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Streetsblog LA
Vroom! It’s Time to Talk Speed Limit Increases at City Council
When we last checked in with the City Council Transportation Committee, they decided to table a motion to increase the speed limit on Chandler Boulevard, where the limit would increase from 35 MPH to 45 MPH along the Orange Line, and Riverside Drive which would change the limit from 35 MPH to 40 MPH for its entire length between the Burbank border and Van Nuys Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. The Councilman for the area, Paul Krekorian, wanted a chance for the community to give input on the increases before the proposal went through, and now the increases are back on the agenda for tomorrow's meeting.
February 23, 2010
U.S. DOT Offers Sample Distracted Driving Bill — With a Potential Loophole
The Obama administration today offered a one-page sample proposal to crack down on texting behind the wheel, aimed at helping guide states through the process of crafting their own distracted driving legislation. (Photo: brainlink.org) The sample bill text [PDF] was prepared by the U.S. DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which invited road safety groups … Continued
February 22, 2010
LaHood Talks TIGERS and Stimulus, While Boxer Pledges Support for “30 in 10”
It was billed as a day to discuss the reauthorization of the Federal Transportation Trust Fund, it turned in to a stirring defense of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and ended with a commitment from a United States Senator to do all she could to help turn Los Angeles into a transit town within the next ten years.
February 19, 2010
Boxer, LaHood, Coming to Metro to Discuss Transportation Funding Bill
As Transportation Reformers continue to wait for the Senate to join the House of
Representatives with a sense of urgency for re-authorizing the federal
transportation spending bill; Senator Barbara Boxer and Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood will hold a "Town Hall" type meeting at Metro
Headquarters from 9:30 A.M. to 3:45 P.M. The draft agenda for the day,
available via the announcement on The Source, can be found here.
February 10, 2010
Expo Board Approves FEIR for Phase II. Off to Construction or Off to Court?
After years of debates, threats of lawsuits, contentious community meetings and even heated discussion on Streetsblog message boards; there was a feeling that yesterday's meeting of the Expo Board to debate the certification of the environmental documents for Phase II would be a momentous meeting. Predictions of a 4-3 vote either for or against certification seemed a safe bet; with the exception of the Transit Coalition's Bart Reed who predicted a "blowout," everyone I talked to thought it would be close.
February 5, 2010
Two Troubling Transportation Numbers for the Obama Administration
Yesterday brought news of two grim transportation numbers from the Obama administration: 2 and $53 million.
February 5, 2010
Parking Reformer Lowenthal Continues to Get Attacked in the Press. Let’s Help Him Out
As news continues to spread about Senate Bill 518, Senator Alan Lowenthal's legislation that passed the State Senate last week and would encourage municipalities to curb their addiction to free parking or lose out on state planning and transit grants; the reaction from the press has been almost uniformly bad. And it's not just the conservative outlets such as Fox News that are piling on. As we detailed yesterday, the Times is almost gleefully promoting the most inflammatory comments from their article. Yesterday, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Lowenthal's local paper, took an editorial stand against the legislation.
February 3, 2010
How Can Transit Backers Sway Conservatives? Oberstar Joins the Debate
In the years before partisan warfare became the norm in Washington,
transportation tended to unite both ends of the ideological spectrum.
Can rationality return to infrastructure policy debates that have
become subsumed by culture clashes between cyclists and drivers,
urbanists and suburbanites -- and, of course, Democrats and Republicans?
February 2, 2010