Month: March 2008

In a first for a big east coast city, Washington, DC, is putting the ideas of celebrated parking reformer Don Shoup to work. Spurred by concerns over game day traffic surges caused by the opening of a new baseball stadium, the city council recently created two performance parking pilot project zones. The most important provision of the legislation is that 75 percent of the meter revenue, after initial expenses and maintenance, "Shall be used solely for the purpose of non-automobile transportation improvements in that pilot zone." This includes a menu of transit, bicycling and pedestrian improvements including sidewalk widenings, traffic calming, separated bikeways and real-time information signs for buses and trains.

Mid-City activist Charles Tarlow wrote a stirring, grass roots call to arms in this week's City Watch. Unfortunately, Tarlow's piece rails against congestion pricing and trots out some tired arguments that have been repeatedly debunked. It wraps opposition to one of the most environmentally friendly transportation planning choices in the flag, arguing that one of the most progressive ways to manage traffic and collect some funds to reinvest in alternative transportation is un-American.

Oil Tax Blocked in CA Senate (Times) L.A. Has Worst Roads in Country (Fox 11, KNBC, LAist) Bridge Reconstruction Underfunded in Ventura (Ventura County Star) Bus from Ventura to Santa Barbara a Popular Commute (Ventura County Star) High Speed Rail and PPP’s: A Shotgun Wedding? (Progress Report) Lincoln Heights Features “Day of Bicycle” (Curbed.LA)

 

Watch out LADOT and your Watch the Road Campaign. Here comes Transport for London with a new bike safety advert called, Do the Test.

Downtown Housing ‘Boom’ Stalling Out (Times) Mayor to managers: Prepare for layoffs (Daily News) USC Basketball Star Cruises Campus on Bike, Doesn’t Own Car (Daily News) In-N-Out Traffic Lines Destroying Other Businesses (Times) Monorail History Lesson in Burbank (Daily News) CNN Looks at Car of the Future (CNN) EPA Adopts Slightly Stricter Smog Standards (NYT, … Continued

Metro released its Long Term Transportation Plan earlier today outlining the plans for new roadways, transit projects, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements planned for the next 30 years. The $152 billion dollar project is as much a call to action as it is a vision. Metro CEO Roger Snobel writes in Metro's press release, "With Sacramento and Washington caught in a budget squeeze, we have to come up with new revenue on the local level if we are to implement this plan."