Today's Headlines - more at Metro

1/28/2011

Measure R Cost Controls, Figueroa Corridor, Light Rail For 710?, High Speed Rail Board, Recent Research & More

Bike-Friendly Road Plan Progressing
Glendale News-Press

Bill Would Cut All Funding To HUD
Housing Wire

CA Rep. Hunter: Roads Constitutionally Mandated, Transit Must Pay For Itself
StreetsBlog LA

Enviro Law Experts: Review For Bike Lanes A Waste Of Taxpayer Money
("We asked some top legal and planning experts for their opinion, and they agreed: Bike lanes generally don’t and shouldn’t need to go through environmental review.")
StreetsBlog

Gehl Architect's Amazing Bird's Eye View Of Parking On The Figueroa Corridor
StreetsBlogLA

High-Speed Rail Should Focus On Northeast, Say Politicians -- And Involve Private Sector
Transportation Nation

Jerry Snyder Unveils Plans For Wilshire District Site
(Wilshire & Vermont)
Los Angeles Times

Long And Triumphant History Of Women In Cycling
StreetsBlog Network

Measuring The Global Health Impact Of Transportation Reform
StreetsBlog Network

Metro Board Adopts Cost Control Plan For Measure R Bus, Road And Rail Projects
Los Angeles Times

NYC MTA: Our Website Maxed Out At 500,000 Users In This Blizzard
Transportation Nation

Panel Clears Members Of High-Speed Rail Board After Investigations Into Overseas Trips
Los Angeles Times

Recent Research: High-Speed Rail And California's Economic Growth, Reducing Transportation's GHG Emissions & Do Roads Pay For Themselves?
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Soot Crackdown Lags As EPA Wrestles Other Deadlines
New York Times

State Of Port Address On Friday To Look To Future
Long Beach Post

A Sustainable Ending For The 710 Debate: Let's Build Light Rail For Everyone
StreetsBlog LA

Transport And Health: Measuring The Link
The City Fix

Transportation Committee Shrinks, EPW Announces New Members
StreetsBlog DC

What Now For The West Hollwood Transit Corridor?
WeHo News

Why Cutting Rail Funding Would Hurt America's Transportation Future
Infrastructurist

1/27/2011

Gold Line Foothill Extension, Westside Subway, Vision California, Reading L.A. Urbanism, TOD Summit & More

California Gov. Jerry Brown Defends Cutting Redevelopment Agencies: Nine Big-City Mayors, Meeting With The Governor, Criticize The Budget Proposal
Los Angeles Times

A Call For Zero Emissions As Railyards Seek To Expand
Long Beach Post

Congressional Leaders Give Transport Bill High Priority: First Hearing Of 112th Congress Devoted To Transportation Infrastructure
Journal Of Commerce

Crossing Solutions At Roundabouts And Channelized Turn Lanes For Pedestrians With Vision Disabilities (152p. PDF)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

For Bikesharing, Forget Stations; All You Need Is A Phone
The City Fix

House Transpo Committee Promises Bipartisanship, To Tackle Aviation First
StreetsBlog DC

If You're So Happy In Your Car, Why Are You So Mad At The People Walking?
Grist

Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities By State: 2010 Preliminary Data (14p. PDF)
Governors Highway Safety Association

L.A. City Council Agrees To Speed Up Spending $52 Million In Redevelopment Money Before Governor Can Tap It
Los Angeles Times

LADOT Following Up On 2009 Promise: More Bike Lanes On Reseda, Rinaldi In The Valley
StreetsBlog LA

Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Needs Smart Route, Community Says
USC Annenberg Neon Tommy

Metro Shows Off Subway Progress: Plans Are Proceeding Apace, Residents At A Westwood Community Meeting Hear (video)
Century City Patch

New And Notable: L.A. As "Smogtown," Ethics Of Metropolitan Growth & Integrated Transport
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

New Meters Aim To Cure Parking Headaches
Wall Street Journal

NTSB Chair: When It Comes To Safety, We Can Pay Now -- Or Pay Later
Transportation Nation

President Obama's State Of The Union Calls The Clean Tech Future Our Sputnik Moment
Inhabitat

Rail Safety: Federal Railroad Administration Should Report On Risks To The Successful Implementation Of Mandated Safety Technology
(82p. PDF)
U.S. Government Accountability Office

Reading L.A.: The Los Angeles Times Takes On The Literature Of L.A.'s Architecture & Urbanism Throughout 2011
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Resource Guide For Commingling ADA and Non-ADA Paratransit Riders (112p. PDF)
Transit Cooperative Research Program

Sean Martin: Taking Over LA On Two Wheels
(video)
I Am Los Angeles

Senate Committee Backs Infrastructure Spending (But Not For Bike Lanes)
StreetsBlog DC

Sprint 4G Donates $10K To CicLAvia To Open The Streets Of Los Angeles
Business Wire

This Week's Big Transit Meeting: City Council Debates Wilshire BOL On Friday (Late update: This item moved to next Wednesday, February 2)
StreetsBlog LA

TOD Summit Kickoff Event (Friday, January 28 : Union Station Main Concourse : Focus on increasing public and private sector engagement to discuss pressing transportation and land use challenges as they relate to TOD in the region; panel discussions on complex land use development issues for transit stations in Baldwin Park, Compton, Inglewood, Santa Monica)
Urban Land Institute, Los Angeles

Top DOT Officials Preview The Push For A Transportation Bill
StreetsBlog DC

U.S. Chamber Praises Obama's Call For Infrastructure Spending
Washington Post

Villaraigosa, Mayors To Meet With Brown Over Budget Cuts
Daily Breeze

Vision California: Charting Our Future ("Vision California is an unprecedented effort to explore the role of land use and transportation investments in meeting the environmental, fiscal, and public health challenges facing California over the coming decades. The project is producing new scenario development and analysis tools to examine the impacts of varying policy decisions and development patterns. By clearly expressing the consequences of different growth scenarios, Vision California can inform the decisions that will drive California’s infrastructure investments.")
Vision California
Statewide Scenarios Report (19p. PDF)
Summary And Key Finding (2p. PDF)
Rapid Fire Model Technical Summary (25p. PDF)

We Need Trains To "Win The Future" -- So Get Over That Deficit Hysteria
Grist

1/26/2011

30/10 Revisited, State Of The Union, Metrolink Double Tracking, Statewide Transportation Planning, Infrastructure Naming Rights & More

2011 Sustainable Transport Award: Developing Cities Serve As Model Of Progress For U.S.
The City Fix

The 30/10 Initiative Revisited
Huffington Post

Administration Readies Transportation Plan
Associated Press

California To Audit 18 Redevelopment Agencies: Controller John Chiang Says His Agency Will Look At The Books Of Local Entities Charged With Improving Blight. The Governor Wants To Use The Billions Controlled By The Agencies To Pay For Schools And Basic Services
Los Angeles Times

Cheviot Hills Homeowners Preemptively Declare Victory Obstructing Expo Bike Path
StreetsBlog LA

CHSRA Proposed Aerial Structure Along I-10 In San Gabriel Valley
California High Speed Rail Blog

Editorial: A Clearing Traffic Pattern
Daily Breeze

GAO: Transportation Spending An Investment With Uncertain Returns
Mobilizing The Region
Statewide Transportation Planning: Opportunities Exist To Transition To Performance-Based Planning And Federal Oversight (72p. PDF)
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Highlights (PDF)
Summary

Higher Financial Liability Cap Sought For Chatsworth Metrolink Crash Victims: Republican Rep. Elton Gallegly Asks For An Increase From $200 Million To $275 Million And Says Chatsworth Crash Victims May Need More
Los Angeles Times

Is Your Company Prepared For $5 Gallon Gas?
Environmental Defense Fund Way2Go Blog

LA-SD High Speed Rail Link Scores High In New Study: Alternatives For High Speed Rail In San Diego To Be Unveiled
San Diego Union-Tribune

Long Beach Streets Prepare For Congestion As Freeway Construction Continues
Long Beach Post

Metrolink's Antelope Valley Service Could Improve With Double Tracking Project
KCET

More Mass Transit Agencies Consider Selling Station Naming Rights
Smart Planet

Motion And Mishaps In Our Rail Transportation Network
CityWatch

New Infrastructure Strategy: Yes, Build -- But
Citiwire

Obama Aims To Boost Infrastructure Spending
Wall Street Journal

Obama: 80 Percent Of Americans Should Have Access To High Speed Rail By 2036
Transportation Nation

Obama: Europe And Russia Invest More In Roads And Railways Than We Do
StreetsBlog DC

Pedaling Into The Future: There's A Movement Afoot In The South Bay To Make Bicycling As A Means Of Transportation Easier And Safer
Manhattan Beach Patch

Should We Sell Naming Rights To Infrastructure?
Infrastructurist

Speeding High Efficiency Truck Adoption: Recommended Policies, Incentives And Investments (38p. PDF : "The goal of this report is to identify the best incentives and complementary policies to overcome technology and market barriers and support an accelerated transition to more‐efficient, cleaner trucks.")
CalStart

Study: Roads Are Safer In Urban Areas
USA Today

Time To Talk Trains On The Westside: The Extension Project Would Bring Underground Trains Across The Miracle Mile And Fairfax Districts, Beverly Hills And Century City, Then Across Westwood
NBC Los Angeles

Transit's Product: Mobility Or Access?
Human Transit

Uphill Battle For Panel Chief On Transportation Funding
Wall Street Journal

Wherever You Want To Go: Four Films About The Future Of Mobility (Four documentary films coming in February speak to the future of mobility in a variety of transportation modes)
BMW

Will Figueroa Street Be Los Angeles' First Truly Complete Street?
StreetsBlog LA

1/25/2011

Sustainable Transport Winner, State Of The Union, Montebello Clean Buses, GreenStart, Streets Reconsidered, San Diego's 50/10 Plan & More

42 Ways To Fund Transit-Oriented Development
New Urban Network
2010 Inventory Of TOD Programs: A National Review Of State, Regional And Local Programs That Fund Transit-Oriented Development Plans And Projects
Reconnecting America
Press Release

2011 Sustainable Transport Award Winner: Guangzhou, China (The winner successfully integrates a world-class bus rapid transit system with bike lanes, bike share and metro stations)
The City Fix
Guanghzhou's BRT: Revolutionizing Perceptions Of Bus Travel In China
The City Fix
Institute For Transportation & Development Policy (Read about Sustainable Transport Award nominees: Guangzhou, Leon, Lima, Nantes and Tehran)

Assistant Secretary For Transportation Policy: Infrastructure To Be "One Of The Themes" Of State Of The Union
Transportation Nation

Beyond Transit Scores: An Exchange With Matt Lerner
Human Transit

Can A New High-Speed Rail System Save The American Dream? ("It will be much easier to adjust to the unimaginable economic and environmental crunches coming our way if we launched that system before peak oil smacks us upside the head as early as 2015, according to a recent report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command. And that's being generous; some would argue that we've been experiencing peak oil's birth pangs for over a decade.")
AlterNet
JOE 2010: Joint Operating Report
(76p. PDF : discussion of Peak Oil begins on p. 26)
United States Joint Forces Command

City Weighs In On Rail Authority's Proposal For Elevated Line
(Proposal for an elevated structure within the I-10 Freeway median in Alhambra)
Pasadena Star-News

Editorial: It's Good News L.A. Has Lost Its Top Listing For Traffic Gridlock
Los Angeles Daily News

Fair Oaks Corridor Improvement Project Begins In South Pasadena
StreetsBlog LA

Huge Parking Fines Inspired Parking Watch App
Reuters
Park Patrol App

In California, GreenStart Acts As A Model For Making Green Tech A Reality ("In 1992, with the help of $6 million in state and federal grants, a nonprofit consortium of companies formed CalStart in hopes of developing a green transportation technology sector in California...CalStart plans to release Tuesday a blue-ribbon panel report that calls for...increased investment in clean transportation technologies, creating jobs and improving the environment.")
USC Annenberg Neon Tommy

Long Beach To Hold "State Of The Port" Address
Port World

Montebello Bus Lines Replacing Diesel Buses With Cleaner Burning Fuel
Pasadena Star-News

NTPP: Infrastructure Investment Will Only Boost The Economy If Done Right
StreetsBlog DC

Opinion: The High-Speed Rail Money Pit
Orange County Register

Pitch For Rebuilding Infrastructure Carries Political Challenges ("The challenge the administration now faces is twofold: negotiating a new transportation bill with Congress amid great uncertainty over where the money will come from and what it should be spent on, and then devising a system that would ensure that in times of limited resources, the worthiest projects get money.")
New York Times

Republican Opposition To Transit: A Geographic Explanation
StreetsBlog Network

SCI-Arc Campus Part Of Ten Property Settlement Agreement Between Meruelo Maddux And Lender (SCI-Arc occupies a quarter-mile long building rebuilt from L.A.'s original 1907 Santa Fe Rail Freight Terminal)
Blog Downtown

Servant Or Snoop In The Parking Garage?
Los Angeles Times

Strategic Approaches To Developing A Social Networking Page
(12p. PDF)
Transportation Research Board

Streets Reconsidered: Inclusive Design For The Public Realm ("Re: streets is a fundamental rethinking of American streets. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Re: Streets will result in a manual for designing streets to accommodate people of all ages and abilities and will serve a wide range of purposes, including transportation, commerce, education, recreation, and the ecosystem." Working conference and design charette will be held at UC Berkeley, July 21-23, 2011.)
Re: Streets

Study: Traffic Jams Making A Comeback
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Transportation Industry Faces More Aggressive Regulation
PR Newswire
The Regulators Ramp Up
Journal Of Commerce

Wheelchair Access Via Open Source Mapping
The City Fix
Wheelmap.org: Find Wheelchair Accessible Places
Wheelmap

With Los Angeles As Inspiration, San Diego Enviros Call For 50/10 Plan
StreetsBlog LA

1/24/2011

Westside Subway Meetings, Transportation Reauthorization, Job Creation From Transpo Infrastructure, Making Cities Smart & More

10 Freeway Widening Project Between Yucaipa And Redlands Planned
San Bernardino Sun

Architects Without Redevelopment Agencies: Designers Will Be Badly Hurt By California Governor's Budget Proposal
Architect's Newspaper

Basics: Conceptual Triangles
Human Transit

Can Ray LaHood Make Good On Transport Reauthorization?: Stars May Be Aligned, But Doubts Remain About Timetable
DC Velocity

City Leaders Vow To Defend Redevelopment Agencies
San Francisco Chronicle

Deadline Pressure Threatens High-Speed Rail: Experts Warn Project May Already Be Running Late
Fresno Bee

Department Of Transportation Investments In American Innovation
White House Blog

House Republicans Propose Cutting Amtrak, HSR, And Fed Auto Research Program
AltTransport

L.A. County Unemployment Rate Hits New Record High
Los Angeles Daily News

Local Drivers Lose 63 Hours A Year To Traffic Congestion, Study Says
Orange County Register

Long Beach Takes Its Bike Plan Progress To The Riders
Long Beach Press-Telegram

Making iPad Music From The New York City Subway Map
Grist

Making Push For Rail Safety; Agencies Unite To Cite Drivers Trying To Take Shortcuts
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Metro To Hold Community Meetings About Subway
Beverly Hills Courier

On Train, A Fight Between Silent And Merely Quiet
New York Times

Putting Numbers To Drivers' Misery (Interpreting the methodology and numbers in the TTI Urban Mobility Report)
Washington Post

Report: Not All Transportation Projects Create Jobs Equally
Transportation Nation
Strengthening Connections Between Transportation Investments And Economic Growth (36p. PDF : This paper elaborates upon and deepens the ongoing policy discussion of relationships between investments in transportation infrastructure and the nation’s short- and long-term economic well-being)
National Transportation Policy Project; Bipartisan Policy Center

RTA Rolls Out Futuristic Bus
Inland News Today

Signal Synchronization Project OK'd: Upgrade To Canoga Park Lights To Speed Flow Of Traffic; State Approves Other Transit Spending
Los Angeles Daily News

Stefano Polyzoides Plans To Make Cities More Livable
Los Angeles Times

Study Says L.A. Area Traffic No Longer The Worst In The Nation. Do You Agree?
Los Angeles Times

Taking Aim At Rail (When it comes to cutting budgets, "why pick on rail? Are there unique characteristics of rail programs that make them ripe for trimming? How are these rail funding programs different from federal subsidies for highways or runways? Are there essential features of each of these rail programs that should be preserved, and if so, why? What can rail and mass transit enthusiasts do to convince conservatives like the [Republican Study Committee] that their projects are worthwhile?")
National Journal Transportation Blog

Westside Subway Update Meetings Begin Tonight
Daily Breeze

What Makes A City Smart? (video : "Prominent U.S. mayors discuss what is needed to build intelligent cities that can compete in the global economy.")
Time

Which City's Public Transportation Do You Admire Most And Why?
GOOD