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February 24, 2009

Van Ness Avenue BRT
Proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco
(Photo courtesy Streetsblog)
 

Highlights

  • Mass. Ave. on the drawing board [Arlington] (Arlington Advocate: Article, Column)
Van Ness Avenue BRT
Proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco
(Photo courtesy Streetsblog)
 

Highlights

  • Mass. Ave. on the drawing board [Arlington] (Arlington Advocate: Article, Column)
    By Andy Metzger -- ARLINGTON -- With $4 million earmarked from the state and federal government, Massachusetts Avenue in East Arlington is slated to undergo some major changes, but there is some disagreement over the current plans for the project. Earlier this month, engineers presented plans, which call for the avenue’s wide lanes to be divided up into designated turning lanes, and a narrower through-lane. The sidewalks would be widened, some traffic lights would go, while others stay, and there would be a five-foot wide bike lane on either side of the street, according to the plans, which are still subject to change. Median strips with vegetation are also part of the plans.

     

  • Bike czar creates buzz just gearing up (Boston Globe)
    By Maggie Cassidy -- BOSTON -- It's time to connect the dots. Or, rather, connect the bike lanes, say local bike activists who say 2009 should be about expanding Boston's burgeoning biking infrastructure and start to connect its disjointed bicycling hot spots. Led by Nicole Freedman, director of Boston Bikes and the city's "bike czar," Boston established about 5 miles of new bike lanes in the agency's first year. She has big plans for coming years, including a bike-share program.

     

  • Patrick seeks hike of 19 cents in gas tax (Boston Globe, CommonWealth Unbound, Brookline TAB)
    Proposal could avert turnpike toll increase; Would also reorganize state transit agencies
    By Noah Bierman -- After months of private rumination and public mixed signals, Governor Deval Patrick will propose a 19 cent increase in the state's gasoline tax today, in an attempt to solve the increasingly complex maze of problems confronting the state's aging and debt-ridden transportation system. Patrick's plan would give Massachusetts one of the highest gas taxes in the nation, but it may avert an unpopular increase that would have raised the cash toll at the airport tunnels to $7, according to two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
    Related: Environmental and Public Transit Advocates Encouraged by Patrick Transportation Plan (MASSPIRG)
    Related: Editorial: Straight talk on transportation (Boston Globe)

     

  • The Future of Van Ness Avenue is a Full-Feature BRT Route (Streetsblog SF)
    By Matthew Roth -- SAN FRANCISCO -- With overwhelming approval for the Proposition K half-cent transportation sales tax in 2003, San Franciscans  signaled they not only wanted to maintain a state of good repair and operational solvency for their transit system, they were willing to dedicate more than 25 percent of the tax to expansion, including a network of transit preferential streets and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).  The first two BRT corridors will be on Geary Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue, the latter with a target opening date by Muni's centennial at the end of 2012.

     

  • Planning Department Unveils San Francisco's First Pedestrian Priority Street (Streetsblog SF)
    By Matthew Roth -- SAN FRANCISCO -- The City Design Group at the Planning Department has released its proposal for transforming Jefferson Street at Fisherman's Wharf into a single-surface pedestrian priority street, the first of its size in San Francisco. Based on shared space or woonerfs, the plan calls for removing traditional traffic demarcations, such as the separation between streetbed and sidewalk, and slowing vehicle movement on the streets by making conditions less familiar for motorists.  With 85,000 daily pedestrians and only 5,000 vehicles, 30 percent of which transportation conultants Nelson Nygaard estimated were cruising for parking or passing through, the proposal will use design elements to prioritize the street's majority users.

     

  • Mileage Tax Considered By Obama Transportation Secretary (Huffington Post, AP)
    By John Lowy -- WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Friday rejected his transportation secretary's suggestion that the administration consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive instead of how much gasoline they buy. [...] Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood told the AP. "We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said in the AP interview.

"Streets"

Bicycling

Transit

Cars/Parking

Transportation financing/Government

Development projects

Land Use/Zoning

Out-of-state

National trends

International news

  • Bike depots to open in March [Dublin] (Ireland Tribune)
     
  • Study finds that removing parking to install bike lanes or widen sidewalk would benefit businesses on Bloor (Spacing Toronto)
     
  • The Bicycle Mayor of Copenhagen (Copenhagenize)
     
  • In Amsterdam, The Bicycle Still Rules (WorldChanging)
     
  • Abu Dhabi Releases Ambitious Transport Plan (Transport Politic)
     
  • Indian Cities Recognize that Solving the Climate Crisis Doesn't Involve Promoting Automobiles (Transport Politic)