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January 19, 2010

Cyclist in Copenhagen
A railing for cyclists at an intersection in Copenhagen
(Photo courtesy Copenhagenize.com)

Highlights

  • Central Square [Cambridge] Customer Intercept Survey (City Retail)
    From the 2009 Central Square Customer Intercept Survey: 52% surveyed came to Central Square walking, 22% via subway and only 11% via car (remainder bus, bike and ride-share); Respondents asserted that access to public transportation was more important than availability of parking (85% said that public transportation is “very important” while 45% said parking was “not very important”); Only 5% surveyed were students in Cambridge
  • Newton groups to discuss making city safe for riding bikes to school (Boston Globe)
    By Jason Woods -- Bike advocates in Newton are joining with parent groups to examine how cycling to school can be made safer for students attending Newton South High and two nearby middle schools. A community meeting slated for Thursday will focus on biking to Newton South and the Brown and Oak Hill middle schools, as well as take a wider look at initiatives aimed at improving bicycle safety around the city, according to the event’s organizers.
  • Somerville's newest T stop gets a second entrance (Somerville Journal, Boston Globe)
    By Meghann Ackermann -- The Orange Line stop at Assembly Square will have two headhouses, according to the MBTA's latest design plans for the project. Thanks to an extra $10 million in state Highway Flex Funding, a second entrance, which residents and city officials have been lobbying for since last June's first design meeting, could be added. The rest of the project is being funded with $25 million from the MBTA and $15 million from Federal Realty Investment Trust, the group developing Assembly Square, and IKEA.
  • Los Angeles doctor gets 5 years for injuring cyclists (Los Angeles Times)
    The judge expresses doubt about Christopher Thompson's remorse over braking in front of two riders and calls on cyclists and drivers to respect each other.
    By Jack Leonard -- A doctor convicted of assaulting two cyclists in Brentwood by driving in front of them and slamming on his brakes was sentenced today to five years in prison, ending a case a judge described as a wake-up call about tensions between cyclists and motorists on Los Angeles' streets. Wearing dark blue jail scrubs, Christopher Thompson wept after offering a tearful apology to the injured riders. [...] But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott T. Millington expressed doubts about the physician's remorse and found that the victims were particularly vulnerable because they were on bicycles.
  • U.S. government ditches [public] transportation funding limits (Reuters, Streetsblog DC, FTA, USDOT)
    The Obama administration is broadening the standards for how the U.S. government funds public transportation projects in order to disburse money quickly and improve the environment. [...] In a speech to the Transportation Research Board, LaHood promoted the idea of "livability," or combining transportation options with urban development plans to make it easier for people to move through their towns while lessening the impact on the environment.
  • U.S. car ownership shifts into reverse (The Globe and Mail)
    By Martin Mittelstaedt -- Americans' infatuation with their cars has endured through booms and busts, but last year something rare happened in the United States: The number of automobiles actually fell. The size of the U.S. car fleet dropped by a hefty four million vehicles to 246 million, the only large decline since the U.S. Department of Transportation began modern recordkeeping in 1960. Americans bought only 10 million cars – and sent 14 million to the scrapyard.

"Streets"

Walking

Bicycling

Transit

Cars/Parking

Transportation financing/Government

Parks

Development projects

Land Use/Planning

  • Somerville's Somervision finishes strong (Somerville News)
  • Administration files zoning reform bill (MMA)

Out-of-state

  • Green Box Biking and Safety: It's All in Our Heads (TreeHugger)
  • Suit: Ill. Transit Funding Violates Civil Rights (New York Times, Transport Politic)
  • Los Angeles doctor gets 5 years for injuring cyclists (Los Angeles Times)
  • The 12-year struggle to tame the Morrison Bridge (BikePortland)
  • A Future That Doesn't Guzzle (New York Times)
  • Task force says Ohio urban centers should have extra incentives to attract, keep businesses and residents (The Plain Dealer)
  • HSR Doesn't Have To Be Strange and Unfamiliar (CA HSR Blog)
  • New York transport authority wasteful, inefficient: chief (Reuters)
  • MTA, DOT Sketch Out East Side Plans: Separated Lanes for Bikes, Not Buses (Streetsblog)

National trends

International news