All posts from the month of October 2010
Today’s Headlines – 10/29/10
October 29, 2010By Transportation for America
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood lamented the cancellation of the ARC tunnel, but vowed continued progress. (Star-Ledger)
Many Tea Party activists have nothing to say about infrastructure. (Engineering News-Record)
Jerry Brown, who has opened up a lead for California Governor, would be friendlier to high-speed rail than Meg Whitman. (Streetsblog Capitol Hill)
Joliet, Illinois secured crucial funds for its planned downtown transit center. (Sun-Times)
And, the transit union in Seattle’s King County agreed to give up pay raises in 2011. (Post-Intelligencer)
Obama Administration announcement of $2.4 billion in high-speed rail grants a major boost for America’s transportation system
October 28, 2010By Transportation for America
John Robert Smith, co-chair of Transportation for America and former mayor of Meridian, Mississippi, released the following statement in praise of the Obama administration’s $2.4 billion in grants for high-speed and inter-city passenger rail corridors in the United States:
“A national high-speed rail system is not only an opportunity to redefine how we travel and how our regional economies grow – it represents the type of innovation and progress that can guarantee another century of growth and prosperity in America. It gives people a choice in how they travel, something polls have shown Americans want. The diversity of grant recipients shows that communities both large and small will benefit from investments in high-speed and inter-city passenger rail. For example, the States of Iowa and Illinois received $230 million in grants for a new passenger rail connection between Iowa City and Chicago, which will help to revitalize a number of smaller cities along the route.
“This $2.4 billion investment, on top of the $8 billion awarded from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is a worthy start, but it is crucial that the Obama administration work with Congress on a comprehensive and transformational reauthorization of America’s surface transportation law. A new bill that increases travel options, holds agencies accountable for how they spend our transportation dollars and repairs and maintains our nation’s infrastructure will help rebuild our economy and ensure more communities can pursue innovative transportation solutions in the decades ahead. A strong and safe network of rail, roads, bridges and public transportation systems in this country is an area ripe for common ground. We must move forward together, regardless of what happens next Tuesday.”
For more information, see Secretary Ray LaHood write-up at USDOT’s Fastlane Blog or a complete list of projects here.
San Francisco East Bay will connect communities through largest bike path network in the country (TIGER series)
October 28, 2010By Sean Barry
Residents of the San Francisco East Bay will reap a large windfall from last week’s TIGER grants, with $10.2 million slated to go toward filling gaps in the existing Bay Trail and Iron Horse bicycle paths, giving the East Bay the largest bike path network in the United States and giving residents not only top-notch recreational trails, but viable new options for regular daily travel in the region.
Once completed, the project will stretch more than 200 miles and allow residents to bike from the edge of the San Joaquin Delta in eastern Contra Costa County to Berkeley and Oakland along the San Francisco Bay and Livermore to the south in Alameda County.
Pat O’Brien, General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, tasked with overseeing the funds, told the San Francisco Chronicle: 
“this is probably one of the most incredible things we’ve done. It’s really a hallmark for East Bay residents.”
The project is expected to create up to 500 jobs in engineering, trades, design and environmental law and compliance, according to Streetsblog San Francisco.
Many East Bay advocates for bicycling and transportation options have been around since the project’s conception.
“I’ve been working on getting this crossing funded since 2001, and it’s been nip and tuck all the way, especially when the economy tanked,” said Bruce “Ole” Ohlson of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.
Some communities covered by the trail, such as Brentwood and Antioch, are located on the suburban fringe and have been historically inaccessible to non-automotive forms of transportation. With these funds, the Mokelumne Trail will allow bicyclists access between the adjacent cities through development of a new Highway 4 bypass.
“This is the suburbs, and when they were building streets, the last thing they did was build them friendly to bicycling,” said Ohlson.
Other portions of the trail will connect to BART service, the Bay Area’s commuter rail system, expanding options for getting to work and making the highways a little less congested.
“When the Iron Horse Trail is completed to Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station, everyday is going to be Bike to Work Day in Pleasanton,” says Dave Campbell, Program Director for the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.
Several other communities, including Albany, Hercules, Martinez and Crockett will also be included in the trail extensions.
Yesterday, four members of Congress whose districts include the project — George Miller, Pete Stark, Barbara Lee and John Garamendi — joined bicyclists, East Bay Regional Park Board members and others to celebrate the TIGER award in an press conference at the portion of the project that will connect to the Coliseum/Oakland Airport station.
Check out the very impressive full map of the network below.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series profiling the winners of the US DOT’s TIGER grants on the T4 America blog. For more information about the TIGER grants, view our interactive map and list of all the winners, read the rest of the posts in this series profiling the winners, and read all TIGER-related stories with the “TIGER” tag from the blog.
Today’s Headlines – 10/28/10
October 28, 2010By Transportation for America
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood highlighted T4 America’ s interactive TIGER II grants map. (DOT Blog)
USDOT officially announced $2.4 billion in high-speed rail project grants. (DOT Press)
A leading conservative thinker on transit issues discussed the potential for bipartisanship on infrastructure and transportation. (Streetsblog Capitol Hill)
A policy writer for the conservative National Review endorsed raising and indexing the federal gas tax. (Nat’l Review)
And, a North Carolina newspaper editorialized in favor of sidewalks and bike lanes. (Asheville Citizen-Times)
One more time: what does livability look like?
October 27, 2010By Stephen Lee Davis
In an interview with Streetsblog Network alum Sarah Goodyear in her new post at Grist, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sheds a little light via some personal reflection on how he came to understand livability — a concept that many folks might guess he had never heard of 20 months ago.
Of course, just like most Americans, he knows exactly what “livability” is, once you get past the terminology:
Q. So tell me, what does this concept of “livability” really mean?
A. This is something I’ve never really talked about, but growing up, I lived on the east side of Peoria. When I was growing up, I could walk to my grade school. We had one car, but we would bike everywhere we went. We could walk to the grocery store. In those days, we had streetcars and buses, which people used to get to downtown Peoria, which was probably five miles from my house. I used to take a bus to my dad’s business. I grew up in an era [of] livable neighborhoods and livable communities — what we’re really trying to offer to people around America…
Seems like there’s a useful lesson in here somewhere about the power of words and language to not only illustrate meaning, but sometimes get in the way of clear understanding.
Today’s Headlines – 10/27/10
October 27, 2010By Transportation for America
New Jersey Governor Christie canceled the Hudson River tunnel projects, citing insufficient federal funds. (Star-Ledger)
Transportation policy could remain relatively constant even in a Republican House. (E&E)
Democratic candidates on the wire are touting this week’s high-speed rail grants. (AP)
San Francisco is expected to launch a bike sharing project next year. (Chronicle)
Dallas could see radical changes in bus service. (Morning-News)
And, walkable cities are on the rise throughout the U.S. (Infrastructurist)
Smarter transportation case study #14: Employer Commuter Benefits Program in Santa Clara, Calif.
October 26, 2010By Transportation for America
Sun Microsystems is based in California’s Silicon Valley, but under its Employer Commuter Benefits Program, employees can work from one of several campuses or from home, and company-sponsored shuttles are available to transport them.
Transit benefits have continued to be a key plank of the Silicon Valley based Sun Microsystems, even as the company was acquired by Oracle. Sun’s SMART Commute Program, or Sun Microsystems Alternative Resources for Transportation, provides employees with up-to-date commuter information, participation incentives and shuttles connecting public transportation to Sun campuses.
More than 2,900 employees have participated in U.S. commuter incentive programs at campuses in Massachusetts, Colorado, California and Oregon. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the company operates the Sunway Shuttle program, which links public transit stations and company campuses. Launched in 2005, the service provides thousands of rides to Sun employees each year on average. With six vehicles operating seven different shuttle routes each workday, the service is one of the largest employer-operated transit shuttle programs in the entire Bay Area. In the first eight months of 2005, the number of employees riding shuttles rose 15 percent, from 7,700 employees to 8,700. Real-time information about the service is updated online and employees can elect to receive text messages about changes to services or delays.
Nearly 15,000 Sun Microsystems employees participate in Sun’s iWork program, which enables employees to work from home, drop-in centers, or at campuses throughout the country. Employees at Sun’s major campuses around the country also receive transit subsidies and/or prepaid transit passes to encourage and facilitate the use of public transit.
“The nightmares of commuting here lent itself to a positive environment for alternative transportation efforts,” said Jordan Boyd, manager for workplace services at Oracle. Sun’s comprehensive Commute Benefit program has reduced the commute trips of Sun employees, while reducing costs and pollution.
Sun actually has targeted goals that need to be met regarding usage of the transit benefit,
targeting a five percent per employee increase for 2008 and 2009, a goal that was exceeded.
In FY09, the company took the first step toward estimating greenhouse gas emissions from operations, calculating the emissions resulting from the direct and indirect supply chain of Sun’s products.
For More Information: Sun Microsystems; San Francisco Chronicle
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Read the ITS Case Study Series
Today’s Headlines – 10/26/10
October 26, 2010By Transportation for America
The next real estate boom will not be centered around low-density, auto-oriented development, write Patrick Doherty and Christopher Leinberger. (Washington Monthly)
Luxury carmakers are now making bicycles as well. (Infrastructurist)
The Recovery Act is a key point of contention in the California Senate race. (AP)
Boston can maximize the city by minimizing parking, writes an op-ed columnist. (Globe)
And, the Atlanta-Charlotte line was among several recipients of high-speed rail grants. (Journal-Constitution)
New Illinois multimodal hub will bring transportation modes together, connect Moline with Chicago (TIGER Series)
October 25, 2010By Kathleen Woodruff
The city of Moline, Illinois was a big winner in last week’s TIGER grants, receiving $10 million to convert the historic O’Rourke building on the downtown Moline riverfront into the Moline Multimodal Station, serving the community as a transportation hub that will reconnect the Quad Cities with Chicago; and ultimately Iowa City, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska.
Similar to a project in Normal, Illinois that won a grant back in February, the new hub will connect all transit services at one new central location in Moline, bringing together Amtrak, local buses, taxis and bicycle and pedestrian facilities, enhancing this area of Moline’s waterfront and making travel easier for all Quad Cities residents. It is expected to support up to 825 new, permanent jobs and eventually, when the new passenger rail link from Moline to Chicago breaks ground, it will produce 1,600 direct and indirect jobs.
(And that specific Quad Cities-Chicago rail link won high-speed rail funding separately today for that corridor and will definitely move forward.)
“Throughout the state, we have seen transportation investments bring new jobs to communities,” Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said. “This new station and new Amtrak service from Chicago will serve as a magnet for economic development for Moline and the entire Quad Cities region.”
With many local elected officials from both Illinois and Iowa present at the announcement last week, including Governor Pat Quinn and U.S. Representative Phil Hare (D-IL), there was a palpable excitement in the room, especially for those who knew how competitive the TIGER II grants are. US DOT received more than 1,000 applications totaling $19 billion for just $600 million in funding, leaving far more communities across the U.S. disappointed than elated last week.
The Moline Transportation center was 1 of only 75 projects funded in the TIGER program, and many of the officials applauded the work of the locals at Quad Cities Passenger Rail Coalition and Renew Moline, which both worked countless hours to put together a compelling application and assemble a large diverse coalition and local supporters to ensure that local interests and needs were considered.
“The Amtrak Station funding is the culmination of years of hard work by Quad Cities’ community leaders and elected officials who took action in response to the outpouring of public demand for passenger rail service,” said Paul Rumler, Executive Director of the Quad Cities Passenger Rail Coalition.
The new station will be built across from the existing Centre Station facility and connected via a pedestrian walkway. The facility will support passenger rail, public transit, car rental and water taxi, making it much easier for passengers to move from mode to mode.
“This station was one of the final pieces to the puzzle of bringing passenger rail to the Quad Cities,” Congressman Hare said. “It will be an engine for economic development for the entire Quad Cities region.”
The grant was awarded to the Illinois Department of Transportation, which was directed earlier this year by Governor Quinn to make the Moline Transportation Project a top priority. Governor Quinn committed $45 million in state funds to construct necessary connections between the Iowa Interstate Railroad and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway that will allow for passenger rail service to reach the Quad Cities. The construction for the connection, which is to begin early 2011, will create an estimated 440 jobs.
“The Illinois Department of Transportation is committed to building a network of passenger rail that creates jobs and serves the residents of a 21st Century economy,” Secretary Hannig said. “This project puts us one step closer to accomplishing that goal.”
LISTEN: Audio of Governor announcing the funding to build the Moline Transportation Center.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series profiling the winners of the US DOT’s TIGER grants on the T4 America blog. For more information about the TIGER grants, view our interactive map and list of all the winners, read the rest of the posts in the series profiling the winners, and read all TIGER-related stories with the “TIGER” tag from the blog.
Voices from the Rail-volution
October 25, 2010By Stephen Lee Davis
A handful of T4 America staffers were out in Portland last week for the annual Rail~Volution conference, the premier event for people who care about and are thinking about how transportation affects our daily lives and can make our communities better places to live. Despite the name, Rail~Volution has always been about far more than things that run on rails — the conference focuses on everything from buses, trains, streetcars and jitneys to bikes.
For the benefit of the rest of us that couldn’t swing a trip to Portland, Streetfilms was also there with their trusty camera, talking to advocates of all stripes to get their broad thoughts on the world of transportation and what’s happening in cities and communities of all sizes across the country.
Look for an appearance by one of my favorite bloggers, the Seattle Bus Chick. (aka, Carla Saulter.)
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- The more they see, the less they like: 10 reasons why opposition to the House transportation bill is growing
February 21, 2012 - Crucial amendment could improve Senate bill, restore local control and help make streets safer
February 14, 2012 - Oppose House bill that slashes public transit funding, falls short on repair and axes bike & pedestrian safety
February 7, 2012 - T4 coalition announces opposition to House energy and transportation bill
February 6, 2012 - House committee ignores broad opposition, decimates transit funding anyway
February 3, 2012
- The more they see, the less they like: 10 reasons why opposition to the House transportation bill is growing
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