Transportation

Time May Be Right for Mag-Lev From Vegas to SoCal

A magnetic levitation train link between Anaheim and Las Vegas has been on the table for 30 years. Now could be the time the project finally gets enough traction to go from idea to reality.

March 24, 2009 - Las Vegas Sun

San Francisco Rail: A Living History

S.F. historian Carl Nolte examines S.F.'s vibrant streetcar history and today's modern light rail replacements.

March 24, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

Signs of Spring for Smart Growth

The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Obama signed on Feb. 17 left advocates of compact and transit-oriented development practically biting their tongues.

March 24, 2009 - New Urban News

A Carbon-Neutral City?

A region known more for carbon emissions strives to create a carbon-neutral city powered by renewable energy and designed to reduce overall energy demand.

March 23, 2009 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Texas Prairie Endangered By Stimulus Funding

A proposed toll road near Houston exemplifies an unintended effect of the stimulus: encouraging sprawl.

March 23, 2009 - The New York Times

Virginia Bans the Cul-De-Sac In New Subdivisions

Through streets in new neighborhoods will reduce traffic on and the cost of maintaining overburdened arterials, but builders and residents say it'll make their communities less safe and attractive.

March 23, 2009 - The Washington Post

O'Toole Says Trains Are For Tourists

Randall O'Toole- in a curiously non-audio opinion piece from NPR- says that trains around the world are fun but are otherwise overly expensive transportation systems used mainly by the elite.

March 23, 2009 - NPR

Lightweight Blocks Cut Rail Costs and Timelines

Light rail developers in Utah are cutting costs and timelines with a new and unlikely track base: foam.

March 21, 2009 - KSL

End of the Road for the RV?

Between the spike in gas prices in 2008 and the current recession, the RV industry is in serious trouble as the market for enormous homes on wheels dries up.

March 20, 2009 - Salon.com

MTA Service Cuts, Block by Block

Regional Plan Association of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut has mapped out the impact of all MTA's service cuts for every State Assembly and Senate district in the region. There's also an interactive Google Map.

March 20, 2009 - Regional Plan Association

Texans for Transit

Officials in North Texas showed significant support yesterday for legislation to raise money for billions of dollars in road and rail improvements.

March 20, 2009 - The Star-Telegram

The News Hour Reports On Public Transit In Peril

"Blueprint America" looks at declining public transit subsidies and resulting transit service cuts. The video and report follows two East Bay commuters on suburban bus, BART; the transit agency meeting where bus service is reduced; MUNI LRT footage.

March 20, 2009 - PBS-The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

A New Paris, as Dreamed by Planners

Nine-month study commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy aims to transform Paris and its surrounding suburbs into the first sustainable “post-Kyoto" city.

March 19, 2009 - The New York Times

Amsterdam Leading Green City Movement

In the next few months, the Dutch capital will make numerous changes to make its infrastructure greener. With the help of private companies like Cisco and IBM, Amsterdam is closer to becoming a "smart city" than any other in Europe.

March 19, 2009 - BusinessWeek

Playing Catch-Up with Rail

Have high-speed rail stimulus funds put us any closer to technology like mag-lev? A long record of underfunding makes many of such projects shovel-unready, but hopes are still high.

March 19, 2009 - Miller-McCune

How Far Can $1.3 Billion Take Amtrak?

March 19, 2009 - Judy Chang

Catering to Oakland's Enclaves

A one-size-fits-all urban landscape doesn't mean that different ethnic neighborhoods don't find ways to personalize them. A UC Berkeley graduate student investigates how cultures perceive space.

March 18, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

Redesigning City Design

President Obama has promised to give cities a new image, one as the engines that drive the economy and whose issues are intertwined with those of the suburbs. This article looks at some of the big ideas shaping the new city.

March 18, 2009 - Architect Magazine

Milwaukee to Receive Hibernating Transit Funds

Nearly $100 million in transportation funding that has been sidelined in Milwaukee over bureaucratic disagreements will finally come to use, as Mayor Tom Barrett announces provisions in the Federal Omnibus Budget Bill call for it to be spent.

March 18, 2009 - Biz Times

The Battle Over The Transbay Terminal

The Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) and the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) are sparring over the size of the "train box" in the new Transbay Terminal. Streetsblog makes sense of the brouhaha.

March 18, 2009 - Streetsblog SF

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.

Community Development Director

City of Wisconsin Rapids

Professor of Urban Planning

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Transportation Planner I

KFH Group Inc.

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