Gold Line Foothill Extension, 710, Expo Development, Measure R, Climate Change & California Transpo, Amtrak, LA Urban Design, CAHSR, TOD For Dummies & More

March 1: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (A milestone for the Southern California Rapid Transit District's steam turbine-powered bus project, the nation's first federally-funded alternative fuel transit demonstration project)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Adapting To Climate Change: Building A Network Of Solutions (Special issue now available online)
TR News
Summary Of Key Information
The West Coast Green Highway Initiative: Cross-Sector Partnerships For Sustainable Transportation Solutions Along Interstate 5
Converting To Energy-Efficient Lighting For Roadways And Maintenance Facilities In California

Advocates, TransForm, Move L.A. Demand That Cap And Trade Funds Go For Cleaner Transportation
StreetsBlog LA

Amtrak Ridership, Up 55% Nationwide, Triples In Sacramento
Sacramento Bee

Blessing Or Curse? Los Angeles' Consideration Of Binding Citywide Design Guidelines Spurs Debate
Architect's Newspaper

California High-Speed Rail Finally Wins Peninsula Lawsuit After Five Years
Silicon Valley Mercury News

Construction Authority Awards $48.7 Million Contract To Webcor Builders ("The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority (Construction Authority) Board of Directors awarded the third and final design-build contract for the Foothill Extension light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa. The 48.7 million contract is for final design and construction of parking facilities for the future Gold Line stations, as well as enhancements at and around the stations to improve intermodal connectivity for train riders arriving by bus, foot or on bicycles.")

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/28/5226525/construction-authority-board-awards.html#storylink=cpy

Sacramento Bee

Council Candidate Wants Sunset Rail Line, Riverside Streetcar ("Calls for a rail line along or under Sunset Boulevard, connecting Hollywood to Silver Lake, Echo Park, Dodger Stadium and Downtown L.A.; a street car connecting Atwater Village to Elysian Valley, Elysian Park and Downtown L.A.; and a subway extension connecting the Red Line in Hollywood to the future Purple Line in Century City, with a subway stop at the Hollywood Bowl.")
Curbed LA
Matt Szabo Releases Public Transit And Green Space Vision For Council District 13
Matt Szabo, Los Angeles City Council Candidate, District 13
Enlarged Map

Developers Introduced At Metro Open House To Reshape Empty Lots
StreetsBlog LA

Freeway Fighters: South Pasadena Has Come To Be Defined By "The Fight" Against The 710
Pasadena Weekly

Has The NTSB Made A Single Recommendation On Bike Safety Since 1972?
StreetsBlog Network

How Amtrak Could Become A Robust, Profitable Enterprise
The Atlantic: Cities

Huge Pico/Sepulveda Mixed-User Moves Ahead With Public Restrooms And More For Transit Users
Curbed LA

LaHood Bashes Sequester As "Dumb Idea," Pushes For Long-Term Highway Bill
Commercial Carrier Journal

Measure R Funds To Join The 710 Coalition? Metro Says It's Fine
StreetsBlog LA
Rosemead Approves Participation In Pro-Tunnel 710 Coalition
Pasadena Independent

Millennials Say They'd Give Up Their Cars Before Their Computers Or Cell Phones
The Atlantic: Cities

O.C. Business Website Would Lure Companies ("Will Kempton, CEO of the Orange County Transportation Agency, received a leadership award in part, Dunn said, for spurring a federal law that cut duplicative environmental reviews. "The California review is often tougher than the federal review," she said. "So why go through the federal one too? This shortened the process for transportation projects, whether highways or mass transit.")
Orange County Register

Santa Monica Transportation Fee Could Raise $50 Million-Plus For City Hall ("The purpose of the Multimodal Transportation Impact Fee is to ensure that new development, projected through the year 2030 in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) of the Santa Monica General Plan, pays its fair share of the costs of providing the transportation infrastructure necessary to implement the policies and achieve the goals of the Plan.")
Santa Monica Mirror

Sequester Would Cut New Starts By $100M, Could Trigger FTA Furloughs
StreetsBlog DC

TOD For Dummies: Allan Kotin Simplifies Transit-Adjacent Real Estate Development ("In the following talk delivered at last December’s US High Speed Rail Conference in Downtown Los Angeles and transcribed here for MIR, Mr. Kotin outlines the short-term decisions that can lead to substantial long-term returns on transit-oriented development.")
Planning Report

Transportation Committee Chairs Say They're Open To Ideas
Governing

Transportation Impact Fee & Climate Policy Actions Adopted By Santa Monica Council
StreetsBlog LA

We Still Mostly Use Amtrak For Shorter Trips, Report Says
Next American City
A New Alignment: Strengthening America's Commitment To Passenger Rail (30p. PDF)
Brookings
Summary Page (Among the findings: Amtrak ridership grew by 55% since 1997, faster than other major travel modes, and now carries over 31 million riders annually, an all-time high)


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.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.

I-405, LAX, LA Port, Pershing Square, Bike Bills, CicLAvia, TAP, Climate Change & More

February 28: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (Metro's Rapid Bus program expands and plans for a Gold Line Eastside Extension are approved)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

AASHTO Members Understand That Safe Streets, Economic Strength Go Hand In Hand
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Best Transit Ride Ever! Improv Toronto Brings Aviation Style Hospitality To The Toronto Subway
Transport Gooru

A Bigger Tax Break For Those Who Take Public Transit
Today

Check Out The Progress On The 405 Project At Wilshire
LA Observed

Could LaHood Stick Around To Oversee The Sequester Crisis?
StreetsBlog DC

County Probes L.A.'s Compliance On Transferring LAX Traffic ("Under a legal settlement, the airport authority was to send flights to Ontario and Palmdale, but a report says there have been only token efforts.")
Los Angeles Times

Do Light-Rail Systems Help Cut Down On Traffic? Perhaps Not
Washington Post

Editorial: The Future Of Pershing Square
Los Angeles Downtown News

Exploring The Metro Gold Line's Foothill Extension Phase 2A
KCET

Eyes On The "Street": TapToGo Is Down
StreetsBlog LA

For Eighth Year In A Row, The Average American Drove Fewer Miles In 2012
StreetsBlog DC

Free Muni For San Francisco Youths Kicks Off Friday
San Francisco Examiner

The Great Los Angeles Train Resurgence (A native Angeleno is pleased with the number of options for getting around)
Gadling

High-Speed Rail Hearing Short On Cost Details
Sacramento Bee

How NASA Scientists Are Turning L.A. Into One Big Climate-Change Lab ("They’ve been probing L.A.’s airspace for more than a year, with the help of big-name sponsors like the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Keck Institute for Space Studies, and the California Air Resources Board. If all goes well, by 2015 the Megacities crew and colleagues working on smaller cities such as Indianapolis and Boston will have pinned down a slippery piece of climate science: an empirical measurement of a city’s carbon footprint.")
The Atlantic: Cities

How To Spend 47 Hours On A Train And Not Go Crazy ("Long-distance-train passengers tend to belong to one of four categories. The first, perhaps most obvious category is occupied by people who refuse to fly, whether because of religious beliefs, fear or health reasons, but there are fewer of these than you might expect. The second category belongs to train buffs, known less commonly as rail fans, GERFs (glassy-eyed rail fans), or foamers, a term coined by railroad employees to refer to people who became so excited by trains that they seem to foam at the mouth like rabies victims. In the United States, there are more than 100,000 train watchers, according to one estimate.")
New York Times

L.A. Port Issues Final Environmental Report For BNSF's Proposed Intermodal Facility
Progressive Railroading
Final EIR: Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) Project (links to documents)

The Map London Has In Its Head ("The simple yet elegant diagram of the city's subway network, the Underground, is hailed as a marvel of graphic design. Even if it does warp reality." The map turns 80 as "The Tube," the world's oldest subway celebrates its 150th birthday this year)
Los Angeles Times

[D.C.] Metro's Deputy General Manager Resigning
Washington Post

More California Bicycle Bills 2013
Cyclicio.us

Most Federal Highway, Transit Funds Won't Be Affected By "Sequester"
Philadelphia Inquirer

No Silver Bullet For Bullet Train Funding
California High Speed Rail Blog

Reimagining The Caltrain Rail Yards ("Putting the right type of development here could knit together the surrounding neighborhoods, capitalize on the extensive transit access -- and even help pay for important transportation projects.")
SPUR

Rockefeller, Lautenberg Re-Introduce Infrastructure Bank Bill In Senate
StreetsBlog DC

A Transportation Funding Power Shift
Governing

U.S. DOT To Challenge AASHTO Supremacy On Bike/Ped Safety Standards
StreetsBlog DC

Who Should Pay For Transportation?
The Atlantic: Cities

Why A Bicycle Tax Might Not Be Pointless After All
The Atlantic: Cities

Why Isn't The U.S. Better At Public-Private Partnerships? ("Few states have offices dedicated to examining increasingly popular P3 deals. Experts say it's time to copy Canada and change that.")
Governing

Would You Welcome CicLAvia To Northeast L.A.?
Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch


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.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.

Culver City Expo Station, LA Bridges, I-405 Improvements, Bullet Train, Crumbling Infrastructure, Toll Lanes & More

February 27: This Date In Los Angeles Transportation History (Metro completes installation of compressed natural gas fueling stations)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Are Highways Crumbling? State And U.S. Highway Performance Trends, 1989-2008 (36p. PDF)
Reason Foundation

Calif. Lawmakers Scrutinize High-Speed Rail Plan
San Francisco Chronicle

Calif. To Consider Increasing Gasoline Taxes
Fox5 San Diego

California Bullet-Train Financing Still Shaky
Sacramento Bee

California High-Speed Rail Construction To Start This Summer
Huffington Post

Culver City Expo Station Parking Lot Paving Begins Today
Culver City Patch

Express Lanes In Southern California Promise Relief And Opportunity For Commuters And Businesses
U.S. DOT Fast Lane Blog

Full Audio From StreetsBlog's Interviews With The Mayoral Candidates
StreetsBlog LA

Here's 139 Years Of LA Transit History In One Awesome Timeline
Curbed LA

Here's Barack Obama's Plan To Fix America's Crumbling Roads And Bridges
Business Insider

How Philadelphia's Transit System Became The Best
Governing

I-405 Sepulveda Improvements Project Extended For Another Year
KABC Los Angeles

LA2050 Challenge Invites Los Angelenos To Change The Future Of LA
LAist

Mineta Transportation Institute Posts TRB High-Speed Rail Workshop Videos To YouTube
PR Newswire

One Day Soon, L.A. May Be Known For The Beauty Of Its Bridges
The Atlantic: Cities

The Sequester And Transportation
Washington Post

Tolls Could Get I-5 Carpool Lanes Built Faster
Santa Clarita Valley News

The Tunnels Of NYC's East Side Access Project (must-see photos)
The Atlantic

What! Pay More For "Free" Ways?
My Fox LA

When Roller Coasters Replaced Opera In Venice, California
LA as Subject via Los Angeles Magazine

Wooing Suburban Drivers With Cheap Parking: A Losing Strategy For Cities
StreetsBlog Network
Parking Management: An Unlikely Economic Development Tool
State Smart Transportation Initiative

You Can't Fix Traffic. You Are Traffic.
StreetsBlog 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.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.

L.A. Transit History Explained, CicloSDias, 405, Expo Development, Complete Streets, CEQA, APTA & More

A 42-Part Murder Mystery, Chronicled On The Toronto Subway
The Atlantic: Cities

The Airport Canary In The Sequestration Coal Mine ("Why is air travel the thing that the public seems to care most about? How can the public's interest in aviation be used to broaden a general understanding of infrastructure? Other than long lines, how will the aviation industry be impacted by sequestration? What about the surface transportation industry?")
National Journal Transportation Experts Blog

APTA Launches "Early Career" Program To Develop Future Transit Leaders
Progressive Railroading
Inaugural Session: Early Career Program (2p. PDF : Deadline, March 22)
APTA Membership & Services

At Last: All Of Los Angeles Transportation History Explained In Interactive Timeline & Interactive Organization Chart (At least 220 public and private transit entities have operated transit in the Los Angeles area since 1874. Two new visual interactive tools clarify the history and complex relationships of 140 years of local transit operations)
Metro Transportation Library Primary Resources Blog

Bicycling Moves Forward In San Diego: CicloSDias Event Announced For August (San Diego will be getting its own CicLAvia-ish event on Sunday, August 18)
San Diego Free Press
CicloSDias Website

CEQA Future Tied To Oakland's Experience
San Francisco Chronicle

CEQA Reform World Turned Upside Down By Rubio Resignation ("State Sen. Michael Rubio -- chair of the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality and the leading advocate for strong CEQA reform in the legislature -- abruptly resigned to take a government relations job with Chevron. Then, a few hours later, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg introduced a placeholder CEQA reform bill that hinted at less-than-sweeping reform. However, the bill does call for statewide significance thresholds for land use impacts -- a potentially significant shift.")
California Planning & Development Report

Congestion Pricing Opens On The I-10, Hysteria On Hold
StreetsBlog LA

Delay Of 405 Fwy Construction Angers Commuters ("Three freeway lanes through the Sepulveda Pass will be closed this weekend as crews continue to work on the thoroughfare.")
NBC Southern California

Does Light Rail Really Encourage People To Stop Driving? ("All told, the researchers had a hard time concluding that the light rail systems, taken together, produced much of a shift away from car commuting.")
The Atlantic: Cities

Expo-Adjacent Sepulveda/Pico Mixed-User Will Have 1,795 Parking Spaces, Transit Concierge
Curbed LA

The Expo Line's Greatest Threat: The Disconnect Between Transportation And Land Use Planning ("The Expo Line is the latest example of a major transportation project that was planned, lobbied and funded by grassroots and transportation planners in order to catch up, or allow a new alternative, to worsening car traffic (in this case, the I-10 freeway)…but which is being undermined by overzealous land use planners. In particular, the greatest threats from over-densification exist at the future Expo Line stations at Exposition/Sepulveda, Bundy/Olympic and Bergamot Station.")
CityWatch

Franken Urges Obama To Take On Freight Rail Monopolies
The Hill

Google Maps, Now In Industrial Strength! ("GE just announced a partnership with Google to license Google maps for use in its geographic information system (GIS) dubbed Smallworld. Smallworld is a set of software tools used by engineers to help design and manage things like electric grids, pipelines, telecom networks and other large, critical systems of stuff that guys in trucks tend to keep an eye on.")
Wired

How Chairman Got SEPTA On The Track To Become No. 1 Transit Agency
Philadelphia Inquirer

Integrating Demand Management Into The Transportation Planning Process: A Desk Reference (194p. PDF)
Federal Highway Administration

Is The President Just Talk When It Comes To Infrastructure?
Governing

The Most Important Urban Design Decision Vancouver Ever Made ("In 1997, the city approved its first influential Transportation Plan. It was a game-changer for our city-making model in many ways, most notably in its decision to prioritize the ways we get around, rather than balance them. The active, healthy and green ways of getting around were ranked highest -- first walking, our top priority, then biking, and then transit, in that order. The prioritization then went on to goods movement for the purposes of business support and economic development, and lastly, the private vehicle.")
Planetizen
Opinion: The World Wants Vancouverism. Shouldn't Canada?
Globe And Mail (Canada)

NFL Talking To Dodger Owners About Football At Chavez Ravine
Curbed LA
New L.A. Sites On NFL's List
Sports Business Daily

Opinion: The Case For A Higher Gasoline Tax
New York Times

Redevelopment Rumored At Downtown's Huge May Co. Building
Curbed LA

Renting Your Car Out To Others Takes 14 Vehicles Off The Road
Treehugger

Status Of The Highway Trust Fund Under MAP-21 (11p. PDF)
Congressional Budget Office

UCLA Complete Streets Conference This Thursday
StreetsBlog 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.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.

405 Widening, California Rail, Express Lanes, Metrolink To ONT, Mayoral Candidates On Transpo & More

5 Ways To Make Public Transit Awesome ("From train tracks as urban gardens to bus stops as art installations, here are five exciting ways cities around the world are making transit awesome now.")
Mother Nature Network

Affordability As A Transportation Planning Goal ("The 2009 National Household Travel Survey asked respondents to rate the importance of six transport problems: traffic safety, congestion, price of travel, availability of public transit, and lack of walkways or sidewalks. Virtually every demographic group rated affordability (“price of travel”) most important.")
Planetizen

After [N.Y.] M.T.A. Setbacks, No-Swipe Fare Cards Are Still Stuck In The Future
New York Times

"Angelenos Against Gridlock" Protests Delays In 405 Widening
Los Angeles Times

Bay Area To Get Dual Carpool-Toll Lanes
San Francisco Chronicle

California Facing Big Challenges In Improving State Roads ("California reduced the percentage of rural interstates rated as poor from 16% to 7%. The percentage of urban interstates rated as poor fell from 25% to 16%. But congestion increased.")
Los Angeles Times

California's Chance To Wise Up On Rail Transit
San Diego Union-Tribune

Car Share Parking Attracts An Unlikely Foe In San Francisco
Transportation Nation

The Development Scene: The Latest Info On 85 Downtown Projects
Los Angeles Downtown News

Editorial: Toll-Lane Plans Shouldn't Move Too Fast
Long Beach Press-Telegram

The Effect Of Public-Private Partnerships And Non-Traditional Procurement Processes On Highway Planning, Environmental Review, And Collaborative Decision Making (153p. PDF)
Strategic Highway Research Project

Express Lanes: How It Works
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Four Bills That Affect California Cyclists
Cyclicious

Four Of China's HSR Lines Profitable
Systemic Failure

Further Delays On 405 Construction Aggravate Commuters, Homeowners
KPCC Southern California Public Radio

Group Wants Metro To Speed Up 405 Freeway Work
Brentwood Patch

In France, A Truly Low-Cost High-Speed Rail Option
The Transport Politic

LA Subcommittee To Discuss Metrolink Connection To ONT
San Bernardino Sun
Mapping The End Of The Road On The 405
Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Third District

New Toll Lanes On 10 Freeway ("The 14 miles of 'HOT lanes' between El Monte and downtown L.A. are part of a trial program to see if letting solo drivers pay to use the express lanes can help ease gridlock.")
Los Angeles Times

Opinion: Westside Traffic: C'mon, Council Candidates, Let's Fix It
Los Angeles Times

The Psychology Of Why Cyclists Enrage Car Drivers
BBC (U.K.)

Public Invited To Discuss Adding Lanes To I-5
Mission Viejo Patch

Redondo Beach Considers Harbor Drive / Herondo Redesign Plans
Easy Reader

Statement On Sequestration, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
U.S. DOT Press Release

Steinberg Submits SB 731 To Reform CEQA
California High Speed Rail Blog

Take A Tour Of Abandoned Subway Tunnels Beneath Los Angeles (photo-essay)
Business Insider

Today's Sign That America Is Falling Behind On Transport Policy
StreetsBlog Network

Toluca Lake NC Supports Bike Lanes On Vineland
North Hollywood-Toluca Lake Patch

Transportation: Los Angeles Mayoral Candidates -- Where They Stand
Los Angeles Times

Valley Landowners Drop Suit Against High-Speed Rail
Fresno Bee

What If A City Wants More Transit Than Its Neighbors, But They're All In One Transit Agency? ("Most agencies rely on their voters to approve their basic revenue raising authority. So what happens if the voters over the whole agency area give transit a resounding "no," but parts of the area -- a core city for example -- does value transit and is willing to pay for it? And what should happen in the many urban regions where the whole region will pay for a low level of service but certain communities within it -- usually including the core city -- want to pay for a higher level of service.")
Human Transit


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.

We invite you to visit Metro's The Source, your window to what's happening with agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles.