Streetsblog SE – Page 37 – Connecting people to information about how to improve walking, biking, and transit

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | Dec 20, 2016 | No Comments

Atlanta Columnist: Complete Streets Mean “Screwing Over Cars” (AJC)
Buckhead Officials Look to Make Peachtree Road More Walkable (Atlanta INtown)
Macon Group Gives Downtown Residents Free Bikes (Telegraph)
Atlanta Launches Streetcar Mobile App (AJC)
TN Gov. Haslam Delays Announcement on Gas-Tax Hike (Times Free Press)
Feds Take Step Toward Reviving Orlando-New Orleans Passenger Rail (The Advocate)
Tampa Celebrates New Downtown Streetscape (83 Degrees Media)
Bus Service Between Tampa, St. Pete and the Airport Tops Wish List (SaintPetersBlog)
Orlando Beltway Delay Could Mean Death for Humans — and Bears (Sentinel)
Failed Virginia Beach Light Rail Vote is the Virginian Pilot‘s No. 2 Story of 2016
I-85 Widening Gets Underway in South Carolina (Spartanburg Herald Journal)

Cars consume a lot more space to move the same amount of people as a bus. Photo: Solaris Bus and Coach

Uber Can’t Replace Transit — Here Are 3 Reasons Why

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 19, 2016 | No Comments

The latest line from anti-transit types is that ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft are going to make fixed-route bus or rail service obsolete. If you find yourself arguing with someone about why transit is essential, a new fact sheet from TransitCenter can help.

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | Dec 19, 2016 | No Comments

Virginia Spent Record Money on Roads in 2016 (Virginian Pilot)
Greenville, NC Plan Closes Campus Center to Cars (Daily Reflector)
Nashville Could Fund Transit Plan With Congestion Parking Rates (Business Journal)
Momentum Builds for Tennessee Gas Tax Hike (Transport Topics)
Work Starts on Chattanooga I-75 Interchange (Times Free Press)
State Grant Will Buy Charleston 20 Bus Stops, 3 Buses (Palmetto Business Daily)
Tuscaloosa Traffic Study Disregards Pedestrians (News)
Two Motorists Hit, Kill Man Walking in Orlando Area (Sentinel)
Miami Uber Driver Shoots and Kills Robber (Herald)
Daytona Officials Want New Options for A1A Repairs (News-Journal)
Uber Wants Hillsborough Transpo Commission to Share Documents (Florida Record)

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Watch the Insanity of American School Drop-Off

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 16, 2016 | No Comments

When every student has a parental chauffeur, this is what you get.

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | Dec 16, 2016 | No Comments

Macon, GA Painted 8 Miles of “Pop-Up” Bike Lanes and Cycling Increased Tenfold (Next City)
Clarksville, TN Is Catching Up on Sidewalks (Leaf Chronicle)
Zipcar Is Now Available in Downtown Baton Rouge (Business Journal)
The Sun Herald Hopes Safe Streets Will Draw Tourists to Biloxi
NC Bill Would Reimburse Schools for Road Improvements (News & Observer)
Duke Energy Will Pay for 210 NC Electric Car Charging Stations (Greensboro News & Record)
Virginia’s Capital Trail Boosts Investment Along Bike Route (Mobility Lab)
Cyclists Take Spills on Fort Lauderdale Streetcar Tracks (Sun Sentinel)
The BeltLine Is Getting a New Brewery and Brasserie (Curbed)
Atlanta City Council Member Criticizes BeltLine Gentrification (AJC)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

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A Single Florida Bureaucrat Might Kneecap Miami’s Commuter Rail

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 15, 2016 | No Comments

Out of the blue Tri-Rail is facing insolvency -- all because a single state bureaucrat is threatening to throw the agency’s otherwise stable finances into turmoil.

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | Dec 15, 2016 | No Comments

How Should Virginia Beach Spend Light Rail Money After Ballot Defeat? (Virginian-Pilot)
Construction Starts on Roanoke Passenger Rail Platform (WDBJ)
Georgia Republicans Warm Up to Transit (AJC)
Macon Road-Widening Project Includes Sidewalks, Maybe a Roundabout (Telegraph)
Charlotte Commuters Want Gov.-Elect Cooper to End I-77 Tolls (WSOC)
Durham, Orange County Will Have to Dig Deep to Fund Light Rail (Independent Weekly)
The Sun-Sentinel Celebrates Expressway Cutting Through Deerfield Beach, FL
Broward Takes Tentative Step Toward Brightline Airport Stop (Sun-Sentinel)
CDC: Florida Is the Deadliest State for Cyclists (TC Palm)
The First Brightline Train Has Arrived in Miami (Local 10)
Florida Sen. Ben Nelson Wants to Bring Amtrak Back to the Panhandle (WGCU)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | Dec 14, 2016 | No Comments

New Dade County Commission Chair Aims to Fast-Track SMART (Miami Today)
Company Behind Dakota Access Pipeline Eyes Louisiana Bayou (Louisiana Weekly)
Now Cobb Officials Are Worried About New Braves Stadium Traffic (AJC)
Memphis Neighborhood Uses Tactical Urbanism to Improve Walkability (Daily News)
Country Living or Sprawling Development in Nashville? (Tennessean)
Arkansas Can’t Afford to Match Its Federal Transpo Grants (Democrat Gazette)
Atlanta Drivers Still Don’t Get Why Complete Streets Are Safer for Everyone (Saporta Report)
Task Force Sends $700 Million Road Plan to Louisiana Governor (The Advocate)
Boosters Hope to Revive Charleston Freeway Project (Post and Courier)
Traffic Picks Up on Raleigh’s TriEx Toll Road (News & Observer)

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Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | Dec 13, 2016 | No Comments

Georgia Lawmakers Float Regional Transit Agency for Metro Atlanta (AJC)
Nashville Needs Legislators to Help Fund $6B Transit Plan (Business Journal)
Palm Beach Transpo Planners Might Break Away From County (Palm Beach Post)
Atlanta Bike-Share Spreads West to AU, Vine City (WABE)
Athens, GA Is Taking Suggestions for Transpo Tax Projects (Flagpole)
Durham Light Rail and the Next Generation (Herald Sun [Paywall])
Birmingham Wins Federal Grant for Transit-Oriented Development (AL.com)
Drivers Confused by Orange Beach Highway’s New Median (WBRC)
County Commissioners Ask AL State Legislators for Gas Tax Hike (Dothan First)
Air Force Pushes for Freeway Interchange in Shreveport (The Times)
Toll Starts Today for Drivers on Kentucky-Indiana Bridge (WLKY)

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The ever-present dilemma of paying for transit

By Mary Newsom | Dec 12, 2016 | No Comments

The topic of transit – or the lack of it – arose during public hearings on the vast new River District development that won city approval last month. The almost 1,400-acre development will grow west of the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in what today is a rural and thinly settled area.The development is expected to generate 120,000 vehicle trips a day. That number got the attention of Charlotte City Council members, who talked about transit but did little beyond talk before approving the developers' rezoning request. That's because the city's plans for transit to that part of town are, for now, vague and – like most of the 2030 Transit Plan beyond the Blue Line Extension – unfunded.The city isn't allowed to impose impact fees without state legislative approval. And don't hold your breath for that. Further, state courts struck down some counties' attempts at adequate public facility ordinances – where developers either had to wait until local governments could afford to offer public facilities such as classrooms and police/fire service to serve the new development, or pay a fee to help the local government provide them.So Charlotte can't do what Sacramento, Calif., is proposing: a transportation impact fee on most new construction to fund more and wider streets and improve biking and pedestrian facilities. See Sacramento asks developers to open wallets to keep city streets from clogging. (The Sacramento fee would range from a few hundred dollars for some rental units to more than $2,000 per single-family home in some areas. It's expected to generate about $3 million a year.But N.C. local governments still have negotiating power. In Charlotte, developments expected to generate a lot more motor vehicle trips have to pay for a traffic impact study, and talks between city planners and developers often produce a "voluntary" agreement for the developer to provide a turn lane or a traffic signal or some such. That's called an "exaction," although developers joke it's more of an "extraction."As I listened at the River District public hearing in October, I wondered whether the city could put some transit funding on that list of negotiated agreements. It's fairly routine for the city to ask for, and get, a slightly upgraded bus stop, generally a concrete pad to bus riders don't have to stand in the mud in wet weather. But why not expand the menu for those asks, especially for a development expected to generate 120,000 trips in a part of town not built for that much traffic?The city has a fee-in-lieu mechanism for its tree ordinance. Could there be something similar for transit needs?Would that solve the cavernous funding gap between our local transit plans and our local transit revenue from the countywide half-cent sales tax? No. But it would help – and it would instill into local practice the idea that transit should be among those things developers could "volunteer" to assist with.

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | Dec 12, 2016 | No Comments

Transit-Hating Hacks at Florida DOT Are Trying to Kill Miami Tri-Rail (Herald)
Miami CEOs (Mostly) Want Better Transit (Herald)
TN Gov. Haslam: State Won’t Be a “Key Player” in Nashville Transit Plan (Nashville Business Journal)
NoVa Needs More Trains, Not More Roads and Tracks (Potomac Local)
Spencer, NC Considers Allowing Golf Carts on City Streets (Salisbury Post)
Ex-Virginia Gov. McDonnell Defends 460, Tunnel Deals (Daily Press)
Lexington, KY Has Had an “Uber for Seniors” Service for Years (Herald Leader)
Columnist: Move Downtown Birmingham Bridge or Put It Underground (AL.com)
Athens, GA Transpo Tax Committee Has First Meeting (Banner-Herald)
Momentum Builds to Kill Hillsborough Transpo Commission (Tampa Bay Times)
Florida Bill Would Strengthen Texting-While-Driving Law (SaintPetersBlog)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

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Only a small portion of the Seattle region is considered "urban" in a new report by the Urban Land Institute. Image via RCLCo

How Much of Your City Is Really Urban?

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 9, 2016 | No Comments

Many places that get categorized as “suburbs” are actually pretty urban. They may not be located in a central city, but they are compact, walkable places.

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