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The Planetizen News Brief - 2/14/08

14 February 2008 - 5:00am
Smart City Radio

The Planetizen News Brief is a weekly rundown of some of the most interesting and important news and issues of the past week.

The Planetizen News Brief airs every week on the nationally-syndicated radio program "Smart City", which is broadcast in cities across the U.S. Learn more about Smart City and listen to archived shows.

Full Transcript

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has just announced a nearly $1 billion plan to make the city one of the world’s best places to ride a bike. He’s announced plans to create a superhighway system dedicated solely to bicycles, consisting of 12 routes throughout the city. According to an article from the Guardian, Livingstone is calling this the biggest investment in cycling in the history of the city. The cycle-superhighway is expected to be built over the course of about ten years and will eventually connect many of the outlying suburban town centers to the heart of London. The system is also planned in conjunction with a bike-rental program similar to one setup this past year in Paris. More specific plans are expected to be released in coming weeks, but this ambitious proposal is already being looked as an example for other world cities to follow.

And in Washington D.C., the possibility that federal funding may be denied for a rail link between the city and Dulles International Airport has dashed the hopes of many transit advocates. But some couldn’t be happier. According to an article in The Washington Post, advocates of bus rapid transit have jumped on the funding denial as an opportunity to push for a reconsideration of BRT for the transit route. BRT had previously been thrown out as an option based on the belief that it would be too difficult to acquire the right-of-way for dedicated bus lanes and that a rail line would attract more riders. But now that the Federal Transit Administration is on the verge of denying the rail option nearly $1 billion in federal funding, the much cheaper option of bus rapid transit is coming back to the surface as maybe not such a bad idea.

Finally, politicians in Georgia have proposed legislation that aims to move the state’s border about a mile north into neighboring Tennessee – a land annexation they say is backed up by an un-enforced border survey from the year 1818. But this effort is not just being made for the sake of historical accuracy. By moving the border to what the Georgia lawmakers say is its rightful place along the 35th parallel, a portion of the Tennessee River will legally fall within the borders of Georgia, allowing the drought-stricken state a new source of water. The Tennessean reports that even though officials in Georgia unanimously approved the annexation plan, they’ll also need approval from the state legislatures in Tennessee and the U.S. Congress before the re-bordering can occur. Lawmakers in Tennessee are saying there is simply no chance of that happening.

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

Europe's Next Great Bicycling City

As D.C.-Dulles Rail Plans Stumble, BRT Advocates Jump In

Thirsty Georgia Considers Annexation of Tennessee for River Water

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