Mica Transpo Bill, APTA & Political Leaders React, Foothill Bridge, Google Transit, South Pas & 710, HSR & More

Angeleno Apocalypse: The Coming Carmageddon Of L.A.'s Closed 405
TIME

APTA Says Transportation Authorization Proposal Underfunds Critical Needs Of Nation's Public Transportation Systems
APTA Press Release

Attitudes Toward Red Light Camera Enforcement In Cities With Camera Programs (27p. PDF)
Insurance Institute For Highway Safety

BHHS Tunnel: "Methane Gas Accident Inevitable" (plus Council discussion and letters to the editor)
Beverly Hills Courier

The Carmageddon Resistance (download, follow, share: powered by Waze)
Beat Carmageddon

Decision Making For Outsourcing And Privatization Of Vehicle And Equipment Fleet Maintenance (69p. PDF)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Dems Tear Into Mica's Transportation Bill Proposal
StreetsBlog DC

DLANC Complete Streets Working Group Wants Pilot Project Ideas
Blog Downtown
Spring & Main Complete Streets Working Group
Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council

Federal Transportation Bill Offers Mixed Bag For Los Angeles
Los Angeles Times

Foothill Freeway Bridge To Be Built As Caltrans Works On The 405
Pasadena Weekly

For $10, It's Urban Exploring On The Cheap (Metrolink)
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

For Federal Transportation Investment, A Difficult Diagnosis ("A new plan for the country’s transportation financing system from Congressman John Mica would cut spending significantly — but Democrats have yet to provide a serious counter-proposal.")
Transport Politic

Google Maps 5.7 For Android Introduces Transit Navigation (Beta) And More ("Transit Navigation uses GPS to determine your current location along your route and alerts you when it’s time to get off or make a transfer. This is particularly helpful if you’re in a city where you don’t speak the language and can’t read the route maps or understand the announcements. After starting your trip with Transit Navigation, you can open another application or put your phone away entirely and Google Maps will still display an alert in your notification bar and vibrate your phone when your stop is coming up.")
Google

Highway Shutdown To Paralyze America's Second-Largest City
AltTransport

Hwy. 91 Toll Lane Project Not Funded
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Just How Green Is The New Green Cities Index?
The Atlantic

LA Mayor's Proposal Big Winner In House Transportation Bill
Southern California Public Radio

Los Angeles Alleys In Books And Blogs
StreetsBlog LA

Los Angeles Needs An Attitude Adjustment Regarding Bicyclists: Bicyclists In Los Angeles Are Part Of Our Communities And Have As Much Right To The Roadways As Cars. It's Time Angelenos Recognize That -- For Everyone's Safety
Los Angeles Times

Metro Announces Free Valley Bus Rides During 405 Closure
San Fernando Valley Sun

Mica Bill 22-Page Summary Now Available
Transportation Issues Daily

Mica Bill: How Much Funding Might Your State Lose?
Transportation Issues Daily

Mica's Transportation Proposal: Responses Flood In
StreetsBlog DC

More Wrenches Thrown Into Gold Line Deal As City Hires PR Firm
Monrovia Patch

New Date For Subway Service To Westwood: June 30, 2022
LA Observed

New Report: Transportation, Technology And Climate Change
The City Fix
Technologies For Climate Change Mitigation: Transport Sector (250p. PDF)
Global Environmental Facility

No Higher Gas Tax? Then Prepare For A Transportation-Funding Meltdown
Infrastructurist

Report: High-Speed Rail Management Ignoring "Clear Risk"
Voice Of OC

Review Of The Growth And Transportation Efficiency Center Program, With Recommendations For Increasing Benefits To Suburban Cities (55p. PDF)
Washington State DOT Research Report

Scorching Phoenix Harnesses Sun To Chill Light Rail Stop
Reuters

So Many Choices, So Many Ways To Choose: How Five State Departments Of Transportation Select Safe Routes To School For Funding (104p. PDF)
Washington State DOT Research Report

South Pasadena City Council Approves Changes To 710 Freeway Resolution
Pasadena Star-News

Stop Whining About Toll Lanes On L.A. Freeways
Los Angeles Times

Streetfilms With Español: Orange Line BRT And Bike Path
StreetsBlog LA

Track To The Future: 20 Questions On California High-Speed Rail
Sacramento News & Review

UCLA Braces For Carmageddon
UCLA Today


What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.

Westside Subway Loan, L.A. Toll Lanes, Expo Delays?, Monrovia Gold Line, Transportation Reauthorization & More

$640M Loan For Westside Subway Could Mean Early Open Date
Curbed LA

$641-Million Westside Subway Loan Heads Toward Approval
NBC Los Angeles

Are We There Yet? Passage Of The Transportation Reauthorization Bill Would Finally Shift Us Toward More Environmentally Sustainable Communities
American Prospect

The Battle Over Metro (Letters and email)
Beverly Hills Weekly

Boxer, Mica Bills $20 Billion Apart In Yearly Roads Funding
Business Week

Boxer: Two-Year Transpo Bill Will Save 600,000 Jobs
StreetsBlog DC

Carmageddon Is Coming, So Chill Out And Crank Up The Tunes ("We thought we'd offer a few tips on how to chillax and not blow a gasket during your blocks of idling.")
Los Angeles Times

"Carmageddon" Shortcuts From Valley To Westside
KABC-7

City Officials Make Show Of Solidarity At Gold Line Meeting: Monrovia Leaders Postponed The Regular City Council Meeting Tuesday So They Could Attend A Special Gold Line Board Meeting
Monrovia Patch

A Closer Look At Three Vital Reports On Transportation & Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Construction On New Toll Lanes On 10, 110 Freeways Getting Started
Whittier Daily News

Deciphering A Trend In Transportation Depends Heavily On One's Perspective
Transportation For America

Dueling Bills Seek To Fund Road, Infrastructure Plans
Wall Street Journal

How To Build A Gold Line Extension Basket Bridge
Curbed LA

Is Los Angeles Metro Throwing Bus Riders Under The Bus?
Grist

Kate And William's Pre-Carmageddon Visit: What You Need To Know
Curbed LA

L.A. Prepares For Worst And Hopes For Best In Freeway Shutdown ("“EXPECT BIG DELAY” reads the warning on electronic billboards on highways and streets from Bakersfield to San Diego. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has an official “Countdown to the Closure” clock on its Web site, ticking down to the weekend of July 16 and 17.")
New York Times

Lawmakers Reject House Starvation Levels For Transportation
StreetsBlog DC

Metro Experiments With Toll Lanes On Harbor, San Bernardino Freeways
Los Angeles Independent

Mica's Measurements: $230 Billion, Six Years
StreetsBlog DC

More Expo Delays? Fight Between Expo Board, Culver City Could Delay Final Phase 1 Station
StreetsBlog LA

Opinion: What's Ahead For Transportation In L.A. County (Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe)
Long Beach Press-Telegram

Palmdale Sues High-Speed Rail Authority Over Grapevine Study
Bakersfield Californian

Rosemead Boulevard In Temple City To Be Revamped In 2012
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

The State Of The Union's Roads: An Investigative Report ("What happened to our playground? The American highway is broken. And broke.")

"Subway To The Sea" Gets Infusion Of Federal Cash, Inland Empire Not So Much
Southern California Public Radio

T4 Responds: Yes, Bring Transit To Suburban Seniors (Within Reason)
StreetsBlog DC

Toll Lanes Coming To 10 And 110 Freeways In Los Angeles County: Construction Of Toll Lanes Begins On The 10 And 110 Freeways, Where The Aim Is To Unclog Roads During Los Angeles County's Rush Hours
Los Angeles Times

US House Of Representatives To Unveil Highway Bill
Reuters

What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.

Angels Flight Reopens, Arcadia's Metro Carmageddon Bus Service, L.A. HSR Presentation, Mulholland Bridge, Transpo Reauthoritzation & More

210 Freeway Gold Line Bridge Construction Begins In Arcadia
Pasadena Star-News

America's One And Only Personal Rapid Transit System: Morgantown, W.Va Is The Only Place In The World Where Riders Can Hop Into Cars And Travel From Point To Point Without Stopping At Other Stations Along The Way
Governing

Angels Flight Back On Track: Railway Resumes Operation After Wheels Replaced
Los Angeles Downtown News

Angels Flight Railway Reopens After Safety Shutdown
Los Angeles Times

Beverly Hills Rejection Of Century City Station: Embarrassing And Tiresome
CityWatch

The "Bridge To Nowhere" That's Behind Carmageddon ("After more than 50 years of service to Los Angeles County, the Mulholland Bridge — which most visibly links the Skirball Cultural Center and Milken Community High School, on one side, with American Jewish University and Stephen S. Wise Temple, on the other — will undergo a significant makeover to increase its lanes from four to six and ensure that it is up to date with seismic standards.")
Jewish Journal

Can An App Solve L.A. Traffic?
Jewish Journal

Carmageddon In L.A.!: 405 Freeway Shutdown Expected To Snarl Roadways And Business In The L.A. Metro Area
American Public Media Marketplace

The Case For Not-Quite-S0-High-Speed Rail: The Bad News - Republicans Have Torpedoed Plans for American Bullet Trains. The Good News - The Obama Administration Is Quietly Building A Slower, But Potentially Much Better, Rail System
Washington Monthly

City Eyeing $350,000 For Subway Fight ("The [Beverly Hills] City Council is scheduled on Thursday, July 7 to discuss devoting $350,000 from the 2011-12 budget to a possible fight against the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) if its Board decides in the late fall to tunnel under Beverly Hills High School and other portions of the city to extend subway service.")
Canyon News

Construction Begins On I-210 Gold Line Bridge
StreetsBlog LA

Editorial: Time To Address Job Growth, Rail Woes
San Diego Union-Tribune

The Environmental Case For Transportation Investment ("How can improvements in the nation's infrastructure also improve the environment? How helpful is the environmental argument to promote transportation investment? Should infrastructure advocates and environmentalists combine forces to push for more investment in roads, bridges, railways, and transit? Are there areas of conflict between environmentalists and transportation gurus that would harm such a partnership?")
National Journal Transportation Expert Blog

Finally, Rustlings Of A Reauthorization
StreetsBlog DC

Get On The Bus! Metro Offers A Few Free Rides During Carmageddon
LAist

Green Cities In The US And Canada, Kind Of, Part 1: Overall, Land Use, And Transportation Evaluations
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog
US And Canada Green City Index: Assessing The Environmental Performance Of 27 Major US And Canadian Cities (71p. PDF : Los Angeles receives its lowest score in transportation, ranking 24th of 27 but is rated favorably for "green initiatives" and future transportation plans)
Economist Intelligence Unit

House GOP Expected To Ax Transportation Funds
Washington Post

How Will High-Speed Rail Impact Los Angeles?
GOOD
After Car Culture: Designing The New LA (presentation of winning entries from the Life At The Speed Of Rail competition : July 12 : "Will high-speed rail change life in LA? How is design influencing transportation development on the West Coast?")
Van Alen Institute

L.A. Bikeway Implementation Improved But Short Of Stated 40 Miles Annually
StreetsBlog LA

L.A. Metro Makes 26 Additional Bus Lines Free For I-405 Closure July 16-17
Metro

Los Angeles Prepares For Carmageddon: Memes To Watch
The Atlantic

Many Bus, Rail Lines Free For 405 Shutdown
Southern California Public Radio

Metro Announces Free Bus Rides During 405 Closure
Los Angeles Daily News

More Bad News For High-Speed Rail
Voice Of OC

Neighborhood Gags As Its Economic Engine Spews Pollution ("In San Bernardino, the railroad came first, but the residents also cannot afford to live anywhere else.")
New York Times

New Pass Offers All-Day Rail, Bus Rides
Orange County Register

New Report: The Role Of Driving In Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Oil Consumption
The City Fix
The Role Of Driving In Reducing GHG Emissions And Oil Consumption: Recommendations For Federal Transportation Policy (45p. PDF)
World Resources Institute; EMBARQ

Revenge Of The Conventional Cars: Hybrids Kicked Out Of Carpool Lanes
AltTransport

Riverside County Official Wants California Split Into 2 States
Los Angeles Times
Map

RTD Learns Transit Lessons From The City Of Angels: US36 Transportation Officials Draw Insights From Two BRT Lines In L.A. (Colorado BRT planners visit Los Angeles' Silver Line and Orange Line as examples of effective bus rapid transit)
Boulder (CO) Daily Camera

The Specious Threat Of Spillover Parking
StreetsBlog Network

Travelers Aid Society Ends 61-Year Run At LAX
Los Angeles Times

U.S. DOT Announces Third Round Of TIGER Grants
Governing

Waze Prepares For Its Closeup With Carmageddon
GigaOm

Why High Oil Prices Are Good For The Economy
San Francisco Chronicle

Workers Brace For 405 Closure As Emergency Preparations Are Being Made To Ease The Burden Of Commuting Throughout Los Angeles
UCLA Daily Bruin

What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.

Gold Line Construction, Metrolink, HSR, 1984 Olympic Traffic, Transpo Job Creation, Transit Loyalty Program & More

500 Rigs Affected As Port Of Long Beach Bans Polluting Trucks
Long Beach Press-Telegram

1984: The Year Of Catastrophic Traffic That Never Was ("The summer Olympics promised L.A. a permanent boost in its global status while incurring no debt, but it also promised the kind of hellish, round-the-clock traffic that would make a typical rush hour look like a walk -- or a drive -- in the park.")
KCET

The Bicycle Dividend (The economics and payoff of bike lane construction)
New York Times

California: Ground Zero In The High Speed Rail Wars
StreetsBlog DC

Carmageddon Is Upon Us!
Forbes

City Officials, Residents Gear Up For "Carmageddon"
Santa Monica Daily Press

City To Get $1.24M For PCH Improvements: The Funding Is Part Of A Five-Year Region-Wide Plan To Improve Roadways In The South Bay
Hermosa Beach Patch

Congress Poised To Take On Transportation Authorization This Month ("House and Senate transportation leaders are close to introducing transportation authorization bills, although they will look very different.")
National League Of Cities

The Dangers Of Touting The Job-Creation Benefits Of Transpo Investment
StreetsBlog DC

Editorial: Bullet Train's End Of The Line ("Bullet trains are exciting, and maybe even worth subsidizing on a manageable scale when well conceived, well planned and well run. This project is none of those things. It presents monumental risks at a time when the state can't even get its budget under control, and a money drain that has gone on long enough.")
Long Beach Press-Telegram

Editorial: More Reasons For Commuters To Ride Metrolink
Ventura County Star

For Washington, A Trek To Daylight ("The Metrorail system in Washington has more escalators than any other transit system in North America, and lately those moving staircases have been having health problems of their own. More than 100 escalators are out on a typical day, repairs are taking longer and rider patience is running out.")
New York Times

Gold Line Bridge Construction Starts Next Week: Expect Some Lanes On The Eastbound 210 Freeway To Be Shut Down On Tuesday And Wednesday Nights
Arcadia Patch

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of Greening Cities (Los Angeles ranks #7 in a survey of 27 North American cities)
The Atlantic

How Fast Is Fast Enough? ("The best way to get high-speed rail to succeed in America is to actually build it somewhere, and then to wait for the other states to say "I want that!" The Obama administration doesn't have to "settle" for incremental improvements.")
The Economist

In China's High-Speed Successes, A Glimpse Of American Difficulties
Transport Politic

In Los Angeles, Cuts Will Make Long Bus Commute Longer ("Though the roads in Los Angeles routinely jam with honking cars in the morning, there is also an almost invisible commuter class — the millions of people, most of them poor, who depend on the sprawling bus system.")
New York Times

Is The British Roundabout Conquering The US?
BBC

Los Angeles Bicycling Groups Demand Safer Streets
Culver City Patch

Los Angeles: Deleting Some Lines Can Be Fair
Human Transit

Massive 405 Freeway Project Respects The Boundaries Of A Jewish Tradition: Metro And Caltrans Are Working With Orthodox Jews To Maintain The Thin "Walls" Of A Vast Westside Eruv During Work On The 405 Freeway
Los Angeles Times

Metro Blue Line Is The Route For "Traveling Circus" Plays
Los Angeles Times

Metro Developer Challenge Winners Include Smart Ride
Blog Downtown

Metrolink Proposals Target Pedestrian Safety At Downtown Burbank Station: One Option Is A Pedestrian Underpass, Estimated To Cost $7 Million. Building A Second Elevator Would Cost $3 Million, And Improving The Warning System Would Cost About $4.6 Million
Los Angeles Times

Money-Losing Buses Could Get Ads, Service Cuts
Glendale News-Press

OC's Express Angels' Train Called Largely Unworkable Here ("Angels officials want expanded service to theInland Empire, where 3,650 of the team's 21,500 season-ticket holders live as well as innumerable single-game ticket-buyers. But for financial, logistical and other reasons, don't count on it happening.")
Riverside Press Enterprise

OCTA Rolls Out Pass That Allows Unlimited Bus And Train Rides
San Clemente Times

One Big Idea: An Airline-Style Loyalty Program For Public Transit
The Atlantic

Parking Tech Helping Big Cities Ease Congestion
Government Technology

Plan Your Panic: Maps Of Carmageddon Construction, Detours
LAist

P.R. Firm In Charge Of Selling State's $43 Billion High-Speed Rail Project Resigns
San Jose Mercury News

Recession Hits Transit Budgets Despite Rising Need ("The Great Recession and cuts in government subsidies have wreaked havoc on mass transit in America, even as rising gasoline prices have pushed up demand for reliable service. By one survey, more than 80 percent of U.S. transit systems had cut service, raised fares or both since the economic downturn started.")
Associated Press

Riding Your Bike Is Good For The Economy
GOOD

SGVCOG Apologized, Paid Executive Director $72,000 Settlement After DA's Probe
Whittier Daily News

Urban Renewal Plans In Jeopardy ("Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Wednesday that blows a $1.7 billion hole in cities and counties' redevelopment programs. It eliminates the state's 400 redevelopment agencies, although it creates a mechanism allowing them to survive with less money.Redevelopment agencies are preparing a lawsuit, calling the legislation an unconstitutional cash grab that conflicts directly with a recent state ballot initiative.")
Sacramento Bee

Villaraigosa Orders 1,680 Miles Of Networked Bike Paths, Construction To Increase Fourfold
LAist

Why And How To Reduce The Amount Of Land Paved For Roads And Parking Facilities (9p. PDF)
Victoria Transport Policy Institute

What are transportation community leaders around the nation tweeting about today? Check out the Metro Library Twitter Daily, our online digest in newspaper format updated every day.