Today’s Headlines

By Damien Newton
Jun 23, 2009

Nine Dead in DC Metro Crash (NYT, Times, News)
Read Oberstar’s Transportation Bill Yourself (DC Streetsblog)
City Staff Confused at Caltrans’ Conference on Pedestrian Planning (City Watch)
Caltrans’ State Director Take’s Leahy’s Old Job at OCTA (LA Now, Sac Bee)
LA Is Full of Dumb Bike Lanes, Thank Goodness for the Bike Plan (LA Examiner)
Long Beach Allocates $1.5 Million for Bike Trail Along Pacific Electric Trail (Press Telegram)
Heartbreaking Pictures of Long Gone American Train Stations (Infrastructurist)
Savannah Cops: Ped Injury Justifies Jaywalking Crackdown (Sustain Savannah via Streetsblog.net)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

STREETSBLOG SF

Gov’s Report to Caltrans: Get Out of the Way of Protected Bike Lanes

By Aaron Bialick | Feb 4, 2014

Caltrans needs to stop focusing so much on moving cars and let cities build safer street designs with protected bike lanes, says a new report commissioned by Governor Jerry Brown and CA Transportation Secretary Brian Kelly. The report [PDF] calls out Caltrans’ “archaic” practices when it comes to imposing outdated, automobile-centric design standards on city streets in California, and says […]

STREETSBLOG SF

How Quickly Will Caltrans Embrace Complete Streets Policies?

By Matthew Roth | Mar 30, 2010

Photo: Thomas Hawk Though it may seem esoteric, one of the biggest impediments to designing streets for people is the over-reliance on design standards that have long privileged movement of vehicles over any other consideration on the streets. That’s why advocates cheered when U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood published a policy paper recently that, at […]

Disability Activists Sue Caltrans for Negelcting Crosswalks and Sidewalks

By Damien Newton | Sep 17, 2009

While cracked sidewalks can be found throughout the city, this one was found in Westwood. Photo: Donald Shoup A coalition of activists for seniors and the disabled went to federal court to try and force Caltrans to meet federal safety standards for sidewalk, intersection and other pedestrian amenities. The group charges that when doing road […]

City Council Takes Aim at CALTRANS Safe Routes to Schools

By Damien Newton | Nov 6, 2008

(Editor’s note: I sat on the Caltrans’ Safe Routes to School Committee for District 7 during the last cycle. Any opinions expressed in this piece are mine and not necessarily the opinions of Caltrans staff or other committee members.) A resolution on today’s City Council Transportation Committee Agenda expresses their frustration with the amount of […]

CALTRANS Thinking of Congestion Pricing on Highways

By Damien Newton | Apr 9, 2008

Just a day after Democrats in New York decided that New York City traffic conditions are just fine and congestion pricing isn’t needed there, alert LA Streetsblog reader Radical Transportation Engineer sends news that CALTRANS is looking for consultants to help study how best to convert carpool lanes into High Occupancy Toll lanes. CALTRANS’ request […]

STREETSBLOG SF

New Bill Could Free CA Planners to Use More Innovative Bikeway Designs

By Aaron Bialick | Jan 9, 2012

Physically protected bikeways have been implemented with great success in cities like New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC. But in California, where such facilities are still considered “experimental” by Caltrans, outdated state standards make it difficult for transportation planners to implement them. That could change under a state bill called AB 819, which would give […]