"Ramp Jam," Expo/Blue Line Junction, El Monte Transit Village, HSR, Parking, Infrastructure Banks & More

July 17: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (Groundbreaking for the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension promises to reconnect downtown with Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights and East L.A.)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

210 Freeway Sound Wall Completed As Some Arcadia Residents Still Wait For Relief ("Local mayors joined...Metro officials in a church parking lot to give thanks for the completion of a $17.5 million sound wall project along the 210 Freeway.")
Pasadena Star-News

2,000,000 Views And Still Going Strong: Sharing Our Transportation Legacy With Rarely Seen Photographs (Color photos of 1940s & '50s L.A. streetcars, previously unknown views of Mount Lowe Railway, intriguing renderings of never built overhead Metro Rail and stations, proposed downtown Los Angeles People Mover and other rarely seen images are featured to celebrate 2 million views for Metro Library's Flickr site) 
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Amenity Or Necessity? Street Standards As Parking Policy
(66p. PDF)
Mineta Transportation Institute

Amtrak Plans 37-Minute Train From New York To Philadelphia By 2040
Reuters

Analysis Of The Causes Of Amtrak Train Delays (39p. PDF)
U.S. DOT Office Of The Inspector General

Autonomy: Don't Blame Cars For The Shortcomings Of Mass Transit
City Journal

Balancing Downtown Santa Monica's Parking Equation
Santa Monica Lookout

Beverly Hills, Let The Subway Go
Huffington Post

Cars Kill, Make Us Fat Says British Report
Treehugger

The Case For Public Transportation, In Infographic Form
The Atlantic: Cities

Commuters Avoid 405 Freeway, Metro Plans For Westside-Valley Tunnel ("The Metro long-range transportation plan includes rapid transit between the Westside and the Valley, including a possible northern leg of the Wilshire Boulevard subway via a tunnel under Sepulveda Pass.")
Brentwood Patch

Commuters Pack Bus, Rail Lines To Dodge Sepulveda Pass Congestion
CBS Los Angeles

DTLA's Expo/Blue Line Junction Still Having A Frog Problem
Curbed LA

Enviro Groups Rally Against Fast-Tracking California High-Speed Rail
Heartlander

Federal Judge Dismisses TV, LLC Lawsuit Against El Monte Over Transit Village Project
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

A "Greener" City Hall Park Opens This Week: Redesigned Lawn Includes Less Turf, More Native Plants
Los Angeles Downtown News

High Speed Rail Funds To Speed Improvements To Local Transit ("About $1 billion of the money won’t go to high-speed rail, but will instead fix up rail and subway systems in Southern California. That money was key to winning votes in the legislature for the bonds.")
KPCC Southern California Public Radio

High-Speed Rail In California ("What can we learn from California's struggle to build a bullet train? Will partisan divisions sink the project? Is it true that building the transit system won't impact the economy? Does it matter? Are there less tangible benefits from super-fast train between two hubs? Would it be a benefit for the whole state or just Los Angeles and San Francisco residents?")
National Journal Transportation Experts Blog

How California Could Pay For HSR Itself
California High Speed Rail Blog

The Longest BART Ride Ever ("From end to end to end to end, he passed through every one of the system's 44 stations in a single day -- a feat that took 5 hours and 37 minutes.")
The Atlantic: Cities

Loud Talkers On The Subway? Whip Out The "SpeechJammer" ("The NoiseJammer works by recording the irritating voices of rude individuals and playing it back to them a microsecond later, overriding their annoying conversations with a flood of their own words.")
The Atlantic: Cities

Metra Aims To Try High-Tech Ticketing Next Summer ("Customers with an iPhone, Android or BlackBerry can download a free app allowing them to buy one-way, 10-ride and monthly tickets using their debit or credit cards. The "ticket" then shows up on the phone screen and is checked by the conductor.")
Chicago Tribune

Metro Extends Service: Blue Line To Run Until 2AM On Weekends
Long Beach Post

[New York] MTA Willing To Evaluate Integrated Fares For Subways, Bike Sharing
Gotham Gazette

New Law Allows Feds To Regulate Urban Transit Systems, Withhold Funding After Safety Lapses
Washington Post

Obama Touts Highway Bill As Sign Of "Modest Cooperation" From Congress
The Hill

Rider Review: The Orange Line Bike Path Extension
StreetsBlog LA

Remember "Carmageddon?" "Ramp Jam" Could Be Worse, Some Say
NBC Los Angeles

State Orders MTA To Replace Flawed Section Of Expo Line Track
Los Angeles Times

State Orders Piece Of LA Light Rail Track Replaced
Sacramento Bee

Study Examines Transit Accessibility To Jobs For Metro Areas
Governing

What Do The Best Infrastructure Projects Look Like?
The Atlantic: Cities

What Might Gas Stations Look Like When Hardly Anyone Uses Gas?
The Atlantic: Cities

What Would An Infrastructure Bank Really Do?
The New Republic
Infrastructure Banks And Surface Transportation (10p. PDF)
Congressional Budget Office

World Congress On High Speed Rail Comes To US For 1st Time
Clean Technica


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