Within the big pro-transit tent, positions on Buy America policies — which compel agencies to purchase domestically-made materials — vary wildly. But from the perspective of providing more rail service to more people, these restrictions are unequivocally bad news. How bad? Network blog Systemic Failure recently looked at how the Federal Railroad Administration is about to spend [...]
The Iowa Department of Transport has just completed the Chicago to Omaha Regional Passenger Rail System Planning Study, to select its preferred alignment for a detailed Environmental Impact Report. There were five alignments in the study, based on the five historical passenger rail services between Chicago and Omaha. From north to south, these are: the [...]
The Reason Foundation’s “research” on high-speed rail is pretty predictable. We know what this oil industry-backed think tank is going to say before they’ve said it: Ridership will be lower than expected; costs will be higher. What’s more interesting than the conclusions, to us anyway, is the methodological contortion needed to draw them. So with [...]
There’s a new sheriff in Washington, at least when it comes to parking. New DC parking czar Angelo Rao has all the trappings of a real reformer, according to John Hendel at TBD on Foot, and his selection by Mayor Vince Gray could be telling. For a few years now, Washington has taken some important [...]
In the Highways-Industrial complex that defines Wisconsin state planning and transportation spending, rail projects are squeezed to death over an alleged lack of financing, but highway expansion – – called ‘investment’ – – is never subjected to the same dollar due-diligence. Here is a perfect example: In our broke state, the same Team Walker officials [...]
To freeway or not to freeway? That’s been the question facing Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. Where at one time this would have been an open-and-shut case of “just build it,” Dallas’s Trinity Parkway toll road saga is already full of interesting twists and turns. Earlier this week, Rawlings sought public opinion on the project through [...]
David Darlington recently wrote an article in Bicycling magazine, The Fight to Let Kids Ride to School. Darlington was the featured guest on the show Talk of the Nation, What’s Lost When Kids Don’t Ride Bikes to School. Several commenters on the program lament the fact that they live close to school but it’s not [...]
David Darlington recently wrote an article in Bicycling magazine, The Fight to Let Kids Ride to School. Darlington was the featured guest on the show Talk of the Nation, What’s Lost When Kids Don’t Ride Bikes to School. Several commenters on the program lament the fact that they live close to school but it’s not [...]
If there’s one thing we can say about the way transit riders and cyclists are portrayed on television and in the movies, it’s that there’s definitely room for improvement. Car-free people somehow become either the 40-year-old virgin (Hollywood will never live down that one) or conspicuously absent — erased from consciousness. Adonia Lugo at Network [...]
This May, millions of Americans will participate in National Bike Month, showcasing the widespread desire to use bicycles as a healthy, affordable and efficient form of transportation. Sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists and supported by the Sierra Club, the month will feature more than 450 events nationwide, highlighting the popularity of bicycling and [...]
A growing number of communities across the country now have complete streets policies — somewhere in the neighborhood of 280, if you want to get specific. But now comes the hard part: implementing those policies on real streets. Complete streets policies represent a complete 180 from the way transportation planning has been done in 99 [...]
It was a banner week last week for sustainable transportation advocates in New Jersey. Both Essex and Mercer Counties approved Complete Streets policies joining Monmouth County to become the second and third counties in New Jersey to adopt a Complete Streets policy. So far, New Jersey boasts 26 municipalities and 3 counties with Complete Streets policies, as [...]
In all the havoc this latest recession has unleashed upon Detroit, a few refrains have been echoed repeatedly: recapture the city’s entrepreneurial spirit, embrace the green economy, and reduce dependency on the auto industry. There’s no better example of Detroit taking those recommendations to heart than Detroit Bikes. Todd Scott at M-Bike.org has this report: They [...]
