January 2: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (The California State Highway Commission is founded in 1912. Good thing: Automobile registration in the state grew from about 100,000 to 2 million by 1930! The full story, which we prepared for last year's 100th anniversary, can be found here)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog
5 Predictions For Downtown (And A Plea For A Parking Plan)
Curbed LA
The 11 Craziest Never-Gonna-Happen Renderings Of 2012
Curbed LA
Are Silicon Valley's Employee Shuttles Bad For San Francisco?
The Atlantic: Cities
Baldwin Park Receives Funds To Improve Pedestrian Safety
Baldwin Park Patch
Bicycle People Make The Connection ("When the new El Monte Transit Station debuted a few months ago, he liked what he saw. In fact, Bike SGV may begin teaming up with Metro to staff the bike station, which will help bike riders fix a flat, buy a water bottle or power bar and park their bike before hopping on a bus.")
Pasadena Star-News
Bike San Gabriel Valley ("Started as a simple Facebook page devoted to cycling in the San Gabriel Valley by Monterey Park resident, Environmental Commissioner and Chamber of Commerce President Vincent Chang, BikeSGV brought together a group of local advocates who shared a desire to realize a cohesive network of bicycle infrastructure in the communities of the San Gabriel Valley.")
Caltrans Homes In Limbo: South Pasadena City Manager Says He Has No Interest In Joint Powers Authority
Pasadena Sun
Caltrans To Raise Rents On Tenants Living In The Path Of 710 Freeway
Pasadena Star-News
Deal Of The Day: Free Rides In Los Angeles And London, But Not New York
The Atlantic: Cities
Downtown Locations For LA Bike Sharing Program Include Union Station
KPCC Southern California Public Radio
Draft South And Southeast LA Plans Limit Density And Car Use
Curbed LA
South Los Angeles Community Plan: Draft (132p. PDF)
Los Angeles Department Of City Planning
Southeast Los Angeles Community Plan: Draft (157p. PDF)
Los Angeles Department Of City Planning
The Driving Force Behind LADOT ("De la Vega’s work is tremendously challenging. His organization enforces state and local parking laws; provides traffic control services to support public safety agencies and special events; designs, operates, and maintains the most advanced traffic signal system in the US; operates the second largest bus service in Los Angeles County; supports private development and public works projects, including major new transit lines, through traffic management plans and review and approval of signal and striping plans; maintains the city’s traffic signal system, road markings, and regulatory signage; implements the city’s bicycle plan; operates the city’s over 39,000 on-street parking meters and 118 off-street parking facilities; and regulates taxis, ambulances, and pipelines in the city.")
Asian Journal
Dynamic Ridesharing: Turning Empty Seats Into Affordable Transportation
Natural Resources Defense Council Switchboard Blog
Evaluating Alternative Operations Strategies To Improve Travel Time Reliability (336p. PDF : "Identifies and evaluates strategies and tactics intended to satisfy users’ travel-time reliability requirements of roadways.")
Strategic Highway Research Program
How Far From The Airport Should The LAX People Mover Start?
Curbed LA
Hundreds Die Walking The Tracks Each Year (In a multi-part series, Todd C. Frankel reports on the epidemic of railroad accidents caused by people walking on, along, or across railroad tracks, and why actions aren't being taken to curtail the hundreds of such deaths that occur each year. "[P]edestrian railroad accidents are now the leading cause of death on the rails," notes Frankel. "More than 7,200 pedestrians have been fatally struck by trains in the United States since 1997. An additional 6,400 have been injured. Each year on average about 500 are killed...Even more startling: Based on the miles driven each year, pedestrians are killed by freight and passenger trains at many times the rate they are killed by motor vehicles.")
St. Louis Dispatch
L.A. Architecture School Is Poised To Spread Its Wings ("A new outdoor gathering space designed by a SCI-Arc faculty member will host graduations and is seen as a way for the school to reach out to its arts district neighborhood...The Southern California Institute of Architecture has a most unusual college campus: a quarter-mile-long former railroad freight depot near the Los Angeles River in downtown.")
Los Angeles Times
LA Metro's Expo Line Draws Partiers Downtown For Growing Social Scene
KPCC Southern California Public Radio
L.A. Once Had Cable Cars, Too
LA as Subject via KCET
A Look Back At 1880s Cable Car Service In Los Angeles (includes numerous historic photos)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog
LA Transportation: Top 10 Hopes For 2013
CityWatch
L.A.'s Huge Year In Pedestrians, Parks And Public Transit
Curbed LA
Lankershim Boulevard Rides To Prominence In The Valley ("The momentum that has built up along much of Lankershim, especially in the North Hollywood Arts District, illustrates what can arise from a mass-transit network...Today, the boulevard is emphatically on the rise, energized by a pair of Red Line subway stops...The stretch of Lankershim between the Red Line stations now ranks as the most vital north-south corridor in the Valley." Part of a continuing series on iconic Southland boulevards by architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne)
Los Angeles Times
Las Vegas: Megabus Is Back On The L.A. To Vegas Route
Los Angeles Times
LAX Might Make Land Available For Underground Metro Station
Daily Breeze
Long Beach Unveils Plan To Make "Most Bike Friendly City" The Safest Too
StreetsBlog LA
A Look Back At The Year In Transit Technology
The Transit Wire
Measuring Transport System Efficiency ("Qualitative analysis defines what is considered good or bad. Quantitative analysis measures their magnitude -- how good or bad -- which is important when decisions involve trade-offs between different goals. For example, qualitative analysis may indicate that economic development, safety and pollution reduction are desirable goals, but quantitative analysis is needed to determine whether a specific economic development strategy is justified if it reduces safety or increases pollution.")
Planetizen
MTA Presenting Options For Easing Traffic Crush In Sepulveda Pass
Los Angeles Daily News
New Parking App Launched
Santa Monica Daily Press
Next Stop For New York Subway: An App To Track Trains ("America's largest subway system launched a smartphone application that will reveal train-arrival times on seven of the city's 24 lines -- a leap forward for a service that has lagged behind its peers both at home and abroad in adopting new technologies.")
Wall Street Journal
OCTA In 2013: Higher Bus Fares, New CEO, K-9 Patrol
Dana Point Times
Openings And Construction Starts Planned For 2013 ("This year, more than $64.3 billion worth of transit expansion projects will begin construction, continue construction, or enter into service in the United States. It’s a huge investment, much of it the product of extensive state and local spending. What is evident is that certain cities are investing far more than others. Among American cities, Denver, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington stand out as regions that are currently investing particularly dramatically. Toronto has the biggest investments under way in Canada. These metropolitan areas have invested billions of local dollars in interconnected transit projects that will aid in the creation of more livable, multimodal environments. Dynamic, growing cities require continuous investment in their transit systems.")
The Transport Politic
Regional Rapid Bus System sbX Moving Forward In San Bernardino
Redlands Daily Facts
The Rose Parade's Aristocratic Origins (Includes numerous historic photos dating back to 1890s)
LA as Subject via KCET
Santa Monica's Bergamot Area Plan Coming Into Focus As 2013 Approaches
Santa Monica Mirror
Site Proposed For Metro Light Rail Station At LAX
LAist
State Denies Glendale Millions To Pay For Redevelopment Obligations ("The decision will leave the city open to a lawsuit. Glendale official says the community will suffer if library and transportation projects are put on hold.")
Glendale News-Press
The Top 12 Transportation Stories Of 2012
Fast Company Exist
Tour Glendale's New LA River-/Freeway-Adjacent Linear Park (photo essay)
Curbed LA
The True Pulse Of L.A.? It Emanates From This Oddly Shaped Heart
Los Angeles Times
Tunnel Beneath Sepulveda Pass Or Widen 405 Freeway? It Could Happen Quicker With Private Money ("Lacking the billions of dollars needed to build the Sepulveda Pass Corridor, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering partnering with the private sector to ease the flow of traffic in one of the most congested stretches of highway in the country. A public-private partnership could result in the project being built several decades earlier than expected -- but drivers who use it may end up having to pay a toll.")
Los Angeles Daily News
We Need A "New Measure J"...Are LA's County Supes Up For It?
CityWatch
WeHo, Culver, Beverly Hills: Which City Will Get Bike Share Next?
Curbed LA
WeHo Considers Bike Sharing As L.A. Rolls Out Program
West Hollywood Patch
When Artists Design Infrastructure: Basket-Like Bridge Energizes San Gabriel Valley
Architect's Newspaper
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