Year: 2009

Experience with case studies has made it clear to many urban planners and environmentalists that to maximize the benefits of transit investments, and to slow growth in traffic congestion, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and carbon emissions, you have to focus on land use.

For the last couple of days, there's been a lot of talk around the Streetsblog Network about a particularly horrific incident on Monday in which a cyclist, Darcy Allan Sheppard, was fatally injured on Toronto's Bloor Street in an encounter with a car allegedly driven by the former attorney general of Ontario, Michael Bryant.

AC Transit to Hold Series of Public Meetings on Proposed Service Cuts (SF Gate) SamTrans Proposal Would Prevent Coastal Routes from Being Eliminated (Half Moon Bay Review) Firm with Ties to Schwarzenegger to be Awarded High-Speed Rail Public Relations Contract (LAT) Bay Bridge Closure Will Allow Crews to Fix Potholes, Lights and Make Other Repairs … Continued

The Bay Bridge closure this weekend will be the third in four years, and drivers are starting to figure out alternatives, including taking BART, carpooling on other bridges, and simply avoiding unnecessary trips. But this year's closure is different from those in 2006 and 2007: for the first time, the Bay Bridge will have a planned closure on a regular workday. No one knows what that will entail for certain, but BART will likely be packed, and the streets around Rincon Hill and much of South of Market may be strangely calm.

During debate over the White House's $787 billion economic stimulus law, transit advocates watched as their projects were shortchanged and more "shovel-ready" road projects got the lion's share of the transport pot -- about $8.4 billion, compared with $26.5 billion for highways and bridges.

The Obama administration will reverse a Bush-era policy that gave proposed transit projects a leg up in the chase for federal money if their operations and maintenance were to be contracted out privately, according to a regulation finalized today.

One of the ongoing dilemmas for landscape architects, city planners, and yes, even transit geeks, is the chicken-and-egg question regarding public space. If you build it, will they come? Is there a “public” demanding wider sidewalks, public squares and plazas, pocket parks, and depaving, and who, exactly, are they?

One thing the government's CARS program -- a.k.a. "cash for clunkers" -- has clearly stimulated is commentary. For a policy involving a shade under $3 billion in federal spending, it has enjoyed no shortage of media coverage.

In Portland, Oregon, already one of America's best cycling cities, a new amenity was unveiled this past weekend: a cycle track, or physically separated bike lane, near Portland State University. For several blocks, it provides a protected place for bikers to ride -- by taking a lane from motor vehicle traffic and changing the place where cars are supposed to park.