News: Baltimore Transit Hub, Speeding Calif. HSR, WBTA Debt, Research Declining Suburbs, Shrinking Cities, Students Downtown Eugene
| Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news. |
| TRANSPORT |
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Baltimore: City Could Have a True Transit Hub Baltimore Sun The corner of Howard and Lombard streets has the potential to be the pulse point of a healthier city and region. This is where the proposed Red Line and the existing Light Rail line will directly connect, addressing two long-standing deficiencies with mass transit in this city:.. Read On |
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National: Retailers Applaud GOP Highway Bill The Hill The proposed federal highway bill released this week by Republican leaders in the House has been met with skepticism by many lobbying groups, but it has drawn praise from the National Retail Federation... Read On |
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California: Brown to Speed HSR Project to Save It? Sacramento Bee Gov. Jerry Brown is scaling back the state's highly controversial bullet train project to keep it alive. Just three months ago, his administration unveiled - with great fanfare - a revised "business plan" for building the north-south bullet train system to answer the embryonic project's many critics... Read On |
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Boston: MBTA Facing Large Debt Worcester Telegram & Gazette State Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey yesterday was unable to explain why the MBTA is facing massive balloon payments on its debt this year and again in three years that are driving proposals for dramatic fare increases and service cuts to transit systems statewide. .. Read On |
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National: GOP to Link Energy, Transport Bills Wall Street Journal (Paywall) A House committee Wednesday passed three measures to boost domestic energy output, and Republicans prepared to attach them to a $260 billion transportation package, the latest sign energy policy is shaping up as an election-year battleground... Read On |
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National: DOT Secretary Touts Atlanta Streetcar Project Washington Post Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed kicked off the construction of the city's $94 million streetcar project, which they say will be a catalyst for jobs and economic development and a boon for the downtown tourism district... Read On |
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Atlanta: Streetcar Work Begins Atlanta Journal Constitution The city of Atlanta launched work on a new, 12-stop downtown streetcar line Wednesday - and officials disclosed that the project's estimated price tag has risen by more than $12 million. Much of that increase is paid for by outside grants... Read On |
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New Jersey: Progress Resumes on Second PATCO Line Philadelphia Inquirer After a two-year delay, a study of a proposed commuter rail line between Glassboro and Camden is moving again - with the same contractor and about the same price tag as before... Read On |
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Boston: Green Line Extension Moves Forward Boston Globe (via @ttpolitic) The long-awaited Green Line Extension is on track to move ahead, with the final design of the $1.1 billion public transit project due to be completed in March... Read On |
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National: Amtrak Privitization Off Table for Now Asbury Park Press (via @metrolibrary) The GOP idea of privatizing the Northeast Corridor is off the table - for now. Florida Rep. John Mica, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said Wednesday he excluded a privatization proposal he has long championed from a five-year, $260 billion surface transportation bill .. Read On |
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National: Traffic Jam Economics New York Times Economix (via @rpuentes) Sometimes, trying to get someplace faster, we end up slowing one another down. Traffic jams try our patience, waste our time and worsen the quality of our air... Read On |
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DC: Bikeshare Looks to the Burbs Washington Post The sturdy red bikes that arrived in the District and Arlington County as a curiosity and now blend into the urban landscape will swarm into suburbia this year... Read On |
| URBANISM/HOUSING |
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Research: Declining Suburbs in Europe & Latin America International Journal of Urban & Regional Research Suburban shrinkage, understood as a degenerative urban process stemming from the demise of the Fordist mode of urbanism, is generally manifested in a decline in population, industry and employment... Read On |
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Research: Shrinking Cities Challenges of Globalization International Journal of Urban & Regional Research Urban shrinkage is not a new phenomenon. It has been documented in a large literature analyzing the social and economic issues that have led to population flight, resulting, in the worse cases, in the eventual abandonment of blocks of housing and neighbourhoods... Read On |
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Research: LEED and Children's Physical Activity Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Activity Interest is growing in physical activity-friendly community designs, but few tests exist of communities explicitly designed to be walkable... Read On |
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Eugene: Students Downtown Would Benefit City Eugene Register Guard With business slow in their part of downtown Eugene, barbers Larry Owens and Jolan Hill on Tuesday afternoon sat in the chairs meant for customers, waiting for the next one to walk through the door... Read On |
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International: Planning for Crowd Dynamics The Economist (via Streetsblog SF) FOR years urban planners have emphasised the needs of the motorist over those of the pedestrian. Thanks partly to greenery, partly to a greater understanding of how pedestrians behave, and partly to concerns about social cohesion, priorities are changing... Read On |
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Austin: 1st Low Income Project Planned for Downtown Austin American Statesman An Austin nonprofit plans to build the first downtown development in decades to house low-income residents, a population often priced out of apartment and condo towers downtown... Read On |
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National: Wastewater for Drinking A Tough Sell National Geographic Water filtration technology has advanced to the point where wastewater can be rendered safe for drinking, according to a new report, but legislative and psychological hurdles will need to be overcome before widespread adoption can happen... Read On |
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International: China's Rural Problem w/o Solution Reuters Chinese farmer Chen Shusheng's biggest worry is his son, whose scholarly glasses, pale skin and slim blue jeans contrast sharply with the older man's thick, dirt-caked hands, uneven teeth and bulky home-made clothes... Read On |
