Chicago's Transbay Terminal

It's starting. Downtowns are going to start having these design contests for High Speed Rail Hubs.

Oil Shortage Straight to Roads

Seems like there is an asphalt shortage. This is why we need to get off of oil sooner rather than later.

Elizabeth Avenue Video Blog

So I'm going to try this video blog thing here. My camera has the ability to take short movies as you've seen before so I decided while I was out today in Charlotte that I should do one for the Elizabeth Avenue Streetcar Project.

Initial Blog (Sorry About the Wind)



Part 2: The Surveyer




So a few things I missed. Because they were already reconstructing the street, this stretch only cost about $5 million dollars more. They also expect to be to the hospital at the high end by next month. I'll try to do this more when I see interesting things. Hopefully next time I'll write something up but on the spot seems genuine as well. Let me know what you think.

Space Constraint

Urban Cincy Brings us this Gem:

Friday Night Linkfest

Siemens will hire 200 workers in Sacramento to build light rail cars.
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Strip malls offer an opportunity to change our development paradigm. The Oregonian:

Strip malls offer a particularly keen opportunity. Look past the big box stores, Nelson said, and you have large, flat, well-drained, developable space linked to existing infrastructure. Broad rights-of-way allow easy access. There is space enough to bring in tracks for light-rail trains or streetcars. They are perfect for much denser, mixed-use developments in which people can live, work, shop and eat, he said.

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Ask Barack Obama to focus on smart transportation investments. T4America.
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No light rail? Empty commercial space. Denver Post:

New office buildings opening in southeast Denver are leasing well as long as they're next to a light-rail stop. Developer John Madden's Palazzo Verdi, which has direct access to the light-rail line, is 100 percent leased to Ciber and Newmont Mining. The building opens next week.

But Shea Properties' Maroon V, which does not have direct access to light rail, is sitting vacant. The building opened before Shea's Village Center Station, which is under construction along the rail line and is fully leased. Wireless-service provider Cricket and Shea will occupy the building.

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Follow the Yellow Brick Railroad for Fort Knox.

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The question should be: Do you really want to speed up traffic?

Yo Yo Ma

I don't think the transit community will miss you Mrs. Peters.

"I truly believe we have the best team in the Administration."

If by best team you mean best obstructionists and lawyers with no transportation experience then yes, you had the best team.

Boris the Ripper?

Seems like London might soon regret tossing out Red Ken. £3.5 Billion of transit expansion projects have been scrapped. The New Mayor says that this is funding needed for Crossrail, a huge cross city subway line, but many aren't happy with the loss of local projects and say he is just encouraging autocentricity.

There is nothing about how the Mayor will encourage people onto public transport, but plenty about giving back road space and speeding up traffic lights in favour of the 'oppressed' motorist," said Labour's transport spokeswoman Val Shawcross

Enough With the Roads!

This reporter in Madison seems to get it.

This is a highway-heavy road budget, as anti-green as it gets. And when I say anti-green, I'm not necessarily talking about the tree-hugging kind. This budget is bad for our economy. The emphasis on cul-de-sacs, cars and sprawl sets us up for broken budgets forever.

Already, Madison spends millions of dollars a year maintaining the overbuilt roads of yesteryear. If implemented, the mayor's budget would hardwire us to spiraling transportation costs for years to come.

The capital budget defines the urban landscape. Will ours be welcoming to pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders and cars? Or just cars?

Left Behind

As the Transit Space Race heats up, there will be winners, and there will be losers.

Atlanta has missed the boat on public transportation compared with some other cities, said the president of a national mass transit organization. Now that more people are driving less, the consequences could be grave. “You’ll get left in the dust,” said William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association....

...Millar pointed to cities like Charlotte, Denver and Salt Lake City that are building or expanding their mass-transit systems. He said they will be able to draw more employers with good jobs and offer a better quality of life.

Transit Space Race Update

With the elections in yesterday it was time to update the Transit Space Race. Seattle moved into the top tier while St. Louis dropped a division. Kansas City dropped into the hopeless category until they can work up another plan. I'm going to update Atlanta and Hawaii soon but need to get some more info for them. Atlanta will be in the hopefuls league while we await further developments and Hawaii will be in tier one planning. Check the plans down at the bottom right of the blog.