Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

December 1, 2008


Light rail in Houston, Texas (Photo courtesy Project for Public Spaces)

Highlights

  • Hub workers: These routes are made for walking (Boston Herald)
    By Katy Jordan -- BOSTON -- Bostonians apparently weary of suffering the Job-like plagues of toll hikes, gas price fluctuations and potholes have embraced a novel form of commuting: walking. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Boston has ambled to the top of the list of large cities where residents walk to their jobs. Thirteen percent of Bostonians walk to work, far ahead of the national average of 2.5 percent.


Light rail in Houston, Texas (Photo courtesy Project for Public Spaces)

Highlights

  • Hub workers: These routes are made for walking (Boston Herald)
    By Katy Jordan -- BOSTON -- Bostonians apparently weary of suffering the Job-like plagues of toll hikes, gas price fluctuations and potholes have embraced a novel form of commuting: walking. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Boston has ambled to the top of the list of large cities where residents walk to their jobs. Thirteen percent of Bostonians walk to work, far ahead of the national average of 2.5 percent.

     

  • Huge bill could soon come due for Turnpike (Boston Globe)
    By Noah Bierman -- Ten days after the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board recommended sweeping toll increases, officials said yesterday that the authority's finances have grown even worse, with the agency's liability for a set of risky investments rising to nearly a half-billion dollars.

     

  • Opinion: Union Square could be more (Somerville Journal)
    By Board of Directors, Union Square Main Streets -- SOMERVILLE -- Picture Union Square as it could be — a place where people of all ages window shop on clean, wide, tree-lined sidewalks. Where neighbors linger at outdoor cafés and enjoy performers, markets and festivals in lively, green, open spaces. Where a mix of profitable, independent businesses thrive —from engaging retail shops to interesting restaurants to bustling offices — and many residents can walk to new shops and well-paying jobs near their homes. Union Square can be all this, but first we must replace outmoded zoning regulations that discourage this kind of pedestrian-oriented commercial development for Union Square.

     

  • Street Fighter (American Prospect)
    Since Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion-pricing plan failed in New York City, his transportation commissioner has taken a piecemeal approach to reclaiming streets from cars.
    By Dana Goldstein -- NEW YORK -- On Sept. 17, Colin Beavan was riding his folding bicycle down Broadway in Lower Manhattan, near City Hall. Beavan, a writer known as "No Impact Man" for his attempt to reduce his carbon footprint to zero, did not use toilet paper for a year. But let's not get distracted. On that day, Beavan was simply on his bike, making a routine attempt to steer clear of moving traffic and avoid car doors flying open in his path. That was when, by Beavan's account, a black Mercedes veered precariously close to him, prompting Beavan to alert its driver to his presence by knocking on the car's window.

     

  • For New Transportation Secretary, a Hard Road Ahead (Washington Post)
    By Lyndsey Layton -- The next transportation secretary will walk into an agency that oversees an outdated air traffic control system; congested roads, rails and skies; crumbling highways and bridges; and a financing system teetering on collapse. Transportation experts, both parties in Congress and the current White House agree that the traditional ways of easing congestion and funding transportation are not working and that a fundamental overhaul is needed.

"Streets"

  • Delivery trucks force pedestrians onto road (Boston Globe)

Walking

Bicycling

Transit

Cars/Parking

Transportation financing/Government

  • Huge bill could soon come due for Turnpike (Boston Globe)
  • Gov. Patrick is open to raising the gas tax instead of Pike tolls (Brookline TAB)
  • Editorial: Shifting transportation burden is no solution (Boston Globe)

Development projects

Land Use/Zoning

Out-of-state

National trends

International news

  • Baghdad goes underground with $3bn metro plan (Guardian)
  • Plan rolls out new era in transit (Toronto Star)