Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

December 15, 2008

Stroget in Copenhagen
Stroget in Copenhagen
(Photo courtesy flickr user PDXdj)
 

Highlights

Stroget in Copenhagen
Stroget in Copenhagen
(Photo courtesy flickr user PDXdj)
 

Highlights

  • BREAKING NEWS
    Cohen out as state transportation secretary (Boston Globe, Boston Herald)
    By Noah Bierman and Frank Phillips -- Governor Deval Patrick's top transportation advisor told the Globe today that he is resigning, adding a new level of uncertainty to the administration's increasingly high-profile effort to repair the state's crumbling road and public transit system Bernard Cohen, the state transportation secretary, insisted he was not being pushed out, despite diminishing clout and discussions in government and transportation circles that Patrick and his inner circle had grown disenchanted with Cohen's political and communication skills.

     

  • Silver Line faces loss of funding for last link (Boston Globe)
    By Noah Bierman -- The MBTA's largest and highest-priority expansion project, a proposed $1.5 billion Silver Line tunnel under downtown Boston, is in immediate danger of losing federal backing because of the transit agency's weak financial condition, say sources briefed on the decision. The Federal Transit Administration has told the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority that it plans to officially downgrade the final section of the Silver Line, a 1.1-mile bus connector that would allow riders to travel on the line from Roxbury to Logan International Airport, the sources said. While lauded by city and state officials as a crucial transit link, the project has been criticized by some as a "little dig" because of its growing price tag and potential for downtown disruption.

     

  • Emotions high at toll hike heading (Boston Globe)
    By Milton Valencia -- Protests against large toll increases planned for the Massachusetts Turnpike and Boston Harbor tunnels grew in intensity yesterday. Anger spilled out at a packed public hearing last night, while a group said it is organizing a massive boycott of the turnpike next week, which, if successful, could bring gridlock to local streets. The first of four hearings, held at the Massachusetts Transportation Building, attracted about 150 people who say the impacts of the planned toll increases, including some hikes of as much as 100 percent, will land in dramatic and unexpected ways.

     

  • Stimulus Package To First Pay for Routine Repairs (Washington Post)
    By Alec MacGillis and Michael D. Shear -- President-elect Barack Obama calls it "the largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s." New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg compares it to the New Deal -- when workers built hundreds of bridges, dams and parkways -- while saying it could help close the gap with China, where he recently traveled on a Shanghai train at 267 mph.  Most of the infrastructure spending being proposed for the massive stimulus package that Obama and congressional Democrats are readying, however, is not exactly the stuff of history, but destined for routine projects that have been on the to-do lists of state highway departments for years.

     

  • Lobbyists bid for pieces of economic-stimulus pie (Los Angeles Times)
    Obama hasn't given many specifics or a price tag for his plan, and industry groups are more than happy to offer suggestions.
    By James Oliphant and Richard Simon -- Reporting from Washington -- Since President-elect Barack Obama laid out plans for the largest injection of federal spending into the economy since the New Deal, just about everyone has started angling for a piece of the action.  With estimates of the package, which will be considered by the new Congress starting in January, topping out at anywhere between $500 billion and $1 trillion, ailing sectors such as home builders and sellers, airlines, railroads -- and, yes, the auto industry -- view the stimulus as a means to get healthy again.
    [...]
    "Rather than rebuilding highways, a nonprofit group called Reconnecting America wants the government to focus on a "21st century national transportation system" of mass transit and walking and bike paths. And a consortium of environmental groups has unveiled a $160-billion pitch for "green" stimulus, including investments in national parks, renewable fuels and energy efficiency. Just as notable is what they are lobbying against: any construction work that widens existing roads or builds new ones, which the groups contend would amount to investing in the automobile traffic that contributes to global warming.

"Streets"

  • Residents sue over Mass. Ave. project (Boston Globe)
  • Near Porter Square, a rough crossing (Boston Globe)
  • Speed demons and heavy loads fuel residents' ire on the J-way (Boston Globe)

Bicycling

  • Letter: Cellphones, iPods, and bicycling don't mix (Boston Globe)

Transit

  • Report: Abandon plans for Silver Line BRT expansion; go with light rail instead (Switchback)
     
  • Silver Line faces loss of funding for last link (Boston Globe)
     
  • Silver Line not on track for a bailout (Boston Globe)
     
  • MBTA hears commuters who hate stuffing dollar bills into slots (Universal Hub)
     
  • Editorial: Transit projects taxpayers can trust (Boston Globe)
     
  • T approaching dire financial straits (Boston Globe)
     

Cars/Parking

Transportation financing/Government

Parks

Development projects

Out-of-state

National trends

International news

  • Copenhagen, Melbourne & The Reconquest of the City (WorldChanging)