Charlotte Photo Dump

Charlotte is turning into a great place (Not that it wasn't good before). Here's a small tour of what is going on.

The Dilworth Streetcar Suburb. Look familiar?



Because there was no comprehensive plan for the South End, everything is Zoned TOD.



It's going to be a sad that they will have to cut down some of these trees.



New development in the south end.






New Streetcar Tracks on Elizabeth Ave.



The Surveyer



Fall Foliage





Mid-Day Thursday ridership

Bikes & Streetcars Coexist

Mike over at Transit Miami sent me over a link to a planning study on Bikes and Streetcars. Lots of really cool pictures of how life should be.

Building Up the Industry

So it seems that while we're looking to bail out our auto industry at the same time the European tram manufacturers are drooling over the expansion of rail in this country. While there is a buy America component, the profits go back to Europe and Asia. It seems about time to start to think seriously about building up a transit industry here?

But that is not stopping European companies like Siemens of Germany, AnsaldoBreda of Italy, CAF of Spain and Skoda of the Czech Republic from jockeying for position at the head of the line, eager to supply sleek new streetcars, now tagged light rail vehicles, for one of the few fast-growing markets for trams. Competition from elsewhere comes primarily from Bombardier of Canada and Kinki Sharyo of Japan.

People of the Green Book

Click to play

The audio above is Andres Duany at this last weeks CNU Transportation Networks Summit. Now I don't agree with everything Andres says. A lot of times he drives me nuts when it comes to transit modes like streetcars because he'll go into a city and say something completely crazy like limiting streetcar distance or density before transit which are things I haven't agreed with. But in this instance he makes a lot of sense.

I often wonder if we're over engineering our light rail and streetcar lines as to render them so expensive that the BRT folks swoop in and say cheaper is better. The first lines we built in this country were on shoestring budgets with off the shelf vehicles and know how from folks that operated streetcars that were discontinued. As we get further away from that knowledge base, we continue to gold plate systems using super heavy catenary that is aesthetically displeasing and have been perhaps over lawyer-ed. But the technology remains basically the same, just as the automobile and we've lost a lot of that knowledge.

What Andres talks about in losing knowledge of how to build roads is seen in our cities where cars go too fast and road diets are often the new buzz word. What the engineer knows comes from the engineering manuals. Yet there is years of knowledge out there and best examples in our cities and existing rail lines that we can learn from. The clip is about 4 minutes. I cut out the part I thought was interesting from the 30 minute talk. So enjoy. I hope to do more of these audio things now that I have a recorder.

10% Off Your Next Stay

Update: Good Luck getting there on LRT. Jon and Anon have pointed out that its nowhere near the station. I thought it was the downtown station, but its one out by the new WES line.

If you take Max to your hotel.

"Our hotel has recently undergone renovation, which means we're able to offer top-of-the-line accommodations with the 10% discount that we offer to guests who use the Light Rail," said director of sales Melissa DelBalzo. "During these tough economic times, we wanted to help our guests get the best deals possible while still feeling like they're getting pampered on the road. The savings of staying at an Embassy Suites really add up when you consider the cost of a cooked-to-order breakfast, light snacks, and free drinks of your choice - all of which we provide as a standard amenity to our guests."

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?