MTA reassured disoriented New Yorkers that it's flooding subway entrances on purpose, to test barriers that it hopes will guard the system against another Sandy.
When one pedestrian passed an entrance to the New York subway's G train in South Williamsburg, "she saw something was very off," writes Zoe Schlanger. "The station entrance, a staircase leading underground, was completely flooded. The water level appeared so high as to be flush with the sidewalk."
When her photo went viral, the Metropolitan Transit Authority clarified that it's "testing a barrier that could seal off subway entrances in the event of another flood like the one that hit the city during Hurricane Sandy in 2012."
Schlanger notes that the 2012 hurricane inundated several subway lines, leading to a whopping $5 billion in damage. "The MTA explicitly draws the connection between storm surge preparedness and climate change in several of its projects," she reports. As the MTA put it, "We're doing this because climate change is real."
FULL STORY: New York City is flooding subway entrances to prepare for climate change
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