July 1, 2009
moz-do-not-send="true" height="281" width="500">
Green shared lane in Long Beach, CA
(Photo courtesy
LA)
Highlights
- Patrick signs transportation overhaul (
Globe,
Conversations)
By Globe Staff -- Governor Deval Patrick today signed a bill
overhauling the state
transportation system and consolidating a patchwork of agencies that
govern roads, rail, and bridges. [...]
The bill, a key part of what Patrick is calling his
agenda,"
creates a new state Department of Transportation that will oversee
highways, mass transit, aeronautics, and the Registry of Motor
Vehicles. It also eliminates the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and
ends some perks at the MBTA that critics have seized on as symbols of
waste and abuse in government. Patrick's administration says the new
law will save tens of millions of dollars annually.
- Trolley lawsuit thrown out (
Gazette)
Local activists will appeal
moz-do-not-send="true" height="281" width="500">
Green shared lane in Long Beach, CA
(Photo courtesy
LA)
Highlights
- Patrick signs transportation overhaul (
Globe,
Conversations)
By Globe Staff -- Governor Deval Patrick today signed a bill
overhauling the state
transportation system and consolidating a patchwork of agencies that
govern roads, rail, and bridges. [...]
The bill, a key part of what Patrick is calling his
agenda,"
creates a new state Department of Transportation that will oversee
highways, mass transit, aeronautics, and the Registry of Motor
Vehicles. It also eliminates the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and
ends some perks at the MBTA that critics have seized on as symbols of
waste and abuse in government. Patrick's administration says the new
law will save tens of millions of dollars annually.
- Trolley lawsuit thrown out (
Gazette)
Local activists will appeal
src="http://www.livablestreets.info/files/streetnews/colored_shared_lane_long_beach.jpg"
moz-do-not-send="true" height="281" width="500">
Green shared lane in Long Beach, CA
(Photo courtesy
LA)
Highlights- Patrick signs transportation overhaul (
Globe,
Conversations)
By Globe Staff -- Governor Deval Patrick today signed a bill
overhauling the state
transportation system and consolidating a patchwork of agencies that
govern roads, rail, and bridges. [...]
The bill, a key part of what Patrick is calling his
agenda,"
creates a new state Department of Transportation that will oversee
highways, mass transit, aeronautics, and the Registry of Motor
Vehicles. It also eliminates the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and
ends some perks at the MBTA that critics have seized on as symbols of
waste and abuse in government. Patrick's administration says the new
law will save tens of millions of dollars annually.
- Trolley lawsuit thrown out (
Gazette)
Local activists will appeal
src="http://www.livablestreets.info/files/streetnews/colored_shared_lane_long_beach.jpg"
moz-do-not-send="true" height="281" width="500">
Green shared lane in Long Beach, CA
(Photo courtesy
LA)
Highlights- Patrick signs transportation overhaul (
Globe,
Conversations)
By Globe Staff -- Governor Deval Patrick today signed a bill
overhauling the state
transportation system and consolidating a patchwork of agencies that
govern roads, rail, and bridges. [...]
The bill, a key part of what Patrick is calling his
agenda,"
creates a new state Department of Transportation that will oversee
highways, mass transit, aeronautics, and the Registry of Motor
Vehicles. It also eliminates the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and
ends some perks at the MBTA that critics have seized on as symbols of
waste and abuse in government. Patrick's administration says the new
law will save tens of millions of dollars annually.
- Trolley lawsuit thrown out (
Gazette)
Local activists will appeal
By John Ruch -- A lawsuit seeking restoration of MBTA Green
Line trolley service
through central Jamaica Plain was thrown out of court last month after
a judge ruled it was filed too late. The local Arborway Committee, a
pro-trolley resident
group that filed the lawsuit as a last-ditch trolley restoration
effort, will appeal the decision, according to group head Franklyn
Salimbene. “If the appeals court doesn’t agree, [the lawsuit], for all
intents
and purposes, is over,” Salimbene said in a Gazette interview last week
at his Pondside home. There appears to be little dispute over the
general claim of the
suit: that the state obviously did not restore trolley service after
once promising to do so. But that does not mean the Arborway
Committee’s law-suit will be successful.
- How does the new transportation bill draft measure up? (
Streetsblog
DC,
“A bill to transform Federal surface transportation to a
performance-based framework to reduce fatalities and injuries on our
Nation’s highways, address the mobility and access needs of people and
goods, improve the condition, performance, and connectivity of the
United States intermodal surface transportation system, provide
transportation choices for commuters and travelers, promote
environmental sustainability, public health, and the livability of
communities, support robust investment in surface transportation, and
for other purposes.” That’s how the new 775-page draft of the House
Surface
Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 opens up. Considering that
this is federal legislation here — not literature — that’s a pretty
lofty opening to guide the upcoming six-year transportation bill. But
does reality match the rhetoric in the 774 pages that follow?
- The Metro Crash: A Nation's Aging Transit System (
New
York Times)
By Brian Walsh -- Investigators are still sorting through the wreckage
of Monday's crash
of two Metro rail cars in Washington, D.C., the deadliest in the
system's 33-year history, which killed nine people and injured scores
of others. Federal officials said on Tuesday that the train that
rear-ended another was an older model that lacked equipment that might
have helped avert the collision and, according to the Washington Post,
had been overdue for needed brake work. The D.C. Metro is hardly the
only one in the U.S. with an aging fleet.
Public-transit advocates in many major cities face a similar problem:
an aging, underfunded transit system struggling to safely ferry ever
larger numbers of riders.
- VIDEO: Sharrow Cam Tells the Story of Long Beach's Green
Shared Lane (
LA)
By Damien Newton -- Russ Roca, the
photographer and
bike activist who has taken the lead on promoting Long Beach's
world-class shared lane, brings us a video on people's first reactions
to the lane. For anyone that missed
story,
Long Beach painted a travel lane green and installed Sharrows on 2nd
Street, one of the busiest streets in the city for both bikes and cars.
Longe
Beach's sharrows policy is groundbreaking both locally and
internationally. As far as I know, this is the first time that
anyone,
anywhere has colored a lane with Sharrows and the world is watching to
see the results.
- How To Convince A Conservative To Support Public
Transportation (
Infrastructurist)
By Matt Dellinger -- Transportation bills of the last decade have
enjoyed a terrific amount
of bipartisan support, thanks perhaps to a flood of earmarks and a lack
of any strong federal mandates therein. But this year (or next year? or
2011?) we’re getting down to brass tacks. We’re turning the ship of
state. We’re charting a new course, our leaders tell us. Which means
it’s time to find out what kind of bipartisan support there may be for
large-scale reforms, including perhaps a stronger focus on rail and
transit, or an increase in the gas tax. Many Democrats have been
championing such reforms for years, but there
have been a few prominent conservative voices in favor of more and
better transit and intercity passenger rail as well.
"Streets"
- Active Breakdown Lanes A Hazard, Some Drivers Say (
- Comprehensive air quality testing for one year begins soon (
News)
- Urban retrofits: How to make a city green -- without tearing it
down (
Globe)
- Preserving road back into history (
Globe)
- Shake your groove thing: Cambridge's annual dance party 'biggest
ever' (
Chronicle)
- North Harvard Street Getting Repaved! (
Biker)
Transit
- Where did the 'A' Line go, anyway? (
Metro)
- T previews Route 23 bus improvements at meeting (
Reporter)
- Ferry, T team up on passes (
Globe)
- The voice of T riders at risk under reform (
Metro)
- Trolley lawsuit thrown out (
Gazette)
- D.C. crash raises questions about MBTA's aging transit system (
Globe)
- Taking the bus [scroll down] (
Palmer's Journal)
Cars/Parking
- Fast lane slowdown in route? (
Herald)
- Should Seniors Drive? (
- Elderly driver study adds wrinkle to discount (
Herald)
- Pol unveils elderly driver plan (
Herald)
Transportation financing/Government
- Transportation reform bill passes Legislature (
Reporter)
- Pike faces $268M payment after credit downgrade (
Herald)
- City workers told not to text on road (
Globe,
- Patrick signs transportation overhaul (
Globe,
Conversations)
- Mass. builders say stimulus cash-flow slow (
Herald)
- Local joins Pike lawsuit (
TAB)
- Some still slow to make the move to Fast Lane (
Globe,
- Mass. toll hike scrapped; Gov. approved budget (
Globe,
TAB)
- Patrick hints at hike in gas tax (
Globe)
Parks
- Editorial: Wise stewardship of the new Greenway (
Globe)
- City councilors suggest new outdoor cafe for Boston Common (
Herald)
- Long-awaited playground makes its Codman Square debut (
Globe)
- Letter: As Greenway grows, key advisory board must be revived (
Globe)
- Dog park plan has bark, and bite (
Globe)
Development projects
- Fenway fired up against a parking lot (
Herald)
- Cambridge City Council gives green light to Lesley expansion (
Chronicle)
- Syms says Basement belongs downtown (
Globe)
- Harvard looks to convert gas station into a restaurant (
- River's Edge opening moves closer (
Globe)
- MBTA plans to revive its project at Mattapan Square (
Reporter)
- More funds are coming for Jackson Square improvements (
Gazette)
- Office plans unveiled (
Gazette)
- Westwood Station developers shift priorities to big retailers (
Globe)
Out-of-state
- Removing Aetna Viaduct Could Help Heal Hartford (
Courant,
the Region)
- Train Crash in Washington Leaves at Least 6 Dead (
York Times,
Globe)
- All Aboard the High Line (
Street Journal)
- DOT Proposes Park Circle Improvements; CB 7 Approves (
- All-electric car-sharing debuts in Baltimore (
News)
- VIDEO: Hudson River Crossings: Improving Bus Capacity (
- L.A. Breaks Ground on Orange Line Extension (
Politic)
- Power Flows Back to the Pedestrian (
York Times)
- In a Reprise, Saturdays With Zones Free of Cars (
York Times)
- Pedicabs Roll Toward Regulation (
York Times)
- Part Time Lover - Is The Car Just An Affair? (
- VIDEO: Sharrow Cam Tells the Story of Long Beach's Green Shared
Lane (
LA)
- In Urban Cycling, a Gender Gap Persists (
York Times)
National trends
- Demolished! 11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell To The Wrecking
Ball (
Infrastructurist) - 6 More Great Train Stations Lost To The Wrecking Ball (
Infrastructurist) - What Difference Would An 18-Month Delay in Reauthorization Make? (
Journal)
- How does the new transportation bill draft measure up? (
Streetsblog
DC,
- GAO: Gov't lacks strategic high-speed rail plan (
Politic)
- Speed of stimulus is a two-way street on Hill (
Today)
- The Metro Crash: A Nation's Aging Transit System (
New
York Times)
- All States Beat a Deadline on Transportation Spending (
Times)
- How To Convince A Conservative To Support Public Transportation (
Infrastructurist)
- Stimulus Buying A Lot Of New Highways, Not Much New Transit (
Infrastructurist)
International news- Amsterdam: More Trips by Bike than by Car (
Europe)
- Beijing-Shanghai HSR Link to Average Speeds of Over 200 mph (
Politic)
- A bridge, abridged [Vancouver] (
and Mail)
- China 'to block' Hummer takeover (
- Paris Shows How to Automate a Subway (
Politic)
- The Dutch Railway Station Cycle Parking Crisis (
view from the cycle path)
- Patrick signs transportation overhaul (