By Frank on December 30, 2007
This is wild:
Like countless other communities, this western German town lived for years with a miserable traffic problem. Each day, thousands of cars and big trucks barreled along the two-lane main street, forcing pedestrians and cyclists to scamper for their lives.
The usual remedies – from safety crossings to speed traps – did no good. So the citizens of Bohmte decided to take a big risk. Since September, they’ve been tearing up the sidewalks, removing curbs and erasing street markers as part of a radical plan to abandon nearly all traffic regulations and force people to rely on common sense and courtesy instead.
This contrarian approach to traffic management, known as shared space, is gaining a foothold in Europe. Towns in the Netherlands, Denmark, Britain and Belgium have tossed out their traffic lights and stop signs in a bid to reclaim their streets for everyone.
If you’ve ever travelled in the third world, you know this is basically how the streets work. It’s chaos, but it works. People adapt to it pretty quickly. And when a car hits a bicycle, the driver gets out and basically throws wads of cash at the injured bicyclist until he stops screaming. It’s nuts.
I’m pretty skeptical that something like this could work in the U.S. After one accident there would be intense commmunity pressure to put up new signs “in memory of little Timmy” or whatever, the local media would pounce on the transpo agency for failing to “do something” and we’d be right back where we started.
Still, it’s interesting.
Posted in legislation
By Frank on December 30, 2007
It’s interesting to think about the idea of one-party Democratic rule in Washington State in the context of transportation planning. As Republicans fade away from the Puget Sound region, the Puget Sound becomes more of a force in Olympica than ever. So it seems to make even less sense to carve out a separate mini-state for transportation planning and funding.
Posted in Uncategorized
By Frank on December 29, 2007
Subways to run all night. Get your drink on!
Posted in taxes
By Frank on December 29, 2007
Little Bavaria is getting an Amtrak stop:
Leavenworth, about 20 miles west of Wenatchee on U.S. Route 2, has raised more than $700,000 in local, state and federal funds to build the Icicle Station train stop, said City Councilman and Mayor-elect Rob Eaton, who has championed the project for at least five years.
The federal dollars are a relatively small amount of money that will “have a significant impact on our community and an economic impact on the entire valley,”
Posted in lightrail, tacoma
By Frank on December 27, 2007
While I’ve been out of town, I missed the brou-ha-ha with the Port of Seattle audit. Certainly the fact that the Port’s employees refused to sign statements as to the veracity of the findings is troubling. And the fact that they stymied the auditor at every turn should likewise give us pause. It’s the kind of behavior we’ve come to expect from the Bush Administration.
Once again, this is why creating a regional transportation authority is a bad idea. Such an agency would be like the Port on steroids. And then we’d have to elect George Mitchell as State Auditor.
Posted in monorail
By Frank on December 23, 2007
…to Disneyland:
The ride started in 1959 as part of Disneyland’s first expansion and the current cars have carted visitors around the Disney area since 1987. For three years, Disney Imagineers have been working on the upgrades that will roll out through the summer.
“I think we’re always looking for ways to update and refresh classic attractions,” said Scot Drake, the monorail lead designer. “This is definitely an iconic attraction.”
The biggest change is the look of the train: The first electric cars have blue glass and red stripes that change color in the sunlight. The next two cars will be blue with purple glass and orange with blue glass.
Posted in boeingfield
By Frank on December 23, 2007
The Seattle Times is making sense:
Those pesky rails. Do they stay or go? Did the defeat of Proposition 1, the mondo transportation plan, stir a pulse in Sound Transit to look at the corridor for high-speed transit? All the dismissed questions are in play again.
One element must be unchanged: dual use. Save a rare, north-south route to move people in the future. Protecting transit options does not preclude recreational options.
Posted in HOV Lanes, kcmetro, lightrail
By serial catowner on December 23, 2007
As Transit Miami refers to this question, it may be time to take another look.
Electric transit in America bloomed between 1890-1910. The face of the cities changed, and a most visible change was the paving of the streets that was required of the transit company wen they installed a trolley line. These paved streets provided welcoming routes to the automobile, and as fast as America’s used car markets grew the ridership of the trolleys fell.
The success of the trolley was not free-market unfettered capitalism. Trolley franchises were awarded by city councils allowing the trolley companies to use public streets in exchange for low fares, street construction, and street maintenance, such as spraying for dust in the summer.
Beginning in about 1925, increasing numbers of trolley franchises came up for renewal. Inflation, of course, had nibbled at the fare revenue, and the streets had been pounded to rubble by car and truck traffic. In most of these cases the city council was adamant- retention of the 5-cent fare, and repaving of the streets.
In case after case, trolley companies simply folded, leaving only the systems “too big to fail”, many of which were acquired and changed to buses by GM-Firestone.
Why is this important? Because the questions of farebox revenue and who pays for the streets will return with the resurgence of the trolley. Like the parrot, these questions aren’t dead- they’re only sleeping.
Posted in Uncategorized
By serial catowner on December 20, 2007
The talk of the past few days seems to have been stimulated by a Ted Van Dyk posting on a blog. Yes, as usual, Van Dyk has discovered a cutting edge trend- voters, who just turned down an “absolutely essential” regional plan with subarea equity, would like to set up a regional transportation authority that would spend money without subarea equity. Because our natural tendency to pay taxes that will be spent elsewhere just isn’t being put to its full use, darn it!
Well, maybe not the voters, exactly. Seems Van Dyk is expecting some of our shadowy regional power brokers to put this one over, most of them not currently serving as elected officials. In fact, it turns out the role of the voters will be about as important as it is in choosing port commissioners, in other words, not at all. Cue Wednesday’s state audit of port finances- $97 million wasted in four years on construction projects.
At the bottom line the supporters of the regional transportation authority are the usual grab-bag of nut-case essayists, lobbyists for the roadbuilding industry, and out-of-office pols who could see themselves holding down a leather chair on a new board. I’ve got a feeling that most of the people doing the actual work- be they taxpayers, politicians, or planners- won’t be very enthusiastic about the idea, and that modest enthusiasm will wane when they learn the actual specifics of the proposal.
If any are ever actually given.
Posted in Uncategorized
By Frank on December 19, 2007
Ugh. Here come the governor and the legislature to take Sound Transit out behind the barn and shoot it.
This is why I supported Prop. 1.
Anyway, getting rid of sub-area equity it not the worst idea. Either we’re one region or we’re not. We can’t have it both ways.
(via STB)
Posted in sr509
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