The final nails have been put in the coffin of the I-710 extension, and now communities like Pasadena are getting ideas about how to spend Measure R funding once reserved for the unwanted freeway.
Steve Scauzillo reports that pedestrians and motorists could have an easier time crossing the tracks of the Metro Gold Line in Pasadena.
"A dual underpass-overpass concept at California Boulevard, between Arroyo Seco Boulevard and Raymond Avenue, was green-lighted by a committee of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) earlier this month," reports Scauzillo. "A preliminary design calls for raising the train tracks about 12 feet, while lowering California Boulevard 9 feet."
The Metro board is expected to vote on $105 million in funding fore the project in early December. It's ironic, according to Scauzillo, that funding will come from a pot of money originally included in Measure R to extend the 710 freeway. That project is now fully dead.
According to Scauzillo, the debate over how the light rail line should cross Del Mar Boulevard, California Boulevard, and Glenarm Street has raged in Pasadena since before it opened in 2003. The resulting configuration was the result of a compromise.
FULL STORY: After 15 years of traffic snarls, Pasadena may build California Boulevard overpass at Gold Line train tracks
Feasibility Study Approved for Pasadena, Burbank Airport Light Rail Extension
$1 million in new state funding will study the feasibility of connecting the Gold Line light rail in Pasadena to the Hollywood Burbank Airport in Southern California.
Controversial Bus Rapid Transit Connection Between L.A. and Pasadena Moves Forward
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently released a draft environmental impact report for the NoHo to Pasadena Transit Corridor.
Public Outcry Greets Plan to Connect L.A. to Pasadena via Bus Rapid Transit
Voters might have approved transit funding multiple measures by wide margins in Los Angeles County in recent years, but actual project proposals still have trouble appealing at the hyper-local level.
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