With the BART Warm Springs construction now underway, it is worth looking at the impact on the local waterways: As can be seen from the map, the BART extension crosses a number of creeks. During the past 100 years, these creeks crossing the ROW were culverted, piped, and undergrounded by the Army Corp of Engineers, [...]
Archive for February, 2012
Culverting Creeks for BART Extension
Posted in planning, transit on February 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
PTC Fail
Posted in transit, tagged Caltrain, PTC on February 22, 2012 | 12 Comments »
Here is some shock news. Rail operators are asking for an extension the Federal PTC mandate. PTC (Positive Train Control) was mandated after the deadly 2008 Chatsworth Metrolink collision, when a train engineer was too busy texting to notice a red signal. The deadline for PTC implementation was to be 2015, but our “friends” at [...]
Carnival
Posted in bicycling on February 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Cycling float from this year’s Carnival in Rio.
Porsche Owner Gets In Sticky Situation
Posted in highways on February 21, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Marina Blvd (San Francisco) – An idiot Porsche driver gets impatient with traffic backing up around a construction zone. He tried to pass (ignoring signs) driving straight into fresh concrete! The construction crew had to dig him out. Full details at the Paceline forum.
California Redevelopment: Back from the Grave?
Posted in planning, tagged RDA on February 14, 2012 | 1 Comment »
It has only been a few weeks since California’s Redevelopment Agencies were killed, but Legislators are already dreaming up ways to re-incarnate the beast. One approach under study is to loosen the rules governing “infrastructure financing districts,” which can issue bonds and repay them from increases in property taxes in project areas. That’s similar to [...]
Transit Villages Are Neither
Posted in planning, transit, tagged TOD on February 13, 2012 | 10 Comments »
Came across this ridiculous sign today in Pleasant Hill. It reads: “Contra Costa Centre Transit Village”. As you can tell, it plonked next to a major freeway off-ramp that is definitely not transit-oriented. This is hardly an isolated example. “Transit Village” has become a popular name for redevelopment projects (that are neither transit nor village). While [...]
Red Lights Optional for Bicyclists in Paris
Posted in bicycling on February 8, 2012 | 4 Comments »
You’ve heard of the Idaho Stop Sign Law? Well, get ready for the Paris Red Light law: Parisian cyclists have won the right to go through red lights following a fierce debate over their claim that the move would reduce the risk of road accidents. A three-year campaign by cyclists’ associations — which say it is [...]
3rd Class
Posted in planning, transit, tagged idiocracy on February 6, 2012 | 7 Comments »
Governor Brown on why California needs a high-speed rail line: Gov. Jerry Brown is on a mission to prevent the United States from becoming a Third World country, and he says the solution is a high-speed railroad in California. ”We’re not going to be a Third World country if I have anything to do with it,” [...]
Tempe’s Gold Plated Streetcar
Posted in transit, tagged streetcar on February 2, 2012 | 4 Comments »
According to the project page, Tempe’s streetcar line will have a capital cost of 160 million dollars. For all of 2.6 miles of track. Along a wide ROW with minimal impacts. Running in mixed traffic. With bus-stop style stations. How the fuck does a simple streetcar project wind up costing $60 million/mile!? For that kind of [...]
