January 10, 2010

High-speed rail in China
(Photo courtesy NPR)

Highlights

• Longfellow Bridge Bike Lane Saved, And Sidewalks Too! (MassBike)
  In a victory for bicyclists and pedestrians, MassDOT today agreed to change its plans to remove a portion of the bike lane on the Longfellow Bridge in order to install sidewalks where none currently exist.  Instead, MassDOT opted to build the sidewalks and keep the bike lane by implementing an alternative proposal submitted by MassBike, LivableStreets Alliance, WalkBoston, and the Institute for Human Centered Design.
• A new cycle of street life in Boston (BSA)
  Shauna Gillies-Smith ASLA, LEED AP, principal of Ground Inc., and Mark Pasnik RA, LEED AP, principal of over,under, gave a recent talk co-hosted by the BSA and LivableStreets Alliance. We caught up with them afterwards.
• MBTA: Commuter Rail "Real-Time Arrival" Countdown (Commonwealth Conversations)
  The MBTA today announced several major service improvements for commuter rail customers as it exercised the final option on the contract with MBCR to operate the system through July 1, 2013, with a new contract procurement process to begin in 2012. The customer improvements begin tomorrow morning (January 7) when a new real-time passenger information system is launched on the Greenbush, Kingston/Plymouth, and Middleboro/Lakeville Lines.  For the first time ever, customers on the train platforms will be provided with ‘real time’ arrival information made possible by recently installed Global Position Satellite equipment on each train.
• NYC walk zones give businesses a leg up (NPR)
  On New Year's Eve, the ball in Times Square drops at what is for us 9 o'clock. Leaves us in limbo for three solid hours. When midnight, east coast time, does finally chime in Times Square this year, the ball's going to be looking over a somewhat reconfigured streetscape. Earlier this year New York City turned a chunk of Broadway into a pedestrian "mall." We asked WNYC's Andrea Bernstein to find out whether the increase in foot traffic has helped or hurt local businesses.
• Why America Needs Trains (Huffington Post)
  By V.P. Joe Biden -- One of the Capitol Hill newspapers estimated that I've taken more than 7,000 round trips on Amtrak over the course of my career. But the one I made on Jan. 17, 2009 was a bit different. When I got there, there were 8,000 people standing in the freezing cold. And I wasn't racing to reach the 7:46 a.m. Metroliner (later, the Acela) that I had taken thousands of times before. I was meeting up with the train that would carry President Obama and me to our inauguration.
• For cyclists -- and motorists -- it's an easy ride (The Globe and Mail)
  Experts predicted traffic doom, but barring cars from a lane on Burrard Bridge has been anything but
  By Rod Mickleburgh -- VANCOUVER -- Few can sniff pending disaster like the media, particularly if there might be pictures. So television, radio and notebook-wielding print reporters were in place early, primed to file up-to-the-minute dispatches on what would surely be the fiasco of the year. This was July 13, Day One of the great bike-lane experiment on the busy Burrard Bridge. Pundits had been predicting chaos for days. TV choppers circled overhead, searching for the first trace of long lines of impatient motorists. When suddenly, as the Monty Python skit put it, nothing happened.

"Streets"

• A new cycle of street life in Boston (BSA)
• Finding beauty in Boston's 'heroic' concrete buildings (Boston Globe)
• Longfellow Bridge Bike Lane Saved, And Sidewalks Too! (MassBike)
• Passersby bemoan a toppled row of trees (Boston Globe)
• Work on Prudential tunnel roof slated (Boston Globe)

Walking

• Brookline neighbors say Beacon Street crosswalk where man was hit was unsafe (Brookline TAB)
• Man in wheelchair hit by driver in Rosbury (WHDH)

Transit

• Judge rejects T workers effort to block benefit cuts (Boston Globe)
• Conductor on train that didn't stop in time at South Station sues railroad (Universal Hub)
• Idling trains rile a reader, but the T has rules (Boston Globe)
• When it comes to keeping workers safe on tracks, MBTA instructors are willing to go the extra mile (Boston Globe)
• Who supervises the supervisors? Three MBTA workers plead guilty of no-show jobs (Universal Hub)
• T shies away from contract with Dig firm (Boston Metro)
• MBTA: Commuter Rail "Real-Time Arrival" Countdown (Commonwealth Conversations)
• Commuter rail firm gets contract extension (Boston Globe)
• South Station rail deal collapses (Boston Globe)
  • Despite financial stresses, state should buy South Station site (Boston Globe)
• Disability advocates cite ongoing concerns at MBTA (Cambridge Chronicle)
• MBTA chief: 23 Red Line leaks patched, other leaks are 'minor' (Cambridge Chronicle)
• Green Line Extension --
  • Green Line land seizure plans fuel concern (Boston Globe)
  • Reisner: Approve Green Line environmental report (Somerville Journal)
• Starts & Stops: Controversy lingers with Big Dig firm; Candid moments on the Red Line; MBTA extends contract with MBCR (Boston Globe)
• No pants, no problem on trains today (Boston Herald)

Cars/Parking

• Mass. joins program to cut tailpipe emissions (Boston Globe)
• Letter: Cabdrivers kick wheelchair to the curb on New Year's Eve (Boston Globe)
  • Woman who says cab snubbed her meets with Menino (Boston Globe)
• Long lines in wake of new parking rules (Somerville News)
• In Somerville, new rules mean long lines for permits and more tickets (Boston Globe, Somerville Journal)

Transportation financing/Government

• Boston's public-works director resigns (Boston Globe)

Development projects

• Brand new in Boston (Boston Herald)
• Fresh ideas sought for Filene's block (Boston Globe)
• Finance questions delay parcel 9 decision (Boston Business Journal)
• Neighbors oppose church's 'gift from God' (Boston Globe)
  • Historical Commission Conditionally Approves Porter Square Condo Project (CCTV)

Out-of-state

• Billion-dollar sidewalk makeover for disabled (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Night Workers Lament Bus Cuts (New York Times)
• NYC walk zones give businesses a leg up (NPR)
• This Year's Top Transit News -- State by State (Transport Politic)
• My kingdom for a pair of boots (The Oregonian)
• Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2010 (Transport Politic)
• A year without getting into a car (San Francisco Chronicle)

National trends

• Death to Dead Ends: Will the New Suburbia Omit Cul-de-Sacs (Fast Company)
• Bills to Curb Distracted Driving Gain Momentum (New York Times)
• A Trainspotter's Guide to the Future of the World (New York Times)
• Why America Needs Trains (Huffington Post)
• Report: Tame Traffic, and More People Will Choose to Walk and Bike (Streetsblog)
• Lessons Learned from Recovery Act Show Superior Job Creation from Spending on Public Transportation (Smart Growth America)
• Rethinking Public Participation for Smart Growth (The City Fix)
• Despite Risks, Carmakers Integrate the Web With the Dash (New York Times)
• E.P.A. Seeks Stricter Rules for Pollutants Causing Smog (New York Times)

International news

• For cyclists -- and motorists -- it's an easy ride (The Globe and Mail)
• Coalition to support helmet-less bike riding within cities (Jerusalem Post)
• China shopping centre builds 'car park for women' (BBC)
• Snow Clearing (Copenhagenize.com)
• China Aims To Ride High-Speed Trains Into Future (NPR)
• How they roll when it snows in Utrecht (Bike Portland)
• Close-Up: Escalator system in Hong Kong's Mid-Levels (BBC)