StreetNews 10/27/2008
Bike wash in Muenster, Germany (Photo courtesy Streetsblog)
Highlights
- Engineers gather public input for Mass Ave project (
Advocate)
By Andy Metzger -- ARLINGTON -- It may be a while before you
see any real change to Massachusetts
Avenue, but on Thursday night community members took the first steps in
creating a new, better thoroughfare. At Town Hall Thursday, East
Arlington business owners, bicycling
advocates and residents met with town-hired consultants charged with
creating a plan for renovating East Arlington’s main drag, and making
it safer.
- Sustainable neighborhood development must be pedestrian
centered [Dudley Square] (
Blog)
Over the course of a month this summer, three pedestrians were
struck
and injured by cars along Washington Street between Dudley Square and
Melnea Cass Blvd. These tragedies are common and indicative of the
unsafe conditions that traffic congestion creates in Dudley Square.
Pedestrians from nearby parks, schools, stores, and housing must
contend with cars and buses, often speeding down Ruggles Street,
Washington Street and Shawmut Avenue
- Park transportation plan shapes up (
Dorchester Reporter)
By John Ruch -- PARKSIDE -- A rough draft of the city’s
Transportation and Access Study
for Franklin Park was presented to an audience of about 40 people last
week at the park’s Golf Clubhouse after months of public planning. The
study by Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates is complicated and
detail-heavy. Its discussion of park entrances alone identifies 24
separate spots. At the same time, the study has very simple, basic
themes for
common-sense improvements to almost all areas of the 500-acre park.
- Transforming NYC Streets: A Conversation with Janette
Sadik-Khan (
Since taking over as New York City's Commissioner of the
Department of Transportation in mid-2007, Janette Sadik-Khan has taken
on the challenge of making NYC streets more bike & pedestrian
friendly while emphasizing livable streets and re-orienting them to
accommodate all modes. She and her staff have done it quickly with
innovative concepts, thinking outside the box and drawing on successful
street designs from around the world to come up with a NYC model that
is already changing the way our city feels.
- Blueprint America: America in Gridlock (
The breakdown of the levees in New Orleans and the collapse of
the
bridge in Minneapolis are well-known, but America’s infrastructure
problems do not end in Louisiana and Minnesota. NewsHour
Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez travels to every region of the country
for an eye-opening series focusing not only on the neglect and
underfunding of America’s decaying infrastructure, but on solutions for
and new thinking about these pervasive problems. (
includes talks about the Big Dig and Green Line Extension.)
- With Free Bikes, Challenging Car Culture on Campus (
York Times)
By Katie Zezima -- BIDDEFORD, Me. -- When Kylie Galliani
started at the University of New
England in August, she was given a key to her dorm, a class schedule
and something more unusual: a $480 bicycle. “I was like, ‘A free bike,
no catch?’ ” Ms. Galliani, 17, a
freshman from Fort Bragg, Calif., asked. “It’s really an ideal way to
get around the campus.” University administrators and students
nationwide are increasingly feeling that way too.
"Streets"
- Hearing on traffic as bridge sets to close (
Metro,
Newspapers) - Officials weigh rotary [Concord] (
Beacon) - City pushes regulations for signs at Downtown Crossing (
Herald) - City's retail vision requires changing a youth hangout (
Globe) - Brookline working to catch up on traffic fixes (
TAB) - Uncorking Route 2 bottlenecks (
Globe) - Vigilante anti-taggers take matters into their own hands (
Newspapers) - Engineers gather public input for Mass Ave project (
Advocate) - Report from Boston: Streetfilm vs "streetfilm" (
- Mixed signals at a tricky intersection (
Globe)
Walking
- Sustainable neighborhood development must be pedestrian centered
[Dudley Square] (
Blog)
- City pedals ahead with biking efforts (
TAB)
Bicycling
- Tour de Somerville (
News)
Transit
- Letter: T rider's rudeness (
Globe)
- Proposed Silver Line bus tunnel expensive and unnecessary (
Blog)
- Silver Line project to offset Big Dig effects (
Beacon)
- Boise Wants Single Big On Boston Trains (
Guardian)
- New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Line Scoping Hearings Announced (
- Early risers can hop on new Worcester train trips (
Herald) - Mini-trailer ad in T tunnel caught up in time warp (
Globe) - More Wi-Fi on the rails (
Globe)
Parks
- City park landmark may be revamped (
Free Press)
- Park transportation plan shapes up (
Dorchester Reporter)
- Letter: Chinatown goals (
Globe)
Development projects
- Harvard Profs Weigh in on Charlesview Design (
Crimson)
- Shreve building one step close to being demolished (
- Suffolk pitches 'jewel box' for Somerset Street; idea might not
shine for BHCA (Beacon
Hill Times)
- The last empty lot (
Globe)
- Zoning board caught in ethics gaffe (
News)
- Neighbors Don't Want Giant Gov't Center Garage Project (
and Tradesman)
- Harvard proposed changes to Allston plans (
TAB, Harvard
Crimson)
- Towers proposed for Bulfinch Triangle plot (
Real Estate Blog)
- Vote on Porter Square hotel postponed (
Chronicle)
- Fine dining in substation goal of 3 would-be developers (
Gazette)
- Editorial: Common goals for the common good in Boston (
Globe) - Taking development in hand (
Globe)
Land Use/Zoning
- Updates to Union Square rezoning plans announced (
News)
Transportation financing/Government
- Two state workers indicted in connection with Longfellow trim
theft (
Chronicle)
- Transportation planning meeting coming up in Allston (
TAB)
- T to delay bond offer until after election (
Globe)
- Turnpike Authority postpones its meeting as debt woes mount (
Globe)
- Problem Solving vs Solving Problems (
Writes)
Out-of-state
- Park Slope to city: Change thruways to two-ways (
Paper)
- Proposition T in Santa Monica is my Candidate for Worst Planning
Idea of the Year (
LA)
- New way of life needed to run high-speed rail (
Francisco Chronicle)
- Getting It Wrong in Montgomery County (
We Drive)
- Rubbing Elbows on a Crowded Bus in Alaska (
- Vision Zero NYC: Ending the Body Count (
- Transforming NYC Streets: A Conversation with Janette Sadik-Khan (
- Plentry of Fords pay to use fast lane (
Tribune)
- Report Finds Government Top Violate on Parking (
York Times)
- Streetfilms: Learning Bike Safety in the Schoolyard (
National trends
- With Free Bikes, Challenging Car Culture on Campus (
York Times)
- The Gas Price/Traffic Congestion Nexus (
We Drive)
- The Case for Active Transportation, by the Numbers (
- Drivers burned less rubber in August (
Globe)
- Blueprint America: America in Gridlock (
International news
- Stupidity blamed for road deaths (
Morning Herald)
- Cyclists say bike lanes make sidewalks safer [Toronto] (
- Park, Ride, and Wash in Fahrradfreudliche Muenster (