Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

December 9, 2008

Ashford Shared Space
 
Newly reconstructed shared-space ring road in Ashford, UK
(Photo courtesy How We Drive)
 

Highlights

  • Won't You Be My Neighbor (Boston Globe)
    Downtown Crossing is smack in the middle of the city. Its very location should make it the place where everybody wants to be. So why has it always felt like something was missing, and is that "something" about to finally turn it into a real, live neighborhood?
Ashford Shared Space
 
Newly reconstructed shared-space ring road in Ashford, UK
(Photo courtesy How We Drive)
 

Highlights

  • Won't You Be My Neighbor (Boston Globe)
    Downtown Crossing is smack in the middle of the city. Its very location should make it the place where everybody wants to be. So why has it always felt like something was missing, and is that "something" about to finally turn it into a real, live neighborhood?
    By Stephanie Schorow -- At first, the cabdrivers would eye her incredulously and then, inevitably, ask the question: "Why the heck do you want to be dropped off with a bag of groceries in Downtown Crossing at midnight?" Well, Mary Ann Ponti would explain, she actually lived there, on Washington Street, just across from Macy's, adding, "Do you realize that people live there?"

     

  • State starting to distribute bridge repair money (Boston Herald, Boston Globe)
    Massachusetts authorities have begun distributing the first installment of nearly $3 billion set to be spent over the next eight years repairing hundreds of the state’s deteriorating bridges. Gov. Deval Patrick signed the bill authorizing the new program into law in August. In October, the state began awarding contracts for work on 41 projects totaling more than $175 million. Dozens of other repair projects are already in the design phase.

     

  • Red Line Pilot Program Gets Rid Of Seats In 2 Cars (WBZ, Boston Herald)
    The MBTA is testing out a new pilot program on two of their Red Line cars. T spokesperson Joe Pesaturo tells WBZ that officials are taking the seats out of two of the 218 cars that make up the Red Line fleet to create more standing room. Pesaturo stressed this is only a pilot program. He said he was not sure how long it would last, but did say the T was going to get feedback from riders once the program ended.

     

  • Fit City (Boston Globe)
    How Somerville became a national model of healthy living
    By Irene Sege -- SOMERVILLE -- Pedestrians in this city of 77,500 stride onto bright, recently striped crosswalks. Bicyclists, who until this year navigated traffic aided by a single bike lane, enjoy 2 additional miles of designated lanes, and almost 4 more are planned. In school cafeterias, fresh produce has replaced canned fruits and vegetables, and the high school retired its fryolator. The Neighborhood Restaurant now serves wheat oatmeal waffles with bananas in addition to bacon and eggs. Budding salsa dancers step-two-three in a new Recreation Department class that costs just $10 for two months of twice-a-week lessons.

     

  • City Council Panel Approves Streetcar Plan (Seattle Transit Blog)
    Seattle’s City Council’s Transportation committee approved a streetcar expansion plan in a 4 to 2 vote today. A full council vote is expected for next week. Four lines in total were approved, the First Hill Line, the Central Line, a Ballard line and a University District Line. The two streetcar lines fast-tracked are the First Hill Line, which has had $120 million in funding approved as part of ST2 that passed last month, and the Central Line, which is meant to be a part of the Alaskan Way Viaduct construction mitigation. The Central Line will replace the defunct Waterfront Streetcar line, which will finally be removed during viaduct construction.

     

  • Quieting the Ring Road: Shared Space hits it big in Ashford (How We Drive: Article, Video)
    One of the most ambitious “shared space” projects to date, and one that bears careful study, has been unveiled in the English city of Ashford. In a striking departure from what we normally associate with the concept of “road improvements,” the county council has spent some 13 million pounds to “break up” the old one-way, high-speed ring road circling (and strangling, some say) the city and convert it into a series of two-way, narrower, slower (20 mph) “quality streets” — largely free of aesthetically displeasing and typically ignored traffic signage.

"Streets"

Walking

Transit

Cars/Parking

Transportation financing/Government

Development projects

Out-of-state

National trends

  • Paths to Economic Recovery (Brookings)
  • Mayors looking to Obama for help (Politico)
  • Return to $1 gas? Energy prices evaporate (AP)

International news

  • Huge Dubai Bus Deal May be the Biggest in World (South Morning China Post)
  • Boris Johnson under fire for cutting London cycling funds (Guardian)
  • Johnson to axe congestion charge zone (Guardian)
  • Fazilks, first to have a 'Car-free city' concept in India (Newstrack India)
  • Quieting the Ring Road: Shared Space hits it big in Ashford (How We Drive: Article, Video)