Today's Headlines - more at Metro

1/13/2012

Expo Bike Lane & Opening, Regional Connector, CAHSR Changes, Bus Stop Ads & More

January 14: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (local economic development corporation proposed)
January 15: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (detailed monorail plans)
January 16: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (highway planning for San Gabriel Valley unveiled)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Academy Awards Could Relocate To Nokia Theatre
Blog Downtown

American Streetcar Projects Creating Jobs Today, Livable Communities And Economic Development Tomorrow
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Audit: L.A. Missed Out On $23.1M In Bus Stop Ad Revenue
Daily Breeze

Board Approves Palmdale High-Speed Rail Route
Santa Clarita Valley Signal

California High-Speed Rail Head Roelof van Ark Resigns
Sacramento Bee

California's Diesel Decade ("In 2010, the California Air Resources Board created a new set of emissions regulations for diesel engines. On a rolling basis, freight trucks are required to retrofit older engines, or to buy completely new trucks to meet stricter emissions standards. While those requirements can be expensive for truckers, so are the environmental impacts." Interview with Rob Harley, professor of environmental engineering at U.C. Berkeley about how the new regulations are changing the air we breathe)
Transportation Nation

Changes Coming For Orange Line Riders
Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Third District

Chief Executive Of High-Speed Rail Project Steps Down: Roelof van Arks' Departure Raises New Questions About The Controversial Project's Stability. At The Same Time, Tom Umberg Announces He Is Leaving As Chairman Of The Project's Board
Los Angeles Times

Expo Bike Lanes, Smooth And Flat...For The Most Part
StreetsBlog LA

Expo Line Opening Date Pushed Back Indefinitely
USC Daily Trojan

Feuer Bill Would Fast-Track Rail Projects In California ("Feuer’s bill mirrors the LALive-sponsored fast track bill for a proposed NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles. The purpose of both bills is to limit and short-circuit opposition to major projects.")
Beverly Hills Courier

Jarrett Walker On Human Transit (January 19 : free lecture at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs by the international public transit consultant and Human Transit blogger)
UCLA Lewis Center

L.A. Council Won't Absorb Redevelopment Agency ("The council decides it can't afford to take on the agency and its employees. The council acts after the Legislature eliminated redevelopment agencies to shift billions in tax revenue to the state, cities and counties.")
Los Angeles Times

L.A. Is Most Popular City For Europeans Looking To Move To US
Curbed LA

L.A. Metro To Release Final EIS/EIR, Hold Open Houses For Regional Connector
Rafu Shimpo

The L.A. River Designated With Two Federal Initiatives ("Today Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa officially announced the selection of the Los Angeles River for President Obama's America's Great Outdoors initiative as well as being designated an Urban Waters Federal Partnership site.")
KCET

Legislators Seek To Help Cities Losing Redevelopment Cities ("With the agencies set to end Feb. 1, California lawmakers are looking for ways cities could still subsidize private development to promote economic growth.")
Los Angeles Times

Metropolis II At LACMA: Will A Sculpture Made Of 1,100 Hot Wheels Predict L.A.'s Future?
LA Weekly

One Dream, Many Hands In Metropolis II (The story behind the people who created and constructed the LACMA exhibit)
Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Third District

Opinion: Getting Real About Redevelopment In California ("Redevelopment should be used only for true revitalization. The short list of things redevelopment ought to be used for should be obvious: the rehabilitation of so-called brownfields — properties whose development is complicated by industrial or other contamination — and building affordable housing, transit-oriented development and inner-city retail in areas where there are few stores.")
Los Angeles Times

Regional Connector Study Done, Meetings On Tap
Los Angeles Downtown News

Rethinking Echo Park's Glendale Boulevard: Urban Planning Workshop
Echo Park Online

RIP, Community Redevelopment Agency
California Progress Report

Roelof van Ark, High-Speed Rail CEO, Resigns
San Francisco Chronicle

Sadik-Khan: Bike-Share GPS Data Will Help Plan NYC Bike Network
StreetsBlog

Savings May Come Soon Under New Fuel Economy Standard ("Gasoline prices hit record highs in 2011 and for the first time last year, the cost of gas equaled or exceeded even the cost of owning a vehicle: on average, the roughly $2,800 dollars that a household spent at the pump was more than a year’s worth of car payments.")
KQED

See-Rent-Ride: Bikeshare Changes The Way People See The City
League Of American Bicyclists

A Solution For California's Transportation Woes
The Atlantic: Cities

Southbound Sepulveda Blvd. Closing Nightly Near Getty Ramps
Beverly Hills Patch

Stuff You Already Knew About Commuting Biking Now In Handy Dandy Infographic
Uptown Almanac

What The Eurostar's Success Means For California HSR
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.

1/12/2012

Santa Monica "Harbor," LA River, Brentwood, CRA, Amtrak, Pedestrians, Smartphones, Transit Tax Credit & More

January 12: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

After Timing Snag, Metro Service To Start In Glendale Canyon
Glendale News-Press

Amtrak: In 2012, We Want eTickets, Electric Locomotives, And Speedier Trains
Transportation Nation

Amtrak Chief Outlines "Aggressive" Plan For 2012 Investment
StreetsBlog DC

Bay Area's Urban Planning Must Address Public Health
(A new study has created unexpected tensions between public health advocates and smart-growth-oriented urban planners. Bernice Yeung looks at recent analysis by Oakland's Pacific Institute and public health advocates that document the friction between California state law mandating smart growth to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the negative health impacts of certain urban environments)
California Watch

A Closer Look At Parking On San Vicente: A Recent Study Shows There Is More Parking On Brentwood's San Vicente Boulevard Than You Know, But The Area Is Still "Over-Subscribed"
Brentwood Patch

Data Analysis Of Grade Crossing Incidents
(4p. PDF)
Federal Railroad Administration Research Results

Death Watch Of CRA Leaves Transportation Projects In The Air
StreetsBlog LA

[U.S.] DOT To Explore Mobile Apps For Public Transit
Washington [D.C.] Business Journal

How Santa Monica Almost Became A Commercial Harbor
LA as Subject via KCET

LA Won't Take Responsibility For Redevelopment Projects
Curbed LA

The Law Of Traffic Congestion, According To "The Flash!"
Planetizen

Opinion: Invest In Interregional Rail
San Bernardino Sun

Public Meetings Set To Discuss High Desert Corridor
Antelope Valley Times

Report Urges City To Relinquish CRA/LA Role
Los Angeles Daily News

Restoring The "Water Freeway" (With strong advocates in Washington and in City Hall, planning continues for an ambitious multi-billion dollar effort to overhaul the Los Angeles River and its relationship to the city)
Planning

Road Forward Seen For Transportation Bill ("As federal transportation funding is set to expire, a new piece of legislation is being hammered out to pay for projects.")
Riverside Press-Enterprise

The Science Of How We Walk (Pedestrianism incorporates elements of physics, engineering, statistics, and cognition)
The Atlantic: Cities
The Wisdom Of Crowds: The Strange But Extremely Valuable Science Of How Pedestrians Behave
The Economist

A Sculpture Of Our Transportation Future ("Metropolis II is the new installation opening this weekend at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Created by artist Chris Burden, the piece is a massive mini-city of towering buildings interwoven and surrounded at all heights by tiny street-like tracks that carry 1,100 toy cars quickly and noisily around, like blood cells in a network of veins.")
The Atlantic: Cities

Smartphones To Make Airport Check-In Desks Obsolete, Study Says
Bloomberg
From Chaos To Collaboration: How Transformative Technologies Will Herald A New Era In Travel (48p. PDF)
Amadeus

State Assembly Undermines Bill To Let California Cities Build Safer Bikeways
StreetsBlog SF

Subway Blues: Car Commuters Are Getting Bigger Tax Breaks Than Transit Riders
GOOD

TCRP Annual Report Of Progress: 2011 (106p. PDF : Background and an overview of the program, status of each of TCRP’s projects, and a summary of some of the program's accomplishments)
Transit Cooperative Research Program

Three Cities, Three Tales Of Tenuous Transit Plans ("In 2008, the county of angels passed Measure R, a ballot initiative that hiked sales taxes up by half a percent, over 30 years, to fund an ambitious $40 billion transit program. Since then, Mayor Villaraigosa has been on an aggressive prowl to speed the project up.")
Forbes

What Neighborhoods Need To Succeed At Walkability
The Atlantic: Cities

When Shops And Services Are Within Walking Distance, We Walk More And Drive Less ("New research from Southern California has found that residents of neighborhoods with a central core of shops and services – a pattern typically found in older, traditional communities – walk nearly three times more often than do residents of neighborhoods whose nearest shops and services lie along a major arterial roadway – a pattern typically found in newer suburban development.")
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.

1/11/2012

High Desert Corridor, Expo Line, High-Speed Rail, LB Rail Yard, Glendale Blvd, TOD & More

January 11: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Be Our Guess: Expo Line Opening Early April?
LAist

California Republicans Move To Derail High Speed Rail
KHTS

Communication Pros Describe Barriers To Innovation
Talking Transportation

Critics Worry High-Speed Rail Approvals Will Be Fast-Tracked
California Watch

Decision 2012: GOP Candidates On Infrastructure ("This webpage will serve as a one-stop-shop for the candidates’ public comments regarding transportation and infrastructure investment and reforms.")
Building America's Future

Dianne Feinstein Urges Moving High-Speed Rail To Caltrans
Sacramento Bee

Do You Have A Burning Question For Ray LaHood?
Transportation For America

Federal Officials Recommend Full Funding For BART Extension To San Jose
Silicon Valley Mercury News

Gas Prices Spike Nationwide, Leaving LA Wallets Emptiest
Southern California Public Radio

High Desert Corridor To Be Discussed In Public Forums
KHTS

High-Speed Rail Authority Press Secretary Bound For Wal-Mart
Sacramento Bee

An Inventory Of The Criticisms Of High-Speed Rail With Suggested Responses And Counterpoints (88p. PDF)
APTA

L.A. Assesses Cost Of Shuttering Redevelopment Agency ("If the city keeps its staff and finishes its projects, the price tag would be more than $109 million. City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana is instructed to begin the process of laying off 192 redevelopment employees.")
Los Angeles Times

Long Beach City Council At Crossroads On New Rail Yard
Long Beach Business Journal

Metro-City Seek Closer Relationship To Move Measure R Projects
StreetsBlog LA

[D.C.] Metro Plans To Hire 1,000 New Workers As It Considers Fare Hikes
Washington Post

Orange Line Shuffle (Temporary relocation of three current busway stops during the week of Jan. 21)
Curbed LA

Report Maps Out How New Transit Can Benefit Disadvantaged Communities
StreetsBlog DC

Rojas' Next Act: "Rethinking Glendale Boulevard" Is This Saturday
StreetsBlog LA

A Seismic Shift For The Subway: Closing Lines For Night Repairs
New York Times

Senate Requests Trio Of Transit Related Reports From GAO
StreetsBlog LA

Senator Dianne Feinstein Wants To Save CA High Speed Rail -- As Republican Assemblywoman Tries To Kill It
Transportation Nation

Success Factors In The Reduction Of Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Incidents (4p. PDF)
Federal Railroad Administration

TOD And Climate Change Webinar (January 17)
Reconnecting America

Transit Fare Collection Moves Closer To Open, Mobile In 2012
NFC News

Transit Stations May Actually Cut Down On Crime
The Atlantic: Cities

Transportation Research Board 2011 Annual Report (76p. PDF)
U.S. Transportation Research Board

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.

1/10/2012

Expo In April?, Bullet Train Fight, Angels Flight, CRAs, Norwalk Transit & More

January 9: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History
January 10
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Angels Flight To Close Jan. 10 (for several weeks of regular maintenance. "Once it reopens the fare will likely double to 50 cents per rider.")
Los Angeles Times

Brown Separates Transportation And Housing In State Reorganization
California Planning & Development Report

Editorial: California's High-Speed Rail To Nowhere
Washington Post

Experimental Real-Time Transit Screens Come To Arlington And DC
Mobility Lab

Expo Line Could Be Ready For Rail Passengers In Early April
Los Angeles Times

A Fight For The Future Of San Diego ("75 percent of San Diego residents thought the region should complement its existing highway system by expanding the transit network and implementing programs like congestion pricing. The feeling is more than an abstraction: In 1987 San Diego voters approved a half cent sales tax to finance long-term transportation improvements, with a third of that money dedicated to transit, and when the tax came up for extension in 2004, two-thirds of voters agreed to support it for another 40 years.")
The Atlantic: Cities

The Freeways Are Not So Nice (Song and video from punk rock band named "It's Casual" vent at Los Angeles freeway traffic and tout other ways to travel around)
StreetsBlog LA

Garcetti, LaBonge Want Car Free Yucca Street
StreetsBlog LA

Guidelines On The Use Of Auxiliary Through Lanes At Signalized Intersections (92p. PDF)
National Cooperative Highway Research Program

The Health Impacts Of Transportation ("Are there accepted rules of thumb about how transportation impacts peoples' health? What are the most important health benefits of mass transit? What are the biggest health dangers of mass transit? Can we ask similar questions about road projects? Is it worthwhile to engage in detailed (and costly) health impact analyses? If so, when are such studies appropriate?")
National Journal Transportation Experts Blog

High Speed Rail Grapevine Alignment Loses Support Of HSRA
Mountain Enterprise

House To Vote On Bill That Expands Drilling To Pay For Infrastructure
The Hill

Laws That Shaped L.A.: Why Los Angeles Isn't A Beach Town
KCET

Leaders Wrestle With Shuttering CRA While Not Losing Its Benefits
Los Angeles Daily News

Los Angeles Has Highest Gas Prices In America Right Now
LA Weekly

Metro Staff Taking Civil Rights Plans To Local Service Councils
StreetsBlog LA

Mixed-Use Project To Get Underway This Month In Downtown L.A. ("The $160-million One Santa Fe complex will consist of apartments, offices, shops and public outdoor spaces on Santa Fe Avenue between 1st and 4th streets.")
Los Angeles Times

National Workforce Grant Program Offers Opportunities For Public Agencies
Transportation Issues Daily

Norwalk Hires Consultant To Review City Transit System
Los Angeles Wave

One Santa Fe To Break Ground This Month ("The fully entitled project is slated for a four-acre portion of a 32-acre plot that is currently a Metro lot used for the maintenance and storage of rail cars. The property is bounded by Santa Fe Avenue, the First and Fourth streets bridges and Metrolink service tracks adjacent to the Los Angeles River.")
Los Angeles Downtown News

Planners Want To Discard Grapevine Route For Rail Project ("Though it was ruled out in 2005, the more direct Interstate 5-Grapevine corridor was revived for further study last May. But a new study by the California High Speed Rail Authority now indicates that the longer route through Palmdale and Lancaster is the better option.")
Los Angeles Times
Executive Summary: LA Basin Mountain Crossing (I-5 Grapevine Alignment)
California High-Speed Rail Authority
Press Release
California High-Speed Rail Authority

R, Ye Mateys! R Traffic Be Hurtin! ("When Westside Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) offers a way to fast-track the freeway and rail initiatives of the still-popular Measure R without raising new taxes, it’s worth paying close attention.")
CityWatch

RDAs Try To Push Stay Of Execution Past February 1, But Don't Know Which Projects Will Be Killed
California Planning & Development Report

SF's New Parking Program Reduces Ticketing Anxiety
San Francisco Chronicle

Stalled I-5 Project Gets Ready To Roll: Caltrans Will Host Community Meeting To Inform Residents Of What To Expect As Construction Of Carpool Lane Resumes
Burbank Leader

A Strong Case For A Rail- And Transit-Oriented California
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog

Study: Longer Commutes For Palos Verdes Residents
Palos Verdes Patch

Subversive Bicycle Photos: Los Angeles (Explore Southern California 100 years ago, when bicycling was more popular than one might imagine)
Copenhagenize

To GOP's Dismay, DOT Funds Disaster Relief Without Gutting Other Programs
StreetsBlog DC

The Whip Snaps At High Speed Rail...And More
KQED

With 3 Weeks Left, Everyone Looking For Redevelopment Fixes
Curbed LA

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.

1/09/2012

Gold Line Monrovia, BH Seismic Tests, Bullet Train Editorials, South Bay Pacific Electric, 710 Extension & More

An Animated Argument For Congestion Pricing
StreetsBlog DC

Breaking News: Metro Can't Complete Trenching Studies In One Weekend ("Here we go again. The publicity wing of the Beverly Hills Unified School District, known as the Beverly Hills Courier...is using the new tests being completed by the School District in an attempt to discredit the seismic tests completed last year by Metro.")
StreetsBlog LA

California Bill Would Accelerate Transit Projects
Land Line

California Budget Supports Bullet Train, Would Create New Transportation Agency
Transportation Nation

Capping An Era Of L.A. Oil Exploration ("Long-abandoned wells on the Los Angeles City Oil Field, which sparked Southern California's oil boom 120 years ago, are being sealed to make way for a 45-unit affordable housing project.")
Los Angeles Times

The Case Of The Vanishing Venice Blvd. Bike Lanes
StreetsBlog LA

Cutting Costs On California HSR Doesn't Have To Add Delays
Forbes

Data.gov Popularity Soaring, GSA Report Says
Federal Computer Week

Despite Uncertainty, Monrovia, Gold Line Officials Continue Attempts To Execute Land Deal For Maintenance Yard
Pasadena Star-News

The Downs And Ups Of Driving In Los Angeles ("The mayor of Los Angeles wants to spend $750 million to fix holes in city streets. The City Council thinks that is too expensive.")
New York Times

Downtown Fresno High-Speed Rail Plans Cause Little Stir
California Watch

Editorial: It's Time To Kill Bullet Train Boondoggle
Fresno Bee

Editorial: Keep California's Bullet Train On Track: Despite Recent Negative Reviews By Experts, In The Long Term The Rail Project Still Makes Sense
Los Angeles Times

Editorial: No Easy Fixes For Transportation In County, Region
Ventura County Star

Efforts To Derail Bullet Train Driven By Politics As Usual
California Progress Report

"Elegant Density" Could Bring Traffic, Skyscrapers To Hollywood
Total Traffic LA

The End Of The Road: The Infrastructurist's Last Post
Infrastructurist

Gov. Jerry Brown Proposes Moving CHSRA To New Agency
California High Speed Rail Blog

Handbook For Considering Practical Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Strategies For Airports (154p. PDF)
Airport Cooperative Research Program

Healthy Corridor For All: A Community Health Impact Assessment Of Transit-Oriented Development Policy In Saint Paul, Minnesota (135p. PDF)
PolicyLink
Executive Summary (48p. PDF)

High Speed Rail Authority Demolishes Peer Review Report
California High Speed Rail Blog

High-Speed Rail Needs A Review Before Its Too Late
San Francisco Examiner

Hit The Brakes On The Bullet Train: While The State Is Cutting Back On Core Services, It Needs To Rethink Its Ill-Conceived High-Speed Rail Plan
Los Angeles Times

Hollywood High-Rise Plan Has Some Up In Arms ("The proposal exemplifies Los Angeles' transformation from an automobile-only city to a much more multi-modal city, one where people live and work in high-rises and use public transportation.")
NPR

In Long Beach Exhibit, Urban Planning Is Art And Play ("Urban planner James Rojas constructs a model of Long Beach, on display at a gallery in town, for residents and business owners to illustrate a vision of the city's future.")
Los Angeles Times

Long Beach Neighborhood Redevelopment Efforts May End
Long Beach Press-Telegram

A Look Back At The Pacific Electric Railway: The Railway System Was Once A Major Part Of The Beach Cities -- Here Is How It Left Its Mark On The Area
Hermosa Beach Patch

Metro Studios@Lankershim Cancelled: The Death Of NBCUniversal's $3 Billion Project Equals Serious Traffic Relief
LA Weekly

Monorail Bondholder Sues For Fraud: State Of Nevada, Monorail Board Members, Casino Execs Could Face Liability Lawsuits
Nevada Journal

Near-Field Communication The Next Mobile Boost? ("ISIS will be open to all merchants, banks and carriers, according to its website. Isis aims to eliminate the need to carry cash, credit cards and debit cards, reward cards, coupons, tickets and transit passes.")
USA Today

New Bill Could Free CA Planners To Use More Innovative Bikeway Designs
StreetsBlog SF

North American Railroads Post Traffic Gains In 2011
Progressive Railroading

Our View: Excuses Dog The Expo Line
Pasadena Star-News

Playing Tea Party: Planning And Agenda 21 (How some are responding to "smart growth")
Place Shakers

Relax If You Want, But Don't Put Your Feet Up ("Seven years ago, rule 1050(7)(J) of [New York City’s] transit code criminalized what was once simply bad etiquette: passengers putting their feet on a subway seat. They also cannot take up more than one seat if it interferes with other passengers’ comfort, nor can they block movement on a subway by doing something like standing too close to the doors. Police officers handed out more than 6,000 tickets for these violations in 2011. But a $50 ticket would have been welcome compared with the trouble many passengers found themselves in; roughly 1,600 people like Mr. Peppers were arrested, sometimes waiting more than a day to be brought before a judge and released, according to statistics from district attorneys’ offices.")
New York Times

Ridley-Thomas Survey Shows Strong Support For Slauson Ave. Bike Lane
StreetsBlog LA

South Pasadena To Participate In Advisory Committee For The SR-710 Extension Project
Pasadena Star-News

Streamlined Environmental Review Proposed For Rail Projects
("A Los Angeles lawmaker introduces a bill in the California Legislature that would give such projects in the state the same break granted to developers seeking to build an NFL stadium in downtown L.A.")
Los Angeles Times

Time To Reassess Our National Transportation Program
The Hill

The Tricky Second Wave Of Urban Highway Removals
The Atlantic: Cities

Venice Bike Lane Disappears Near Big Box Consumoplex At San Vicente
Flying Pigeon LA

Why Is Twitter So Popular With Transportation Communicators?
Talking Transportation

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.