Friday Night Linkfest: Stimulus & Transit

Folks in Atlanta are looking at a massive transit program to build out their system called Concept 3, but how are they going to get $40 billion dollars?
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Congressman Oberstar has our back. He wants to spend more on transit, and if the highway junkies don't like it, tough.
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Ahem. Advocates are not split Boston Globe. We want transit, walking, and biking projects. There is no dichotomy of we have to build roads because they will create jobs and the other projects won't. That is complete and utter bs.
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Tunnel lovers just won't give up (I wish there was a tunnel). Shouldn't this project have been built years ago? Get it started already!
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The Cinci NAACP is opposing a streetcar project complaining about potholes in neighborhoods. Seems to me like they should be opposing all those suburban road projects. This is exactly how the Madison streetcar died, except that time, it was police coverage. The trade off shouldn't be transit or streets or police.

Filing the Paperwork

Perhaps its release season for the FTA. Getting close to Christmas so lets approve some stuff. Yesterday it was the Central Subway environmental work and today its the Dulles extension. Looks like Ma Peters just couldn't shoot it down fast enough. I do agree with Richard though. I don't know if they are going to be able to sustain the ridership through the tube with the Orange line. It seems like it creates some serious capacity problems. Greater Greater Washington has some better ideas.

Paying the Rent

Insurance, depreciation and financing charges are major costs. "If you have two cars sitting in the garage, you can sell one for eight grand and that will help pay the mortgage,"

Who knew transit made money for you? The Washington Post has an article that in tone belays the shock that while gas prices are dropping, people are still taking transit. There are many who have known the benefits for years. It's like finding Narnia or something for those on the outside of urbanism though.

New Poll: Worst Rail Project in Planning

Thanks for all the input. It seems like we have a few projects that are pretty bad. Again I'm not going to let you choose more than one. You have to choose what you think is the worst. So here are the contestants based on feedback. I added in two specifically nefarious BRT projects as well.

BART to San Jose
NJ Access to the Regions Core
LIRR East Side Access Project
San Francisco Central Subway
Montreal Train de l'est
LA Gold Line to Montclair
Toronto Spadina Extension
NY Subway 7 Line Extension
Metro to Dulles (Silver Line)
MBTA BRT Silver Line Phase 3
US 36 Denver BRT
Miami Metrorail North
Anacostia Streetcar

So those are the list. Usual week for voting applies. Vote for Other if there is a project not listed.

Friday Night Linkfest

More requests for the Orange Line to be Light Rail. They even quote us. But please stop using the most recent light rail line in Los Angeles is the end all of cost estimates for light rail. It would NOT cost $150 million a mile to build light rail.
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Dan at HugeAssCity hopes for better urban design for the Viaduct replacement. I hope for a rapid streetcar instead of just the waterfront trolley.
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I don't see why they can't charge for parking at Metro Stations during inauguration. Perhaps that would pay for the extra rush hour service that's going all day.
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Good thing the opposition in Salt Lake didn't get UTA rolled into UDOT. From Transit in Utah:

UDOT puts $3.9B in projects on hold. While I have mentioned this over and over again, I must hammer this home. If a certain group of puppets from a certain so called riders union would have gotten their way and transferred UTA over to UDOT, transit funding would now moved over to highways and that is the goal of the people who run that organization.

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There are seven Tram companies in Poland. Seven. Some of the models look pretty sweet.

As many as seven companies are active in the tram building market in Poland, suggesting that competition may develop in the coming years. In many ways the market is quite open, as conditions are similar in the various cities.

Friday Night Linkfest

I saw this post from Streetsblog about the transportation transition team leads. This isn't the whole team, just people leading specific sections. We should wait to see who is on the teams under these folks before we get too riled up.

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Looks like the FTA finally got around to saying they would fund the University Link.

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Stimulus for California HSR?

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The Capricious Commuter is back. It's not Erik, but its good to have another newspaper blogging local transportation.

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It looks as if Washington Metro is off the hook... for now.

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David Goldberg argues that the old economy of autocentricty could be over. According to a recent study in Australia written in part by the super awesome Peter Newman, $85 million dollars in up front infrastructure costs are being wasted per every 1000 housing units built on the fringe. With the $250 million in transport costs that could be saved as well, thats a lot of money thrown away.

DC's Dead

Some of these ended up in Sarajevo. The rest were scrapped.

HT ASD

Friday Night Linkage

Time to figure out which route is best for the Southwest Corridor in Minneapolis.
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Pelosi for HSR. Major firepower will make sure that this project gets its federal funding in the next congress.
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A Streetcar for Middletown Connecticut?
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Is a DDOT Streetcar ever going to get built?
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More on Denver's property increases near light rail:

As I've mentioned previously, many of the people that I've talked with on my trip have mentioned that transit is not good where they are, and it's a deciding factor not just in what neighborhood they move to, but what city they move to. We don't have any data yet on the West Corridor, but anecdotally, I have seen a lot of competition for properties on the west corridor. We lost a bid on a property that was listed for around $100,000, even though we bid $25,000 over the list price.

I Used to be Snow White

But I drifted. ~~Friday Night Link Party Below~~

It's Not About You! - So says the president of a commercial real estate firm in Milwaukee.

There are too many people who want to get on their soapbox and say, "I'm not going to ride it." The point is, it's not about you. The young person, who does believe in green technology and sustainable development, does want it. Whether you believe in global warming or not is not the point. There are a lot of people who do

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In typical conservative fashion, Paul Weyrich, usually a staunch supporter for transit says no on high speed rail for California. Good thing he doesn't live here. I imagine he's never driven I-5 either. He uses the reason foundation explanation as to why he opposes it. Robert if you're counting Hoovers vs. Keynes, here's another Hoover for you. He does say this about the project:

Unlike the Reason Foundation, I do not think that this project would be a white elephant.

He goes on to deride the ridership estimates like everyone else who doesn't know why they are called "estimates". You know, like the estimates to sell bonds for these grey elephants.
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A report on the Purple Line and all its noise and impact issues was released yesterday. The article did not talk however about particulate matter released from an internal combustion engine even if hybrid on the bus. Wonder if that was in the report.
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Leaving Town? Some in Seattle say they will leave if the region doesn't pass the transit measure. I think there are some big issues that will come about if the transit measures around the country don't pass. What it might mean is that the region is left flat footed without a plan if and when the next transportation bill provides more money for transit. If we go into new deal spending, the regions that have transit plans in the Space Race will benefit from instant recognition that they have projects ready to go.
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Brain Drain + Brain Gain = Negative Brains for Rochester. Keeps the zombies away at least.

H/T Urbanophile
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Details...

Transit Not Stadium

Richard is right. We should be building transit, not sports stadiums. Even if stadiums did help districts, the investment in one place for games eight times a year is a waste compared to daily linear transit lines that can have the affect of changing the city, instead of one district. Not to mention in 20 years, stadiums are obsolete according to team owners.

I Hate It When He Does This

I'm annoyed. When Obama talks about transportation he talks about cars and roads. There have been a few times like in Portland where he talked about bikes or in PA when he talked to the GE train makers. Those are site specific and everywhere else it's usually about cars. I don't want to hear about cars. And I certainly don't want us giving money to companies who can't seem to get it right in the first place.

"We'll create 5 million new, high-wage jobs by investing in the renewable sources of energy that will eliminate the oil we currently import from the Middle East in 10 years, and we'll create 2 million jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, schools, and bridges," he said.

He revisited the subject again later in the speech: "It is time to protect the jobs we have and to create the jobs of tomorrow by unlocking the drive, and ingenuity, and innovation of the American people. And we should fast-track the loan guarantees we passed for our auto industry and provide more as needed so that they can build the energy-efficient cars America needs to end our dependence on foreign oil."

Why is it that Toyota and Honda consistently get the market here in America right but Detroit can't seem to figure it out? Obama talks alot about changing the way things are done in Washington. I think he needs to go a step further and talk about changeing the way we do things in State DOTs, MPOs, and Detroit.

Under Dupont Circle

I have an idea. Why not use the tunnel for streetcars again?

"McCain = More Traffic " in DC

That was a sign held up at a rally in Arlington for transit. Northern Virginia Republicans have been trying to press John McCain to support the Dulles Extension if he is elected. Unfortunately, the Amtrak/Metro vote was telling with McCain voting against basically calling it pork that other transit agencies didn't get. So now he's trying to be equitable to all transit? Hardly.

A statement from the McCain campaign, however, targeted the Metro funding as well as Amtrak. "Senator McCain strongly objects to earmarks in the bill such as a $1.5 billion earmark for the Washington . . . Metro system and questions if this money is warranted above the needs that may exist among other mass transit systems in our country," the statement says. "With the serious financial situation facing our nation, this [multibillion-dollar] commitment of taxpayers' dollars can [be] dedicated to addressing far more important national priorities."

I'm not sure what other national priorities he's talking about. But it seems to me transit is pretty important, but maybe that's just me.

Streetcar Networks

There are some regions which are building light rail, and some which are building light rail and streetcar networks. We see in the space race that the leaders are starting to look even further into the transit spectrum with multiple modes.

The most recent entrant? Salt Lake City

Fresh from a Northwest transit tour of Portland, Seattle and Vancouver with 28 city and business officials, Mayor Ralph Becker says a new streetcar network, beginning in downtown, is a priority for his freshman administration.

This is in addition to plans for Seattle, Minneapolis, Portland, Washington D.C., Ann Arbor, and a study starting soon in Fort Worth.

Coburn Blockage

He's at it again, this time because he doesn't want to subsidize soft drinks?

"Amtrak loses $2 billion a year subsidizing food," Mr. Coburn said. "There are a lot of great reforms in this bill, but you're missing $2 billion. Nobody's going to not ride Amtrak because a beer costs a dollar more."

I have a feeling it has to do with his hate of rail transit. I'm sure like his other colleagues he doesn't mind subsidizing roads. He's also blocking Metro funds. Never seen that before from him.

Affordability and Harvesting the Green Dividend

I want TOD to be more affordable, I really do. I think that it's important not to push people out and very important to allow people to have an opportunity to use transit and save money by living by it. There's only one problem right now, rail transit is so limited in this country, no one can reasonably expect developers that see a market to not try to build to what they can get. The non-profits and foundations can come in and figure out a way to capture the value created so that some of it goes back into the community. Portland did this by harvesting value from the Pearl District and the Twin Cities is looking to harvest the green dividend as well.

But they can't do it alone. TOD needs transit. It needs a well connected network, one that most cities don't have. I think that TOD in cities with good transit has proven its worth. New York, Washington DC, San Francisco. But we can't expect cities to have inexpensive TOD everywhere when its a niche super hot market that is under built and there is no T. It's starting to look promising since the space race is heating up, but there's a long way to go.

This post was a reaction/commentary on Steve Hymon's TOD posts.

Why LA Won't Get 80% Federal Funding on the Gold Line

Contrary to popular hopeful sentiments from local officials we discussed the other day, getting 80% just isn't possible for the Gold Line. After being challenged over on Bottleneck blog by Damien Goodmon (Fix Expo) on my assertion that today federal projects have to have 50% local funding to get funded, maybe 60% if you have a good ridership project that can cover your ratings, I found a GAO report that stated what I remember hearing was true.

Last year, in response to language contained in appropriations committee reports, FTA instituted a policy favoring projects that seek a federal New Starts share of no more than 60 percent of the total project cost—even though the law allows projects to seek up to 80 percent—in its recommendation for FFGAs. According to FTA officials, this policy allows more projects to receive funding and ensures that local governments play a major role in funding such projects. FTA describes the 60 percent policy as a general preference; however, FTA’s fiscal year 2005 New Starts report suggests that this policy is absolute in that projects proposing more than a 60 percent federal New Starts share will not be recommended for an FFGA.

They will not fund anything over 60%. That is unless you make a deal like Salt Lake City where they will pay 80% for one project but it will equal 20% for all projects. Hopefully this helps folks realize that while highways still get 80% and bankrupting their funding account, the mass transit account has only been allowing 50% or less matches over the last 4 years. It's actually been lower in certain instances with Dulles asking for 30%. Why the feds are able to kill that project when they aren't even close to the majority financial stake is beyond me.

The Top Wealth Center

Apparently Arlington is the top wealth center in the country. Who would have thought putting a subway through redevelopable land instead of down the center of a freeway would do anything beneficial at all?

Here We Go Again

Wow, this is a kick in the teeth to the Tyson's Tunnel folks and good TOD. It sounds like good news, but its really just a way to get the elevated portion started so that no one can fight it later. Good work FTA. Way to be teh suck.

Option of Urbanism: Metro Brings Fundamental Change

This is something we already knew, but it blows back in the face of all those folks who say cities in the United States don't have the density to support transit. In fact, if the land is available to support future density, transit should be an infrastructure given.

Since construction began in the 1970's the Metro system has fundamentally changed how the metropolitan area works... Twenty years ago, there were two regional-serving walkable urban places in the region-Georgetown and Old Town, Alexandria Virginia-both relying on tourism, based upon the historic fabric of these 18th century towns. By the mid-2000s, there were 17 regional serving walkable-urban places in the DC area, and five more are emerging. Of these 17, 16 are built around Metro stations and one without Metro service (Reston Town Center) will get a station by 2012.

This is something that is much overlooked by opponents and people that don't get why transit is important. Sure the Metro takes about 800,000 rides a day, but how many trips by car do those 17 centers bypass? The 800,000 rides is a measure of the transit, but what the cost-effectiveness measure and the FTA misses is the ability of these districts to reduce auto-trips. I wish that DC would do a travel survey that showed the difference between mixed use and good transit versus auto dependence like Portland did in 1994. The investment is paying off.