First the Columbia River Crossing sponsors talked of an 'iconic' bridge as a gateway between the two states - we got a concrete slab.
A world-class bikeway was envisioned - instead the design looks like a dank cave.
Now the Trib reports that Hayden Island residents who were once told that [...]
Chandra Brown of United Streetcar (a subsidiary of Oregon Iron Works) is one of 100 business people who will be at President Obama's December jobs summit. Here's the press release from Congressman Blumenaur:
Blumenauer Announces United Streetcar President Chandra Brown to Join President Obama at Jobs Summit
Portland, OR -Congressman Blumenauer (D-Ore) [...]
The coalition of folks opposing the CRC hope to make a big public showing at the next Project Sponsors Council meeting on December 4th (9:30AM at ODOT in Old Town).
This is the meeting where the Sponsors will review the proposed cost reductions. The central message for the activists will be [...]
Last week, in a post about bike funding, I alluded to a proposal to allow more bike facilities to be funded as part of transit projects. Now Congressman Blumenaur's office is urging advocates to comment on the proposal:
Dear Transit, Bicycle, and Pedestrian Friends and Colleagues,
As Jonathan Maus posted in the [...]
Metro is reporting that TPAC (Transportation Policy Alternatives Committee - the technocrats) had a discussion about the impacts of climate change policy on the Regional Transportation Plan, but the momentum still appears to be for the status quo on the project list:
Other TPAC members, while acknowledging the importance and [...]Via the Streetsblog network.
The Dutch cabinet has agreed to reduce vehicle ownership taxes and impose a new tax based on kilometers driven (complete with GPS tracking - privacy protections are promised). The new tax will be higher during peak driving hours.
The government is predicting reductions in both emissions and [...]
This complaint off the Google Transit e-mail list today:
The walk score of the homes in Great Neck are artificially low in www.zillow.com which is a home valuation web sitedue to the fact that the MTA or the LIRR trains do not provide them with the transit data.
This has depressed [...]
Streetfilms has a great video with William Lind, a conservative transit advocate, about how to talk about transit in terms that conservatives will appreciate.
I would also note that the late Paul Weyrich, who co-founded the Heritage Foundation, was a trail transit advocate, evening making that point while serving [...]
Sidewalk projects on Barbur, 82nd and NE Glisan using Federal stimulus funding are approaching construction.
[...]As the "Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030" moves toward City Council adoption, the question that moves front and center is "how do we pay for it?"
The estimated price tag runs into hundreds of millions of dollars over 20 years - but is still small in comparison to our other transportation [...]
NE Community Forum to be held Saturday, November 21st:
Impacts of the Columbia River Crossing (CRC)
On Saturday, November 21st the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods and the Sustainability Clinic at Willamette University College of Law will be hosting a Columbia River Crossing Impact Forum. Students of [...]
Portland State University
Center for Transportation Studies
Fall 2009 Transportation Seminar Series
Speaker: Tony Rufolo, PSU
Topic: Adventures in DC: Getting Washington Perspectives on Transportation Research, Finance, and Policy
When: Friday, Nov 20, 2009, 12:00 - 1:00pm
Where: PSU Urban Center Building, SW 6th and Mill, Room 204
OPB is quoting Mayor Sam Adams threatening to vote no on the Regional Transportation Plan unless we can get project-by-project analysis of climate change impacts (against a context of an RTP that predicts a 50% increase in GHG emissions by 2035).
Metro is taking the position that such analysis would [...]
CRC staff is out shopping the new slimmer version of the Columbia River Crossing, now with only 10 lanes (no word on the exact lane configuration, but apparently it can be re-striped to 12 lanes later) and a few less interchanges - and an uglier design across Hayden Island.
Here's' [...]
The not-to-be-missed annual appearance of Gordon Price at the PBOT/PSU Traffic and Transportation class. Open to the public:
On Thursday 11/19, Gordon Price will give a free presentation on the effective integration of transportation in high-density environments with an emphasis on land use. If you've seen Price speak before, fear not!' [...]
I jotted down some of the comments I made at the last Planning Commission hearing about the relative costs of the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030, and the same point is also being discussed at BikePortland and the plan will be featured on Think Out Loud on [...]
7th Annual Region X Student Transportation Conference
On Friday, November 13th, the University of Oregon will be hosting the 7th Annual Region X Student Transportation Conference. Students from transportation-related programs in Northwestern universities are invited to attend to present their work and hear about what other students are doing in the [...]
Updated 11/15/09:
For those who can't attend in person, the meeting with be streamed.
Original Post 11/12/09:
The House Interim Transportation Committee is meeting on November 19th and will discuss the Columbia River Crossing and High-Speed Rail among other issues.
The good folks at walk score have added transit access as one of the scoring criteria - at least in those cites like Portland that have Google Transit feeds.
I'm happy to report that being 0.16 miles from the Streetcar line has driven my walk score up to 98 (aka' [...]
The good folks who bring you the "Safer Routes to School" program in Portland are also sponsoring this panel:
Monday, NOV 16TH, 10:30 AM - Noon
Panel Discussion: Promoting Active Transportation at School - Successes and Lessons Learned
Location: NORTH PORTLAND LIBRARY BRANCH (512 N Killingsworth St)
Develop new ideas for successful active [...]
Rob Zako posted the message below to the OTRAN list and with his permission I'm cross-posting it here.
-- Chris
This afternoon, I attended a portion of the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) meeting, in particular, the agenda item dealing with progress on updating the Eugene-Springfield-Coburg regional' [...]
But we can do better!
The following is from the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition:
FOR RELEASE
MONDAY, NOV. 9, 2009
CONTACT:
Stephanie Routh
Willamette Pedestrian Coalition
steph@wpcwalks.org
Portland ranked 44 in Nation for Preventable Pedestrian Deaths, Report Shows
Willamette Pedestrian Coalition Urges Members of Congress to Support Increased Focus on Pedestrian Safety in Upcoming [...]
Portland State University
Center for Transportation Studies
Fall 2009 Transportation Seminar Series
Speaker: Joan Walker, UC Berkeley
Topic: The Power and Value of 'Green' in Promoting Sustainable Travel Behaviors
When: Friday, Nov 13, 2009, 12:00 - 1:00pm
Where: PSU Urban Center Building, SW 6th and Mill, Room 204
[...]
The Trib reports that according to "sources who declined to be identified" project staff are briefing local leaders on alternatives to trim the cost of the Columbia River Crossing project.
I thought we were supposed to have public process for this sort of thing? How about going back and doing [...]
The election of a new mayor in Vancouver, one who ran on the platform of a slimmed-down Columbia River Crossing that would not require tolls for funding, should be an opportunity to re-examine the fundamentals of the project.
The Oregonian editorial board is begging the presumed Mayor-elect to "shoulder the" [...]
Wearing my Planning Commissioner hat, I blogged about land use connections and build-out strategies for the plan.
[...]Thanks to the alert reader who forwarded this on:
Straub Hall (behind the Erb Memorial Student Union), Room 146 - Session III, Saturday, November 7th, 3:00pm to 4:15pm
The transportation network in the United States consists of a 20th Century system in a 21st century world. The costs of congestion hamper our [...]
Update: 11/20/09
The slides are now online.
Original Post: 11/5/09
I'm attending the Congress for New Urbanism Transportation Summit here in Portland this week (where I've had the opportunity to meet several other transportation bloggers!).
For me the highlight presentation on opening day on Wednesday was about the safety affects of different street [...]
Listen to the show (mp3, 28.2MB)
Elly and Sara talk with members of the Bike Temple and Bike Farm, two Portland-based community resource centers on a mission to support your spiritual and earthly bike needs.
[Editor's note: I have replaced the audio file with a different version with' [...]
A piece at Human Transit underscores the question: if TriMet drops frequency on it's "Frequent Service" routes to 17 minutes (the standard TriMet had defined was 15 minutes) are they still frequent?
[...]Monday's Oregonian points out that the Vancouver mayoral election is the not the definitive word on tolling for the Columbia River Crossing. In fact, tolling will be decided in the state capitols, by the Washington Legislature and the Oregon Transportation Commission.
In fact, although the article does not go into [...]
Streetsblog NY does a great job of documenting the fact that the Federal Government's investment in electric vehicles in six months is greater than the entire annual budget of the Federal Transit Administration.
And we won't even go near the GM bailout.
' [...]
