As the second busiest bus corridor in the area, Vermont Avenue is currently a candidate for bus rapid transit. But would rail be a better choice?
Vermont Avenue, a north-south corridor running through Los Angeles west of the 110 Freeway and LA Metro's Blue Line, is ripe for a transit upgrade. Alon Levy writes, "While Vermont is the second busiest bus corridor in the region, after Wilshire, the plan is to equip it with BRT, and not rail, even though weaker corridors around the area are slated for rail extensions."
As Levy argues, a rail line would enable higher capacities and create fewer traffic hiccups along the route's many intersections. "Without Vermont, riders from farther east still have the Blue Line. But to the west, there are no good corridors: the Crenshaw Line is constructed partly at-grade, and only as far north as the Expo Line [...]"
Costly tunneling, Levy says, wouldn't even be necessary along the entire stretch. "Only the five and a half miles between Wilshire and Gage Avenue need be underground. South of Gage, the street widens considerably to about 180 feet across. On streets so wide, an elevated rapid transit line would not block the sun from the sidewalk, or emit too much noise bothering pedestrians."
FULL STORY: A Vermont Avenue Subway Should be A Priority For Metro
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association