StreetNEWS (August 18)

Streetcar in Portland, Oregon
(Photo courtesy New York Times)

• Can more go wrong? (Boston Globe)
  By Yvonne Abraham -- Ten years ago the MBTA first teased us with visions of a stylish, efficient, new transpo hub at Kenmore Square. Three years ago the project got underway. Twenty months ago it was supposed to be finished. It isn't. Today, the square is still a ripped-up, car-choked maze of Jersey barriers, traffic cones, and yellow tape. Some entrances to a partially spiffified Kenmore station are open, but some are still vivisected messes of framing and machinery. Most of the glass skin has been laid on the bones of the spectacular giant arched bus station, but that emerging gem is still surrounded by wire fences and chopped-up pavement. A legion of signs directs hapless commuters through a warren of barriers.
  
  
• Going with the flow: Bad drivers, poor signage, rotaries? No problem for 'Traffic' guru (Boston Globe)
  By David Mehegan -- Everybody says Boston traffic and drivers are the worst. So here was a neat assignment for an Olde Bostonian driver: Take the out-of-town author of a new book, "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)," on a midday spin and get the real skinny on the local madness.
  Related: Traffic truisms (Boston Globe)
  
  
• Massport, Highway Department to help Turnpike, T (Boston Herald, Boston Globe, Boston Metro)
  The Massachusetts Port Authority and the Massachusetts Highway Department may be coming to the aid of the MBTA and the state’s Turnpike Authority. Following an emergency transportation summit today, both agencies have agreed to consider providing money and services to the two fellow cash-strapped transportation providers.
  
  
• Burlington, Vermont's 'downtown that works'... and what Framingham might learn (Planning Livable Communities)
  Burlington, Vt. proper has a population that’s smaller than Framingham — just 40,000 people (plus several colleges) — yet it boasts a thriving downtown and rejuvenated waterfront. We were there yesterday, on a Sunday afternoon, and the 4-block pedestrian-only retail area was packed with people. There was a special street performer festival going on, but several locals said the crowds were typical. What makes it work? What lessons could Framingham learn from Burlington’s success?
  
  
• Downtowns Across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future (New York Times)
  CINCINNATI — From his months-old French bistro, Jean-Robert de Cavel sees restored Italianate row houses against a backdrop of rundown tenements in this city’s long-struggling Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. He also sees a turnaround for the district, thanks to plans to revive a transit system that was dismantled in the 1950s: the humble streetcar line.
  
  
• A 'Relaxing' Ride, but Not for the Faint of Heart (New York Times)
  BEIJING — The idea was born of curiosity, but also a bit of conceit. Sure, an Olympic cyclist can finish a 152-mile road race in less than seven hours, but what would happen if you took away his finely tuned, aerodynamic, carbon-fiber racing bicycle and asked him to do battle on the streets of Beijing?

• Shared Streets: Feasible or Farfetched? (Bostonist)
• Burlington, Vermont's 'downtown that works'... and what Framingham might learn (Planning Livable Communities)
• City gives Cambridge Carnival green light (Cambridge Chronicle)
• The long history of Highland Road (Somerville Journal)
• Disappearing mailboxes (Boston Globe)
• From Elm Street garden, messages to the universe (Boston Globe)
• Long-closed lane is a pain on BU Bridge (Boston Globe)
• Letter: Many residents hoof it on Mass. Ave. (Boston Globe)
• Will Route 128 work ever end? In 8 years (Boston Globe)

• Letter: Seeing cycling as more than recreation (Boston Globe)
• Electric bikes selling briskly as gas prices climb (Boston Herald)

• MIT students "hack" fare system:
• MIT hacker: I tried to help MBTA (Boston Herald)
  
• MBTA board member blasts agency's ticketing system (Boston Globe)
  
• MIT students ask for end to gag order on MBTA hack (Boston Herald)
  
• MIT students must turn in CharlieCard data today (Boston Herald)
  
• Letter: Missed opportunity on MBTA security (Boston Globe)
  
• MBTA warns workers to be vigilant (Boston Globe)
  
• Green Line Extension:
• Proposed T stops reexamined by Executive Office of Transportation (Somerville News)
  
• Green line petition challenged (Somerville Journal)
  
• POLL: Where should the Green Line end? (Medford Blog)
  
• GLAM challenges Green Line petition as not 'scientific' (Medford Transcript)
  
• MGNA lobbies council to take stance on Green Line (Medford Transcript)
  
• Can more go wrong? [Kenmore Station] (Boston Globe)
  
• Connection to MBTA on the way (Boston Globe, Allston-Brighton TAB)
  
• Residents: Slam the brakes in MBTA plan (Acton Beacon)
  
• Route-bound: Increase in MBTA ridership linked to high gas prices (Worcester Telegram)
  
• Letter: Reckless expansion distorts T deficit (Boston Globe)
  
• Seats on Lowell buses are filling up (Boston Globe)
  

• Editorial: Boston's cab conundrum (Boston Globe)
  
• Letter: Create a regional license for taxis (Boston Globe)
  
• Letter: Condition of cabs an embarrassment (Boston Globe)
  
• Hydrogen-fueled pitstop (Boston Metro)
  
• Gas prices forcing fewer cars on roads, reduced traffic (Boston Globe)
  
• Drivers for elderly get creative to fight gas crisis (Somerville News)
  
• Going with the flow: Bad drivers, poor signage, rotaries? No problem for 'Traffic' guru (Boston Globe)
  
• Traffic truisms (Boston Globe)
  
• Test. And Retest. (Boston Globe)
  
• Rockers call for carpooling to concerts (Boston Globe)
  

• Editorial: Planning, before it's too late (Boston Globe)
  
• Shadow over Shreve's: Critics stall plan to redevelop gem of a site (Boston Herald, Boston Globe)
  
• Tent City eyes low-cost condos in toney project (Boston Herald)
  
• $160M N. Station project adds to area's hotel boom (Boston Herald)
  
• Residents expand on gripes about BC's plans (Allston-Brighton TAB)
  
• Sketches outline new-deal for Columbia Point (Dorchester Reporter)
  
• UMass starts design on new science building (Dorchester Reporter)
  
• Historic houses face demolition (Jamaica Plain Gazette)
  
• Assembly Square will have a waterfront park (Somerville News)
  
• Newbury Arcade to open Sept. 4 (Boston Herald)
  

• Massport, Highway Department to help Turnpike, T (Boston Herald, Boston Globe, Boston Metro)
  
• Mass Pike: Off-road grants on hold (Boston Herald)
  
• Patrick signs parks, beaches plan (Boston Globe)
  
• Struggling T gives executives a 9% pay rase (Boston Globe)
  

• San Francisco may charge drivers during peak hours (Marin Independent Journal)
  
• Congestion Costs Chicago $7.3 Billion Per Year (Streetsblog)
  
• Portland Bike Parking: Corral vs Oasis (Streetfilms)
  
• Too hip for a helmet? What if it looks like a hat? (BikePortland)
  
• D.C. rolls out bike-sharing plan to thin traffic (Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, NBC 4)
  

• Easy Riders: Cycling in NYC (New York Post)
  
• Editorial: Putting the Park in Park Avenue (New York Times)
  
• The Great American Fallacy Machine (Planetizen)
  
• Downtowns Across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future (New York Times)
  
• Space Race Update: Houston & Dallas (The Overhead Wire)
  
• Electric bikes selling briskly as gas prices climb (New York Times)
  

• A lane of one's own, an argument for bike lanes (Momentum)
• Mini Rick Shaw does rounds in Beijing (China Car Times)
  
• Olympics-Beijing says no extension of car controls post Games (Reuters)
  
• A 'Relaxing' Ride, but Not for the Faint of Heart (New York Times)