation For America

TIGER II Grants Emphasize Limited Investments In Small And Mid-Size Communities
Transport Politic

U.S. DOT Unveils Full List Of TIGER II Winners
StreetsBlog DC

10/20/2010

Crenshaw/LAX Workshops, Rail-Volution Updates, Is Removing Traffic Lights Beneficial?, Broader Impacts Of Transportation, End Of Parking Meters & More

Blumenauer Gets Things Started At Rail-Volution 2010
StreetsBlog DC

California High Speed Rail Doesn't Need To Make A Dime To Make A Difference
AltTransport
The Financial Risks Of California's High-Speed Rail Project: A Review And Assessment Of Publicly Available Materials On The California High-Speed Rail Authority's Financial Plans (100p. PDF)
Enthoven, Grindley, Warren

City Hall Ponders Parking Crunch
Santa Monica Daily Press

Downtown's Angels Flight Makes "The Bold And The Beautiful"
Curbed LA

EPA/USDOT Wants Our Input On Fuel Economy Stickers For New Cars
StreetsBlog LA

Expo Line Running A Little Off Track
Santa Monica College Corsair

Fighting Freeways: War Stories From Portland
StreetsBlog DC

How Hollywood Learned To Ride The City
(video : how a bike coach teaches actors to ride like bike messengers in the city)
New York Times

How Walkable Are The Streets Near Your Transit Stop?
StreetsBlog
National TOD Database (includes 3,768 existing stations and 843 proposed stations in 47 metropolitan areas)
Center For Transit-Oriented Development

In NYC, A New System Of Buses Expands From The Bronx To Manhattan
(a look at New York's Bus Rapid Transit)
The City Fix

L.A. Metro To Host Workshops For Crenshaw/LAX Light-Rail Line
Progressive Railroading

Legislators Who Criticized Stimulus Sought Its Funding (notably, for transportation projects)
Washington Post

Measuring The Broader Impacts Of Transportation ("CEOs for Cities recently published a blistering criticism of The Texas Transportation Institute's "Urban Mobility Report", saying that the way they measure mobility helps justify sprawl. Norman W. Garrick says CEOs for Cities doesn't go far enough.")
Planetizen

Misunderstanding Of Shoupian Theory Leads To Uninformed Attacks
StreetsBlog LA

Motorists Take Note: Obama Is Returning To LA
(After August 16th's "Carmageddon," tips on avoiding traffic Friday)
Los Angeles Daily News

Moving The Bus Safely Back Into Traffic: Phase II (79p. PDF : The difficulty experienced by transit buses in moving back into traffic safely from bus pullout bays has become a serious problem due to potential hazards between buses merging from the pullout bays and
the surrounding traffic. This study focused on the assessment of the safety and operational effects of the use of Yield‐to‐Bus Light Emitting Diode (YTB‐LED) signs on the back of the buses.)
University Of South Florida Center For Urban Transportation Research

"Naked Streets" Without Traffic Lights Improve Flow And Safety
The City Fix

New Study Says Young People Want Apartments, Not Houses; iPhones, Not Cars (Young people in Canada, anyway)
Grist

Obama To States: Invest In Infrastructure While It's Cheap
Governing

Opinion: 2025: A Lot Of Old People On The Road: The Number Of Drivers Over 70 Will Triple In The Next 20 Years. How Will They Stay Safe And Mobile?
New York Times

Rail Conference Rides Into Portland's "Living Laboratory": Rail-Volution Participants Gather To Ponder Future Of Transportation
Portland Tribune

Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus Partners With Google
Santa Monica Lookout

Seattle First In Nation To Provide Surface-Street Drive Times
KOMO

Security & All-Hazards Preparedness, Response, And Recovery Activities: TRB's All Haards Context For Coordinated, All Modes, Security-Related Research
(146p. PDF)
U.S. Transportation Research Board

Strategies For Meeting Critical Data Needs For Decision Making Critical Data Needs For Decision Making In State And Metropolitan Transportation Agencies
(December 5-7 : conference : Irvine, CA)
Transportation Research Board

Tim Geithner Speaks Out In Support Of High Speed Rail
California High Speed Rail Blog

Time Expired: The End Of The Parking Meter
("The time has finally come for a sweeping rethink of the parking meter—in part because of changes in technology, and in part because of an emerging change in the way we think about parking in cities.")
Slate

Was Obama's Shovel-Ready Statement Really Controversial?
Infrastructurist

Where Are The Shoupistas? Beverly Hills Wants Free Parking
Curbed LA

10/19/2010

L.A. Green District Competition, L.A. Car Culture vs. Urban Culture, What's Wrong With Airport Connectors?, Crumbling America: $2.2 Trillion & More

210 Basket Bridge Coming (includes image of bridge to be built over eastbound 210 Freeway heading into Arcadia)
Arcadia's Best

Amtrak Chugs Along Nicely To Record Ridership
USA Today
Americans And Their Trains (detailed statistics for Amtrak lines' growth linked in this article)
Economist

Are Transportation Agencies Really Reading What's Said Online?
The City Fix

Bullet Train May Build S.F.-S.J. First
San Francisco Business Times

Bus Drivers Union, Montebello Work For Stalemate Resolution
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Car Culture vs. Urban Culture ("The subway...and the Expo Line and other transit projects...*will* offer alternatives that much of the city doesn't have now.")
LA Observed

CHSRA CEO Lays Out Segment Selection Criteria
California High Speed Rail Blog

Congressional Disruption: Senior House Transportation Leader, DeFazio, Now Faces Tight Race
Transportation Nation

Construction On Busy LA Freeway Rattles Drivers (I-405 widening)
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Crumbling America Has A $2.2 Trillion Repair Bill: The U.S. Needs To Update Its Roads, Railways And Airports -- But Recession And A Shift To The Right Have Put Big Infrastructure Projects In Jeopardy
Independent (U.K.)

Feds Refinance Amtrak Debt
Progressive Railroading

The Future Of CicLAvia: 4 To 6 Events In 2011?
LAist

How Would You Define Transit-Oriented Development?
StreetsBlog DC

HUD Awards $100 Million In Grants For Sustainable Communities
Infrastructurist

The Inanity Of Airport Connectors
Market Urbanism

LA City Council Recognizes CicLAvia Organizers On Friday, October 15, 2010
(video)
YouTube

Los Angeles Green District Competition Winners Offer Visions Of A Sustainable City
American Society Of Landscape Architects' The Dirt

Mandatory Switch From Muni Paper Passes To Clipper Card Begins Soon
StreetsBlog SF

Metro Area Is In Line For Color-Coded Transit
(Metro Transit in the Twin Cities is planning to brand its rapid transit services in the same manner as Los Angeles and Boston do: a color for each line that provides rapid and frequent service, regardless of whether it's rail or bus.)
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune

New And Notable: Transport For Suburbia, ArcGIS & Viability And Federal Role In High Speed Passenger Rail
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Opinion: Ontario Needs Its Airport Back: The Deal The City Signed In 1967 To Let L.A. Run The Facility Made Sense Then But Now Presents A Conflict Of Interest For The Agency That Runs LAX Too
Los Angeles Times

Our View: L.A. Mayor's Push In Washington May Speed Transit Projects
Pasadena Star-News

Railvolution Panel Asks, "Is BOD The New TOD?"
(Bike-Oriented Development)
Bike Portland

Realizing The Impossible: Los Angeles' Subway Extension
Transport Politic

Richard C. Miller Dies At 98; Photographed An Evolving Los Angeles: The Master Of The Carbro Printing Process Documented The Ever-Changing City, Including The Building Of The Hollywood Freeway
Los Angeles Times

San Francisco's Prop. G Could Reroute Muni's Future
(On November 2, San Francisco voters will consider yet another Muni reform plan, this one targeting the pay, benefits and work rules for operators)
Mass Transit

Supplemental Environmental Impact Report To The Gold Line Phase 2A Project (public hearing: October 27)
Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority

TIGER II Grants Given To Highway Removal Projects
Mobilizing The Region

Video: Checking In On The Construction Of The Expo Line
LAist

10/18/2010

Fed Loan For Crenshaw, What Next for CicLAvia?, HSR Essays, Gas-Tax Revamp, Santa Monica Blvd. Light Rail? & More

10 Least Stressful Jobs: #2 = Transportation Engineer
CNN Money

30/10 Initiative: Los Angeles Wins $546 Million Federal Loan
Huffington Post

After The Election, What If?
National Journal Transportation Blog

Angela Glover Blackwell On Equity, Infrastructure, And The President
(interview with the chair of the Transportation For America Equity Caucus)
StreetsBlog DC
Transportation For America Equity Caucus

Are Municipal Bankruptcies Imminent?: State And Local Debt Is At An All-Time High -- Governments Have Borrowed $2.4 Trillion As Of Mid-2010
Governing

As Suburban Poverty Grows, U.S. Fails To Respond Adequately
("The demographics of the newly poor suggest that transit is not a realistic option for a majority of those in poverty, because more and more of them live outside of city centers.")
Next American City
The Great Recession And Poverty In Metropolitan America (10p. PDF)
Brookings

Car-Shaped Bike Rack Turns One Parking Space Into 15
GOOD

Barstow Celebrates Railroad History: Railfest Brings Hundreds To Harvey House
Desert Dispatch

California High Speed Rail: Governor's Veto May Be Illegal
Examiner

City / Culture: A Bike + Planning Conversation With Mike Lydon
(Lydon is the Founding Principal of The Street Plans Collaborative, a New York City and Miami-based urban planning, advocacy, and design firm)
Next American City

Desert Sun Investigation: 1-In-3 Inspected Trucks Unfit for I-10: Banning Station Finds More Safety Violations Than Any In State
Palm Springs Desert Sun

EPA Rules That Fuel Can Contain More Ethanol
NPR

The Failure Of the Right ("Most conservatives tend to defend their big-government agendas with one of the following lies": The Wendell Cox Closed System, The Joel Kotkin Real Americans, The Randal O'Toole Transit Socialism)
Cap'n Transit Rides Again

"Fare Media" And Other Logistical Nightmares
Transportation Nation

Federal Loan To Speed Work On Crenshaw Light-Rail Line: It Is The First Federal Commitment To Villaraigosa's So-Called 30/10 Initiative, Which Seeks To Dramatically Accelerate A Dozen MTA Transit Projects
Los Angeles Times

Finding The Money To Build Out LA's 30/10 Transportation Initiative
Huffington Post

The Fitness Gap: Americans Walking Far Less Than People In Other Countries
StreetsBlog

Five Reasons Reformers Are Rallying Behind Obama's Transpo Push
StreetsBlog DC

Gas-Tax Revamp Pushed To Fund Transportation Projects
(AASHTO is pushing a replacement of the current federal excise fuel taxes with sales taxes, initially revenue-neutral, but would increase with inflation, unlike stagnant excise taxes last increased in 1993. In six years, it could raise an extra $43 billion)
Wall Street Journal

The Greatness Of Ambition Made Real In The Alps
NPR
In Pictures: Gotthard Tunnel Breakthrough (Swiss engineers have broken through the last section of rock to create the world's longest tunnel: 35 miles in length)
BBC

He Puts Parking In Its Place: UCLA Professor Donald Shoup, Hailed As The "Prophet Of Parking," Believes Free Or Inexpensive Space For Cars Is At The Root Of Many An Urban Ill:
Congestion, Sprawl, Wasteful Energy Use, Air Pollution
Los Angeles Times

How About A Half Dozen CicLAvias In 2011?
StreetsBlog LA

How Social Media Is Fueling A Car-Sharing Revolution
AltTransport
The New Car-Sharing Economy (13p. PDF)
Latitude ; Shareable Magazine

HUD Announces Winners Of $100M In Sustainability Grants
StreetsBlog DC

L.A.'s 30/10 Plan Advances Suddenly With A $546 Million Loan For The Crenshaw Light Rail Project ("Observers nationwide should be evaluating the approach L.A. has taken on this project very carefully: This method, in which local governments promise a long-term revenue stream to pay back low-interest loans from Washington, could be a model for future infrastructure creation everywhere. Or it may at least allow the nation’s second-largest city to advance the fast-paced transit expansion program it has been planning.")
Transport Politic

LAX Rail Line Is Early Stop In Plan To Expedite Transit Work
Daily Breeze

London Bike-Hire Scheme On Road To Be Only Public Transport System In Profit: TfL Expect The Project Will Cover Operating Costs Within Three Years And Will Then Go On To Meet Implementation Costs
Guardian (U.K.)

Metro's Favored Westside Subway Route
Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Third District

Miles Not Gallons Could Be Key To Road Upkeep
Miller-McCune

Modernizing Public Transportation: Lessons Learned From Major Bus Improvements In Latin America And Asia (44p. PDF : an overview of developments in 13 cities)
World Resources Institute; EMBARQ
Q&A With Dario Hidalgo, Part 1
Q&A With Dario Hidalgo, Part 2
The City Fix

New Card & Coin Meters Net Nearly A Quarter Million A Month
LAist

New Research Shows Americans Don't Walk Much ("Using pedometers to collect data on 1,136 Americans, researchers found that they averaged 5,117 steps a day. A mile is roughly 2,000 steps. Meanwhile Australians averaged 9,695 steps a day, the Swiss clocked in at 9,650, and the Japanese puttered about at 7,168 paces.")
Infrastructurist

Nobody Pays The Tab For High-Speed Rail News
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Obama Administration Begins Push For New Transportation Legislation
Transport Politic
An Economic Analysis Of Infrastructure Investment (28p. PDF)
U.S. Department Of The Treasury; Council Of Economic Advisers

Opinion: CicLAvia And Cycling In Los Angeles (letters to the editor regarding CicLAvia)
Los Angeles Times

Opinion: Making California Whole Is The True Promise Of A High-Speed Rail System
Los Angeles Daily News

Opinion: Will We Ever Have High-Speed Trains?
("Even if the political will exists, does a system of high-speed railways across America make economic sense?")
New York Times
A Measured Approach Can Work (Robert Puentes, Brookings Institution)
Habits Are Hard To Change (Jan K. Brueckner, Economist, UC Irvine)
Fast Trains Are Coming (Joseph P. Schwieterman, President, Midwest High Speed Rail Association)
Infeasible And Not Cost Effective (Sam Staley, Reason Foundation)
An Investment We Have To Make (Robert D. Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association)
Improve Existing Railroads (Keith T. Poole, Political Scientist, University of Georgia)

Plan To Reduce Sprawl Will Boost Health, Environment
Washington Post

Same Time, Next Year? (City Council members Eric Garcetti and Bill Rosendahl submitted a motion for city agencies to study, with CicLAVia organizers, the 10/10/10 CicLAvia to prepare for future events)
Curbed LA

Schwarzenegger Kills Provision Related To High-Speed Train Accountability
Curbed LA

Shoup: NPR Puts A Price On Parking. Why Not Cato?
StreetsBlog

Shovel-Ready Projects? Obama Admits There's No Such Thing
Transportation Nation

Solar Roadways Get $50K To Move Forward
Wired

Spending On Housing And Transportation Fell In 2009
New York Times

This Short, Scenic Mojave Train Tour Was A Long Time Coming: It Took Five Years And $50,000 To Get A Single L.A.-Barstow-Kelso Depot Tour Rolling. Organizers Hope It Inspired Someone To Bankroll A Regular Tourist Service To Rival The Grand Canyon
Los Angeles Times

Transit Mode Share Trends Looking Steady; Rail Appears To Encourage Non-Automobile Commutes ("Just how effective have new investments in transit been in promoting a shift of Americans towards public transportation? Has the recent livable communities movement resulted in increased commuting by bike or by foot?...The places recording the largest increases in transit modal share were Nashville, Washington, Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Boston.")
Transport Politic

Transportation Equity Atlas
Pratt Center For Community Development

Transporation Secretary Envisions Nation Connected By High-Speed Rail
("He expects 80 percent of American cities to be connected by high-speed rail in 25 years.")
Las Vegas Sun

Two Scenarios For Century City In 2050
("What might happen if the Century City subway stop was located at Santa Monica and Avenue of the Stars instead of the current center of Century City at Constellation and Avenue of the Stars?")
LA Subway Blog

What If the Santa Monica Blvd. Transit Corridor Were Light Rail?
The Pink Line

What's Coming To Olympic & Normandie? Zev on Expo Line Lawsuit
Curbed LA

Where Infrastructure Estimates Come Up Short ("What causes spending to expand well beyond initial projections? Explanations range from subtle psychological impulses when numbers are involved, to the economic phenomenon known as the winner's curse, to outright lying.")
Wall Street Journal

Why The Governor's HSR Line-Item Veto Is Irrelevant
California High Speed Rail Blog