TransportationRSS

The LA Times thinks LA traffic planners “do a 180” when they shift from building freeways (that increase traffic) to… adding traffic lanes on major boulevards (that increase traffic). But the city’s chief planner thinks the city isn’t ready to talk about better solutions like “complete streets”. Street Heat LA begs to differ. Meanwhile,…  Keep reading…

Image by emily geoff on FlickrWhen Jane Jacobs wrote The Death and Life of Great American Cities in 1961, almost everyone from planners to the public believed in freeway construction, single-use zoning, and urban renewal projects. Today, you’re not going to see a lot of people commenting on a blog like DCist arguing that we should run a freeway between Dupont Circle and Adams…  Keep reading…

Here’s the presentation on parking policy given by Jason Schrieber of Nelson\\Nygaard here in DC a few weeks ago. Thanks to Gwen of Cleveland Park for posting it.  Keep reading…

This map shows what the transportation system of the Baltimore-Washington area would look like if most of the proposed improvements are built. In particular, it includes the Silver Line to Dulles; several new infill Metro stations; turning MARC and VRE into transit-like service with frequent trains that run through from Maryland to Virginia so all commuters can reach Union Station,…  Keep reading…

Last week was the latest public meeting to review the proposed streetscape improvements to 14th Street, from Florida Avenue to Thomas Circle. I wasn’t able to make the meeting, which conflicted with the Columbia Heights parking meeting, but I was able to get copies of the presentation. This street is becoming a major restaurant and bar corridor, and improvements that make…  Keep reading…

San Francisco just selected an alignment for the Central Subway, a tunnel for the new T-Third light rail line that will run up Fourth Street to Stockton, connecting the China Basin/ballpark/Caltrain area to downtown and Chinatown. Transbay Blog isn’t so sure this is worth the money and thinks there may be better ways.  Keep reading…

Calling it “giving up on Smart Growth,” Marc Fisher laments the death of a development proposal at the Tenleytown Metro, which would have replaced a small neighborhood library with higher density mixed-use and moved the library a few blocks away. The first time I went to Tenleytown, visiting friends who live there, we had to walk about 15 minutes to Connecticut Avenue…  Keep reading…

In Columbia Heights, only 25% of residents own cars. With a Metro station and numerous bus lines, bike lanes and Zipcars, it’s a neighborhood conducive to car non-ownership. But if you were at the public meeting on Tuesday night to discuss proposed changes to parking policy, you might think that 75% of residents drive every day, and the other 25% work for smart growth or bicycle…  Keep reading…

The DC USA project in Columbia Heights will open this spring, bringing a Target and many other national chains to DC (many for their first store in DC) in 600,000 square feet of retail along with 1,300 new apartments. It will also bring traffic. There are two main ways to deal with this: provide more parking spaces, and/or use parking management techniques to encourage as many people…  Keep reading…

Update: Version 2 is now available. Dan at BeyondDC was one of several people to comment that Metrorail is not the most cost-effective way to provide transit. In fact, it’s pretty darn cost-ineffective. So while it’s fun to dream about Metro lines everywhere, what’s a more achievable transit vision? There are two areas officials want to improve transit,…  Keep reading…

Based on suggestions from Richard Layman and others, I’ve added to the fantasy map to create an even fantasy-er map (as before, click for big version): There’s fantasy, and then there’s even more fantasy. In the world of today, a lot of these lines are probably more cost-effectively served by light rail, streetcars, BRT, or something else. They’re…  Keep reading…

I mocked Cleveland Park ANC commissioner Richard Rothblum who made free parking one of his top New Year’s wishes. Over on the Cleveland Park list, the parking discussion has taken a sensible turn, as all the people who want more free parking for themselves and more restrictions for everyone else have given way to some basic economic sense, including from Richard Rothblum. One…  Keep reading…

The Ward 3 Vision community group, which is affiliated with the Coalition for Smarter Growth, has a page up about parking management in residential areas, including flyers and powerpoints about the issue. This is in response to the ongoing debate over visitor passes in Cleveland Park.  Keep reading…

Many proposals are floating around for Metro expansion. Some have been thoroughly researched by government and are just waiting for funding, like the Dulles extension. Others are just suggestions from activists and bloggers. Many are somewhere in between. To show the ideas in one place, I’ve created this fantasy map. Click on the map for a large version, and see below…  Keep reading…

From the South Capitol EIS:As a primary corridor in L’Enfant’s 1791 Plan for the City of Washington, South Capitol Street was envisioned as one of the symbolic gateways to the city and its Monumental Core. ... Today, South Capitol Street lacks any characteristics of its historic and intended function as a gateway. ... South Capitol Street is an urban freeway that has…  Keep reading…

Council Chairman Vincent Gray is suggesting that any parking built on Poplar Point for a soccer stadium could be used for baseball games at other times. It’s not a bad idea, as long as the parking is charged at market rate. On the other hand, I wonder how needed it will be—if the ballpark can get by for a few years without Poplar, people will already be used to taking Metro, and…  Keep reading…

Streetsblog spoke with New York’s Department of City Planning about the new blank wall buildings going up on Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue, which Streetsblog and I criticized. DCP explained why they didn’t require retail, and how the minimum parking requirements forced garages onto these buildings.  Keep reading…

The email discussion on Cleveland Park’s list continues over whether to give residents free visitor parking passes, which they can give to out of town guests, nannies, contractors, or possibly sell to commuters, to park for free. Quite simply, the demand for parking outstrips the supply. There is demand to park on neighborhood streets from residents, guests, domestic…  Keep reading…

Photo by KCIveyCleveland Park, the neighborhood whose ANC commissioner prioritized more free parking right after world peace on his New Year’s wish list, is abuzz once more about parking on their email list, DC’s most prolific neighborhood list. This time, it’s over a DDOT proposal to give residents visitor parking passes, like they are doing in Ward 4. Some…  Keep reading…

At Wednesday’s Dupont Circle ANC meeting, architect Eric Colbert presented revised plans for the 14th and U development proposal. The ANC still wants to make it smaller, but beyond the classic fight over density, this project is a perfect example of the silly and detrimental effects of minimum parking requirements. Current zoning requires one space per two units for…  Keep reading…