Sound Transit System Access Policy
June 18, 2013
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The Sound Transit resolution establishing a system access policy for infrastructure and improvements to facilitate customer access to transit services has been added to the Resource Center best practices.
Are We There Yet? Getting Physical
June 18, 2013
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Editor's Note: In this week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? we return to the Thriving chapter and a discussion of how healthy lifestyles are encouraged with the adoption of traditional design components found in Opportunity Areas. The introduction to the Thriving chapter, "The Push For Complete Communities," in online here.
Visit the Are We There Yet? home The push for complete communities has gained real political muscle because of grave concerns about this country’s health. Take the problem of obesity, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers to be “epidemic” in the U.S., and which is linked to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, strokes and chronic illness. A 2011 report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that in the last six years the rate of adult obesity nearly doubled in 17 states, and didn’t decrease in any. The CDC reported in 2012…
Visit the Are We There Yet? home The push for complete communities has gained real political muscle because of grave concerns about this country’s health. Take the problem of obesity, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers to be “epidemic” in the U.S., and which is linked to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, strokes and chronic illness. A 2011 report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that in the last six years the rate of adult obesity nearly doubled in 17 states, and didn’t decrease in any. The CDC reported in 2012…
Scoring Airport Rail Connections To Transit
June 12, 2013
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A master's thesis that establishes a numerical ranking system for airport transit connections has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.
Are We There Yet? The Popularity Of Biking
June 11, 2013
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Editor's Note: Ultimately what is new about transportation in the 21st century, in cities as well as in suburbs, is more bicycles, a better network of sidewalks, better maps and cell phone apps that make taking transit easier, and other low-cost alternatives to driving that are easy and convenient and more conducive to improved public health. In this week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? we conclude the Moving chapter with a discussion of the increasing presence of bicycles in cities plus sidebar discussions on transit outside big cities and serving rural America.
Visit the Are We There Yet? home The result of all this advocacy and all these improvements is that more people are walking and biking. Nationally, the percentage of commuters who walk or bike has increased by 10 percent since 2000. These commuters still represent a small share — just 3 percent — of all commuters. But some regions, especially those that…
Visit the Are We There Yet? home The result of all this advocacy and all these improvements is that more people are walking and biking. Nationally, the percentage of commuters who walk or bike has increased by 10 percent since 2000. These commuters still represent a small share — just 3 percent — of all commuters. But some regions, especially those that…
Doing Well By Doing Good: Taking Risk Out Of Mortgages By Building Sustainability In
June 7, 2013
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A multifamily building where 30% of residents commute via subway will be significantly less likely to default on the mortgage than the same building located within 1,000 feet of a freeway corridor, according to the findings of a study funded by Fannie Mae.
Are We There Yet? Complete Streets
June 4, 2013
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Editor's Note: This week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? focuses on the response as state and local officials work to craft "complete streets" regulations to make streets safer and more appealing for bikes, pedestrians and transit riders.
Visit the Are We There Yet? home The increased interest in making streets safer and more appealing for bikes and pedestrians has resulted in regional and state governments adopting “complete streets” policies mandating that all transportation policies and investments must take into consideration the safety and convenience of all users of the streets — not just drivers. Complete streets are, according to the National Complete Streets Coalition, “designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities must be able to safely move along and across a complete street. Complete streets make it easy to…
Visit the Are We There Yet? home The increased interest in making streets safer and more appealing for bikes and pedestrians has resulted in regional and state governments adopting “complete streets” policies mandating that all transportation policies and investments must take into consideration the safety and convenience of all users of the streets — not just drivers. Complete streets are, according to the National Complete Streets Coalition, “designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities must be able to safely move along and across a complete street. Complete streets make it easy to…
Toolkit Focuses On Opportunities To Extend TOD In Connecticut
June 3, 2013
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A toolkit created to introduce the primary components of a TOD program that meets common Connecticut community goals has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.
CTOD Releases Report Examining Opportunities And Challenges Involved In Promoting TOD
May 29, 2013
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Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has been embraced around the country as a means to achieve sustainability goals, including reduced auto dependency and traffic congestion, as well as improved economic competitiveness. However, the process of actually implementing TOD varies based on a variety of physical, economic, and market conditions.
Are We There Yet? Mean Streets
May 28, 2013
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Editor's Note: The street is the open area between buildings and for too long the sole priority has been on facilitating the movement of automobiles in that space. As the price of this auto-centric focus becomes clear with the rising pedestrian and bicycle fatalities, cities are setting new priorities. This week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? looks at how America's streets have become dangerous by design. This excerpt also includes a discussion of the modern oxymoron "free parking."
Visit the Are We There Yet? home It wasn’t that long ago that “the street” meant the entire open area between the buildings on either side, and that pedestrians had “undifferentiated dominion over both the sidewalk and the roadbed,” writes Christopher Gray in a 2011 op-ed in the New York Times. “Sidewalks were not pedestrian cattle pens but off-limits zones for vehicles . . . it’s a question of territory, and the pedestrian…
Visit the Are We There Yet? home It wasn’t that long ago that “the street” meant the entire open area between the buildings on either side, and that pedestrians had “undifferentiated dominion over both the sidewalk and the roadbed,” writes Christopher Gray in a 2011 op-ed in the New York Times. “Sidewalks were not pedestrian cattle pens but off-limits zones for vehicles . . . it’s a question of territory, and the pedestrian…
LA Metro Wins Award for Sustainable Communities Planning Policy
May 21, 2013
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The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Countywide Sustainability Planning Policy was adopted by the Metro Board in Fall 2012, and is based on work by Metro staff and a consultant team led by ARUP, and including Center for Transit-Oriented Development partners Reconnecting America and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, as well as Fehr and Peers and Barrio Planners. We at Reconnecting America want to congratulate Metro on getting recognition for this huge step forward in sustainability planning. Separate Metro policies address sustainability in operations and construction.
