StreetNews 10/14/2008
Copenhagen traffic (Photo courtesy Treehugger)
Highlights
- Brookline bike advocates seek $1.3M in route fixes over 10
years (
TAB)
By Neal Simpson -- BROOKLINE -- Tommy Vitolo makes no excuses
for being a bicycle roadhog. “I take the whole lane, so drivers — who
may become frustrated with
me because they have no idea what I’m doing — have to safely ride
behind me a few hundred yards,” said Vitolo, a bicycle commuter who
makes the maneuver daily on Carlton Street, a popular route that some
say is too narrow for drivers to pass bicyclists without brushing them
or moving into oncoming traffic. A new $1.3 million proposal seeks to
fix the Carlton squeeze and
dozens of other dicey streets for bicyclists over the next 10 years.
- T to expand WiFi on commuter rail system (
Metro,
Herald)
By Greg St. Martin -- The MBTA is planning a broad expansion of free
WiFi access
throughout its commuter rail system, building on a pilot program
launched on the Worcester line in January. Friday afternoon, the T will
ask its board of directors to authorize
a $1.39 million contract to equip 258 coaches with wireless Internet,
which includes upgrading WiFi equipment on about 50 Worcester line
coaches. Upon approval, the T hopes to begin installation in December
on a schedule of 30 coaches a month, or one per day.
- A path for wheels and paws (
Globe)
By Glenn Yoder -- It's sunset, and the Somerville Community Path is
bustling. Parents push strollers, dogs play as their owners chat, and
runners,
rollerbladers, and bicyclists cut through the crowds. One dog strolls
across the dividing line into the path of an oncoming bike. The
bicyclist hits his brakes with about 10 feet to spare, flipping over
his handlebars, as the dog is jerked back to the right side of the
pavement.
- Editorial: There's a better solution than raising tolls (
Globe)
By Stephen J. Silveira -- THE Mass. Turnpike Authority's financial
problems should come as no
surprise. The historic imbalance between the Authority's revenues and
expenses has been well chronicled by the Transportation Finance
Commission and others. Moreover, the Authority's decision last year to
raise tolls by half the amount it stated it needed ensured that it
would have a fiscal crisis. But there's a better solution than the
proposal to increase tolls.
- Editorial: Cut the Sprawl, Cut the Warming (
York Times)
For years, while Washington slept, most of the serious work on climate
change has occurred in the states, and no state has worked harder than
California. The latest example of California’s originality is a new law
— the nation’s first — intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
curbing urban sprawl and cutting back the time people have to spend in
their automobiles.
- PBS Exposes the Joys of Transit (
The latest episode of NOW is surely the most effective takedown of
car-dependent planning ever broadcast in news magazine format. Adhering
to the familiar contours of pocketbook journalism, "Driven to Despair"
starts with a sympathetic portrayal of the Schleighs, a family who
moved to a southern California exurb seven years ago. With their
adjustable rate mortgage about to reset and gas prices already busting
the family budget, they need a way out.
"Streets"
- Somerville Ave. project moves on (
Metro)
- Street-cleaning program expanded in Boston neighborhoods (
TAB, East
Boston Sun Transcript)
- Splashes of color, creativity add flair to utility boxes (
Reporter)
- Ramping up (Jamaica
Plain Gazette)
- Tobin: Old trolley poles must go (
Gazette)
- Tobin calls for fake driveway holiday (
Gazette)
- For Waltham's Moody Street, classroom salvation? (
Globe)
- Time to start planning routes to get around BU Bridge work (
Globe)
- Double-parking triples the aggravation (
Globe)
- Boston's roads have their own night watchmen (
Globe)
- School zone zone-outs (
Globe)
Walking
- Short crossing gets a second look (
TAB)
Bicycling
- Bike Accidents Prompt New Safety Plan (
Today)
- Have kids? How you can still travel via bike (
Oregonian)
- Brookline bike advocates seek $1.3M in route fixes over 10 years (
TAB)
Transit
- T's 'grope patrol' has pervs on the run (
Herald)
- T project hinge on fed money (
Metro)
- T boom brings parking hassles (
Globe)
- Plea to MBTA: Don't take JP out of the loop (
Roxbury Transcript)
- T to expand WiFi on commuter rail system (
Metro,
Herald)
- MBTA hopes to raise $350 million with sale of bonds (
Globe)
- T votes to raise parking fee by $2 (
Globe,
Herald)
- Rail plan offers chance to get back on track (
Globe)
- Editorial: The T's unchecked expansion and its consequences (
Globe)
- Unscrambling transit plans (
Globe)
Cars/Parking
- Three wheelin' (
Globe)
Parks
- A moveable feat (
Minuteman) - Union Park fence restoration begins (
End News)
- DCR begins reconstruction of Magazine Beach fields (
Chronicle)
- Friends group has big plans for pond (
Gazette)
- If a tree falls in JP... (
Gazette)
- A path for wheels and paws (
Globe)
Development projects
- Neighbors help Lesley design its new dorms (
Globe)
- The boil on Boylston Street (
Globe)
- Residents voice staunch resistance to new Pru towers (
- Questions loom over impact of Copley Tower (
End News)
- Up in the air! It's the city's development future (
News)
Transportation financing/Government
- Police protesters disrupt work site (
Herald)
- Highway boss throws a flag (
Herald)
- Editorial: There's a better solution than raising tolls (
Globe)
- Pike sued for Fast Lane, E-ZPass toll differences (
Globe)
- Civilians need not apply as flaggers (
Herald)
- Pike patrol strives to collect more in fees (
Globe)
Out-of-state
- City may 'blaze a trail' by building near transit (
Francisco Examiner)
- Traffic Cure Worsens the Pain (
Post)
- Editorial: Cut the Sprawl, Cut the Warming (
York Times)
- A smarter way to park gets started (
Villager)
- McCain Pledge Sought For Dulles Rail Project (
Post)
- Plans for bike transit centers are presented (
News)
- Jan Gehl Reflects on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf (
- California Finalizes High-Speed Train Route (
- Transit study says commuter bus lane best I-93 [NH] (
Herald)
National trends
- Two-Wheeled Act (
Magazine)
- Federal Transportation Spending: Pork or Priority? (
Gazette)
- Congress Passes Commuter Act (
Retailer,
News)
- Issues: Infrastructure: Approach with Caution (
Politics)
- Global auto market may "collapse" in 2009: J.D.Power (
- U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar and future transit funding (
- The Human Drama of the Railways (
We Drive)
- PBS Exposes the Joys of Transit (
International news
- Thoroughfare closes to cars [Copenhagen] (
- Copenhagen Cyclists Take Over Main City Thoroughfare (
- Sustainable Transport: Paris (
Place in the Urban Space)