Day: September 17, 2009

"San Francisco's eastern waterfront, from Fisherman's Wharf past the Ferry Building to the Giants' ballpark and Blue Greenway, is a uniquely marvelous setting for a bike ride, whether for fun or utility, one of the city's top two-wheeling attractions for locals and visitors. But it's only just okay for bike traffic — couldn't it be much better? Carrie Nielsen, 2009 Piero N. Patri Fellow, has been working on the long-pondered question: What would it take to provide an excellent waterside bikeway from Mission Bay to North Point, separated from the motor traffic on the Embarcadero roadway and distinct from Herb Caen Way (a.k.a. the Promenade)? Come hear and see what Carrie has put together for a fully-considered vision of a world-class bikeway on the city's waterfront, a next-generation element of the Citywide Bike Network."

In a city where people and cars regularly jostle for space, it's not uncommon to have speeding traffic just inches or feet from pedestrians, homes, and parks. This spatial conflict is especially pronounced on Fell and Oak Streets, which serve all at once as de facto residential highways, major bike thoroughfares, and densely built-up residential and commercial streets, their sidewalks bustling with people on their way home or visiting the Panhandle.

House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) is readying a proposal to extend current infrastructure law by three months -- 15 months less than the delay preferred by the White House -- and could introduce the legislation as soon as next week, his office said today.

Famously, we live on a crack in the earth. The San Andreas Fault gets most of our attention, followed not too far behind these days by the equally ominous Hayward Fault. A major earthquake on either of these could alter local landscapes forever, and will certainly damage or destroy freeways, bridges, and the water system. That's one of our catastrophes waiting in the wings, and it's good think about preparing for such eventualities.

Apparently unfamiliar with the concept of irony, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) has drafted an angry letter to the chief of Washington D.C.'s Metro, complaining that protesters at last weekend's 9/12 "tea party" had difficulty traveling by transit -- the very transit system that Brady voted against aiding, and the epitome of government spending that the tea partiers claim to oppose.

While it pushes for an 18-month delay in the next federal infrastructure bill, the Obama administration has proposed a data collection effort that would help states and localities begin tracking ridership and usage of transit, roads, buses, and the like -- a small put pivotal step towards enacting national performance standards for transportation.

On Bicyclelaw.com yesterday, there was a terrible story out of Canada about a crash involving a reckless motorist and law-abiding cyclists.

Trial Begins On Disability Activists’ Lawsuit Against Caltrans Alleging ADA Sidewalk Violations (LAT)  Oakland City Council to Consider Reversing New Parking Policies (Oak Tribune, East Bay Express) Press Democrat Interviews a Few Drivers and Gets a “Mixed Reaction” on Increased Parking Fines Boy Stabbed on Muni Bus Takes His First Walk Outside the Hospital (CBS … Continued