Today's Headlines - more at Metro

10/07/2011

UCLA Subway, LA County Streets Manual, Expo II, Transit Operators, CicLAvia, CAHSR & More

5 Cities Where Mass Transit Riders Are Richer Than Drivers
The Atlantic: Cities

$200,000 Grant For CicLAvia Approved by L.A. City Council
KCET

An Analysis Of Proposed U.S. House Of Representatives Actions And Their Impact On Public Transportation (13p. PDF)
APTA

Announcing The October 9, 2011 Route! (10.5 miles of Los Angeles streets will be closed this Sunday between East Hollywood and Boyle Heights for CicLAvia)
CicLAvia
Map

Bike Spaces Could Replace Some Car Parking
EGP News

Calif. High-Speed Authority To Issue Revised EIR/EIS
Metro Magazine

Can High Speed Rail Be Saved?
Infrastructurist

City Agrees To Loan $20 Million Toward Freeway Construction: Plan To Add Lanes To 101/23 Interchange Still Needs Federal Grant To Proceed
Thousand Oaks Acorn

City Council Hires Consultant For Peer Review Of Westside Subway Extension's Final Environmental Impact Report And Statement (p.4 of 20p. PDF)
Beverly Hills Weekly

City Declines BHUSD's Request For MTA Joint Defense Agreement (p.4 of 20p. PDF)
Beverly Hills Weekly

Combating Obesity With Street Design
The Atlantic: Cities

Construction Authority Awarded Millions In Federal Grants For Station Area Improvements
Sacramento Bee

The Cost Of Congestion, The Value Of Transit (What would happen if all public transportation stopped? Several charts and graphics for cities around the U.S. tell the story)
Urbanophile

Council Still Refuses "United Front" To Fight Subway
Beverly Hills Courier via Google Docs

The Family Guide To CicLAvia
StreetsBlog LA

Fight On For UCLA: Rejecting A Westwood-Adjacent Subway Station
Huffington Post

Grant To Help Fight Port Pollution
Downey Beat

High-Speed Rail Authority Hires First Liaison To Work With State Legislature
San Francisco Examiner

How A Bill That Is Supposed To Boost The Downtown Stadium Could Actually Help The Subway To The Westside
LAist

How High Speed Rail Is Crucial To The [San Joaquin] Valley's Economic Future
California High Speed Rail Blog

How Technology Can Reduce Traffic Congestion And Air Pollution
Smart Planet

Implementing Distance-Based User Fees As A Replacement For The Fuel Tax (free webinar : October 20)
University Of Minnesota Center For Transportation Studies

Infrastructure Bank To Get A House Hearing
The Hill

Integrating Business Processes To Improve Travel Time Reliability (91p. PDF)
Strategic Highway Research Program

Is Obama's National Infrastructure Bank The Answer On Jobs?
U.S. News & World Report

Marginal Cost Pricing And Subsidy Of Transit In Small Urban Areas (44p. PDF)
Small Urban & Rural Transit Center, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University

Model Design Manual For Living Streets (384p. PDF : Highly-anticipated document from the County of Los Angeles: "This manual is based on complete streets principles that design streets for people of all ages and physical abilities and accommodate all travel modes. The manual goes beyond complete streets to living streets. Living streets principles embody complete streets and also include consideration of other issues related to economic vibrancy, equity, environmental sustainability, aesthetics, and more. This manual offers another way to design streets and provides guidance for those municipalities that decide to adopt these principles. The result will be more livable neighborhoods with healthier residents due to opportunities for active transportation (walking and cycling).")
Los Angeles County Department Of Public Health
Manual's homepage with more information

New Urbanists: No Economic Recovery Without Smart Growth
StreetsBlog DC

Northern California vs. Southern California: Who Runs The Golden State?
Huffington Post

The Once And Future Rail ("Projected to complete construction in 2015, Phase 2 of the Expo Line will continue further west along the Exposition Corridor. Exposition Corridor is right-of-way that used to house a line of the old Pacific Electric Railway, a mass transit system that served Southern California from 1901 to 1961. This section of the Expo Line would finally provide a direct route from Downtown L.A. to the Pacific Ocean.")
Corsair

Port Will Not Challenge Appeals Court Ruling On Clean Trucks Program
Daily Breeze

Predicting Walkability (114p. PDF : "This research project fills some of the ‘walking’ knowledge gap and provides practitioners with a technique to quantify the quality of the pedestrian environment in a way that is similar to that which is used for other modes of travel.")
New Zealand Transport Agency Research Report

Reinventing The Urban Interstate: A New Paradigm For Multimodal Corridors (158p. PDF)
Transit Cooperative Research Program

Research: Mapping The Impact Of Traffic On The Livability Of Streets
Infosthetics

SFPark To Base Meter Rates On Demand
San Francisco Chronicle

State Agency Bans Rail Transit Operators From Using All Portable Wireless Devices ("The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday unanimously adopted a regulation prohibiting the use of cell phones by rail transit operators and requiring the installation of cameras to enforce the rule. The CPUC approved the regulation at its meeting in Los Angeles, making permanent an interim emergency order issued in September 2008.")
Silicon Valley Mercury News

Testing Algorithms for A Passenger Train Braking Performance Model (4p. PDF)
Federal Railroad Administration Office Of Railroad Policy And Development

A Walk On The Risky Side: Three Sisters Headed To School Were Hit By A Car In A Crosswalk, But It's A Risk L.A. Traffic Policies Accept In Certain Neighborhoods
Los Angeles Times

Who Will Design And Build Future Transportation Network?
Transportation Issues Daily

Why A Fix-It-First Policy Is Critical In Transportation Investments
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog

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.

10/06/2011

Gold Line, Regional Connector, 710, CicLAvia, Alameda Corridor East, Car Sharing, Clean Air, CAHSR & More

American Transportation, Built By American Workers; Let's Pass This Bill
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Bad Lawsuits Against Public Transit
Huffington Post

BART Police To Wear Cameras
Contra Costa Times

Bike-Friendly Events Like L.A.'s CicLAvia Promote Fun Fitness
Los Angeles Times

Car-Sharing For Less ("More cities are testing corollary nonprofit models that could make car-sharing even more accessible, both to a broader demographic and to a geographic footprint outside Zipcar’s big cities and college campuses.")
The Atlantic Cities

CBC Refutes CHP Speculation That SB 910 Will Cause Collisions
California Bicycle Coalition

Code Green: Are Sustainable Buildings Sustainable?
KCET

Communication With Vulnerable Populations: A Transportation And Emergency Management Toolkit (177p. PDF)
Transit Cooperative Research Program

Decoding Secrets In San Diego's Transportation Future
Voice Of San Diego

Editorial: A Victory For Clean Air ("Both sides in a three-year court fight between the American Trucking Associations and the Port of Los Angeles are claiming victory. Actually, both sides lost something in the resolution of the case last week. The real winners are people who want to breathe clean air.")
Los Angeles Daily News

Feds Give Gold Line $6M Grant: The Grant From The Federal Transit Administration Will Allow For Better Bus And Pedestrian Interfaces Along The Gold Line Foothill Extension
Monrovia Patch

Gas Station Demolition First Step In Railroad, Street Widening Project (Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority)
Walnut Patch

Get On The Bus (With Everyone Else)
StreetsBlog DC
APTA Transit Ridership Report (32p. PDF for Q2 2011)

Giant Chess And Velcro People: First Look At All The Stuff Going On Along Sunday's 10-Mile-Long CicLAvia
Curbed LA

High-Speed Rail Authority Delays Release Of Business Plan: It Was Due Oct. 14, But Two Recent Delays Want The Delay And Are Doing A Comprehensive Review Of The Project. Completion Of The Business Is Necessary To Begin Construction In 2012
Los Angeles Times

High-Speed Rail Route To Be Revised: Officials Will Issue A New Design Next Spring For The 114-Mile Segment From Fresno To Bakersfield, Which Encountered Strong Criticism
Los Angeles Times

The History Page: Road Scholar -- The Definitive Thomas Guide, In Every SoCal Driver's Glove Compartment
The Daily

How The Westside Subway Led To The Possible Oscarification Of The May Company Building's Gold Tube
Curbed LA
New Academy Museum Could Feature Oscar On Its Historic Facade ("Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plan to build the Westside Subway Extension, which would include a stop at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax, caused LACMA to rethink its plan.")
Hollywood Reporter

La Plaza Is An Open And Empty Space Downtown: The Mexican American Cultural Center Lacks Paying Visitors And Is In Financial Trouble ("La Plaza's construction also involved more than $3 million in state and Metropolitan Transportation Authority bond revenues.")
Los Angeles Times

Lamentation: Bicycles vs. Transit?
Human Transit

Metro Planner Says Regional Connector Budget Has "Little Margin," Defends Scaled-Back Designs
Blog Downtown

More Rail Service Could Spring From New Agency
San Diego Union-Tribune

Moving Toward Sustainability: 2011 Metro Sustainability Report
(70p. PDF : "Sustainability has long been a key component of Metro’s mission to be “responsible for the continuous improvement of an efficient and effective transportation system for Los Angeles County.” As an organization, we are committed to reducing the impacts of climate change in all of our planning, construction, operations, and procurement activities, while simultaneously increasing our ability to control costs, expanding our system, and efficiently managing resources.")
Metro

Opinion: Handle CEQA With Care; It Safeguards State Environment
Sacramento Bee

Out The Window Is Back On The Bus With New Films For The Fall
StreetsBlog LA

Parking Reform Measure Strains Relationship Between Infill Developers, Housing Advocates
California Planning & Development Report

Popular AASHTO App Now Available On Android OS Devices: App Brings Real-Time Traffic Conditions, National Transportation News And Videos
AASHTO Press Release

Procedures For Verification And Validation Of Computer Simulations Used For Roadside Safety Applications (570p. PDF : web-only document)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Shovel-Ready Series: How Much For Roads vs. How Much For Transit?
Infrastructurist

South Pas Regains Authority On Surface 710 Fwy. Extension
Burbank Leader

South Pasadena Mayor Urges NELA To Oppose 710 Extension
Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch

State DOT Public Transportation Performance Measures: State Of The Practice And Future Needs (44p. PDF)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Submit Your Broken Sidewalk Photos!
KCET

Transit Meetings Sparsely Attended: Beach Cities Transit Proposes Changing Schedules And Eliminating Line 104 To Streamline Operations
Hermosa Beach Patch

Transportation Equity Network Highlights Need To Improve Job Opportunities For Women And Minorities
Transportation For America

Urban Analysis: Researchers Look To New Data, Tools To Better Plan Successful Cities ("Software analyzes attributes of various locations to measure their "reach," how many jobs, or residences are accessible when traveling by the street network; or "betweeness," a measure that can estimate the volume of foot traffic an area receives.")
Boston Globe

The World's Best Subway Maps
The Atlantic Cities

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.

10/05/2011

710, Beverly Hills/Subway, Car Sharing, TOD, Intersections, New Starts, Fare turnstiles, National Infrastructure Bank, Regional Connector, High Speed

20 Miles of Sharrows in One Weekend…More Facts and Figures from LADOT
LA Streetsblog
See Also:
LA Bike Blog

710 freeway extension remains key issue - Two candidates say threat of freeway construction is a priority
Glendale News Press

APTA: public transit grows to $55 billion industry
Railway Age

Beverly Hills Mayor Battles Metro's Proposal to Tunnel Under BHHS - Patch sat down with Mayor Barry Brucker to discuss his thoughts on the city's efforts to stop an MTA subway from going under Beverly Hills High School
Westwood Century City Patch
See related post/comments in the
Beverly Hills Patch

Bob Hope traffic continues to slide - The rate of the drop is lower than earlier in the year but is considered an improvement
Burbank Leader

Brown signs bill giving South Pas a say on 710
Glendale News Press

Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Webinar Outreach Series – Transportation Services Index
USDOT/Research & Innovative Technology Administration

Car Sharing 2.0 Leaps Forward in Paris
Transport Politic

CicLAvia bike event to be held Sunday in downtown L.A.
Daily News

COLTON: Rail overpass prompts other projects - The $202 million Colton Crossing is set for construction next month, with an underpass and track relocation to follow
Press Telegram

Cubic hosts 'I Heart My Card' video contest
Contactless News

Cutting Car Use at the Neighborhood Level
The Atlantic - Cities

El Monte Walks Towards a Healthier Future
LA Streetsblog

Final Hollywood Community Plan: If You Build Transit-Oriented Development, They Will Come
LA Curbed

Foothill Construction Authority Releases New Video: "Designing Safe Crossings"
GoldLineBlogger via Youtube

FTA 'Dear Colleague Letter': Streamlining the New Starts Project Timeline
Federal Transit Administration

Get on the Bus (With Everybody Else)
DC Streetsblog

Governor signs bill to bolster "buy America" rules for new buses and train cars (AB1097)
Contra Costa Times

High-speed rail business plan release is delayed
SF Examiner

How Intersections Sense What Will Zoom By
Governing Technology

Jose Gomez-Ibanez on Global Transportation Challenges
Harvard Kennedy School
Watch the
interview via Youtube

Kerry Cavanaugh: Metro gets tougher on fares (locked turnstile testing)
Daily News

Leave your car at home and Bike It! Walk It! - Schools across the district including Franklin Elementary, Roosevelt Elementary, Lincoln Middle School. JAMS, Edison Middle School, SMASH, SAMOHI, Malibu High and several more are encouraging students to reduce their carbon footprints by biking, walking, skateboarding, riding scooters and taking the bus
Examiner

Mica's Revenue Search & GARVEE Bonds Making News
AASHTO Transportation TV

Monrovian Files 2 More Lawsuits Against Gold Line for Total of 6
LA Curbed

National Infrastructure Bank – Issues & Recommendations Paper
Transport Gooru

New app lets bus riders find nearest stops
Ventura County Star

Rise of Urban Biking
The Nation

Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood named a 'Great Street'
Los Angeles Times

Station Plans Shrinking in Regional Connector Designs?
BlogDowntown

Urban analysis - Researchers look to new data, tools to better plan successful cities
Boston Globe

Walking With Headphones: Only Dangerous Sometimes
The Atlantic - Cities

WHO: Air Pollution Kills More Than 2 Million People Each Year
The City Fix

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.

10/04/2011

Transportation Funding, High Speed Rail, Gold Line Foothill Extension, Westside Subway, Bikes, VMT, CicLAvia, Transit Ridership and more…

America At A Loss For Transportation Funds
Forbes

Beverly Hills Mayor Battles Metro's Proposal to Tunnel Under BHHS - Patch sat down with Mayor Barry Brucker to discuss his thoughts on the city's efforts to stop an MTA subway from going under Beverly Hills High School
Westwood-Century City Patch

Can Preservationists Let Love Rule?
Placeshakers

Can’t Congress Agree on Highways, At Least?
Washington Post

City leaders question regional transit plan
Moorpark Acorn

Commutercentric Videos: A Utility Cycling Roundup
Commute by Bike

Corrals & Swaps: New Ordinance Boosts Bicycle Parking
LAist

Designing Placeways: Changing the Landscape of Transportation
MDS Landscape

EMBARQ report points to need to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled per capita in the US to meet emission and oil consumption targets; “sustainable VMT”
Green Car Congress

Event for New iShuttle Routes is Tuesday (Irvine, OCTA, Metrolink, AMTRAK)
Mass Transit Magazine

Expanded 10-mile CicLAvia bike route set for Sunday's big ride
Los Angeles Times

FHWA Announces New Approach to Calculating Vehicle Miles Travelled - Revised Methodology Ensures More Accurate Reporting on Key Transportation Statistics
Federal Highway Administration

Forum To Focus On Transportation Pollution - The Oct. 6 event will feature reports by USC and UCLA scientists, air quality management officials and other experts
Patch

Getting on in years; getting around by bus
WeHo News

Gold Line's freeway bridge designed to be Valley gateway
Pasadena Star News

KEVIN MCCARTHY: My bill would freeze high-speed rail funding
Bakersfield.com

L.A. gas price falls for 22nd straight day
Daily News

Obama calls for jobs bill in October, but Republicans say only pieces likely to get House vote
Washington Post

Progress seen on Gold Line's 210 Freeway Bridge
Pasadena Star News

Progressive Bike Ordinance One Step Away…
LA Streetsblog

Reinventing the Urban Interstate: A New Paradigm for Multimodal Corridors (.pdf)
Transportation Research Board

Republicans Have Their Own Plan to Pay for Infrastructure Jobs: Oil Drilling
Streetsblog

Research Recap, October 3: Wasting Time in Cars, Booming Bicycles, Pedestrian Safety
The City Fix

Rideshare Week encourages people to carpool - Participants could save thousands of dollars a year
Ventura County Star

Senate: 'No confidence' in Obamarail
Washington Examiner

SoCal Rideshare Week- with a free Omni ride!
Riding in Riverside

Shh, you're on Metrolink's quiet carPhone calls, loud conversations and other noise or disturbances are prohibited in the 'Quiet Car.'
OC Register

South Pasadena Planning to Add 24 Miles of Bikeways
LA Curbed

Speed rail test: The world's best bullet trains
News.com

Time’s Running Out to Kickstart a Spanish Language Streetfilm
LA Streetsblog

Study: Transit Ridership Up in 2011
Transportation Nation

Two Fresh Lawsuits Filed Against Gold Line, City - Local property owner George Brokate's two latest lawsuits accuse Monrovia and the Gold Line Construction Authority of improperly pushing through Gold Line projects
Monrovia Patch

Two meetings on Beach Cities Transit set for this week
Daily Breeze

Will AB 900 Provide a Fast Track for CEQA Challenges to HSR?
California High Speed Rail Blog

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.

10/03/2011

LAX, Bikes, Infrastructure Funding, High Speed Rail, Westside Subway, Sidewalks, and more…

App helps drivers find and compare parking spots
Los Angeles Times

Behind the scenes at LAX: LAX, the world's seventh-busiest airport handles 1,700 flights a day and 61 million passengers a year. Here's a look at its special challenges and the folks who make it work anyway
Los Angeles Times

Beyond the Trip to Work: The National Household Travel Survey
Straight Outta Suburbia

Buffered Bike Lanes vs. Bicycle Passing Lanes
Active Right of Way

California motorists leading the way on using less gasoline - In the first six months of this year, Californians used nearly 7.3 billion gallons of gasoline, down 1.7% from the same period last year and off 3.5% from the first half of 2002. And that's despite adding drivers
Los Angeles Times

California Voters on State Spending and High-Speed Rail
San Francisco Chronicle

Caltrans announces Interstate 5 freeway closures
La Cañada Valley Sun

CicLAvia Could Get a $200,000 Grant from Los Angeles
KCET

Council Hires Firm for Peer Review of Subway Project
Beverly Hills Courier (pages 1 and 15) .pdf file

Delays plague the opening of LA's light railway - The line is due to connect the downtown area with Culver City
The Art Newspaper

Economists Say Obama Plan Would Avert Recession
Journal of Commerce

E-cyclist pedals over 1600km into record books
Gizmag

FAQs: CicLAvia For Beginners on October 9 in Los Angeles
LA Weekly

Faulty Assumptions In The TTI Urban Mobility Report
Planetizen

Governor Brown vetoes another pro-transit bill
Calitics

Grapevine bullet train route could save $4 billion, report says
California Watch

House GOP Changes Course on Infrastructure
Wall Street Journal

House Leaders Looking for Extra Revenue to Avoid Slashing Highway & Transit Programs
AASHTO Journals

Intermodal Traffic Powers to All-Time Weekly High
Journal of Commerce

Jerry Brown signs bill protecting project labor agreements
Sacramento Bee

LA bike parking spots to increase w/ new plan
ABC News

L.A. council approves plan requiring more bike racks
Daily Breeze

Los Angeles Metro Regional Connector
The City Obscure

Metro Goldline Foothill Extension Crossings (educational video)
Goldline Construction Authority via Youtube

Mica's Revenue Search & GARVEE Bonds Making News
AASHTO Transportation TV

Nobody Walks in LA. But We Do Ride Bikes
Gas 2.0

Omnitrans urges commuters to park it,-their car that is, and try transit for free during Southern California Rideshare Week, Oct. 3 through 7
Omnitrans

Opinion: We already have the infrastructure bank we need
Washington Post

Postal Service Encourages Ride Sharing - Postage Stamps Help America Go Green
USPS

Report Highlights Land Use around Stations As Key to High-Speed Rail's Success
AASHTO Journal

Reading L.A.: Think Southern California is unplanned? Think again
Los Angeles Times

Reinventing the Urban Interstate: A New Paradigm for Multimodal Corridors (.pdf)
Transportation Research Board

Sen. Boxer has high hopes for Obama jobs bill
San Francisco Chronicle

Shovel-Ready Projects: They Exist, And We May Need Them For A Long Time
Huffington Post

Steve Scauzillo: It's still safe to ride bikes in Los Angeles
Whittier Daily News

South Pasadena City to Hold Meeting on Bicycle Master Plan
South Pasadena Patch

Street Smarts
Time

Title VI Requirements and Guidelines for Federal Transit Administration Recipients (new draft) The final circular will supersede FTA Circular 4702.1A "Title VI and Title VI-Dependent Guidelines for Federal Transit Administration Recipients," dated May 13, 2007 (.pdf)
Federal Transit Administration

TRANPORTATION FUNDS: Momentum seen on Obama's jobs plan
Press Enterprise

Transportation’s long-term versus short-term dilemma
Land Line

Transportation Meeting: Westside Subway Extension
Larchmont Buzz

Why Are There So Many Cracks in L.A.'s Sidewalks?
LAist
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.