Archinect - News

Houston voters approve $3.5 billion for rapid bus and light rail-heavy transit expansion

2019-11-06T17:00:00-05:00

With a two-thirds majority, Houston-area voters approved a $3.5 billion bond issue to pay for transit projects. This is the first time since 2003 that METRO has asked voters to borrow more money through bonds. METRO’s plans include a bus rapid transit line to Bush Intercontinental Airport along with a light rail line to Hobby Airport. The transit agency also wants to build new park and ride facilities and make enhancements to the current bus network.

The plan will help to expand Houston's fledgling transportation system, which currently includes a trio of interlocking light rail lines as well as a traditional bus network.

Houston has over 120 mies of HOV lane. METRONext uses that for a two-way, all-day regional express bus network. City residents will be able to get to work in the Energy Corridor or Clear Lake. Suburban residents will be able to go to an Astros game or museum, not just their jobs. pic.twitter.com/PQVD5RUfVB
— Christof Spieler (@christofspieler) November 4, 2019

The $7.5 billion plan makes Houston the latest city to embrace Bus Rapid Transit following in the footsteps of New York City, San Francisco, Portland, and Indianapolis. The plan would bring 75 miles of bus rapid transit service as well as 16 additional miles of light rail lines to the region.

San Francisco to redesign Market Street for pedestrians and buses

2019-10-16T18:50:00-04:00

Following in the footsteps of New York City, Indianapolis, Portland, and others, San Francisco's Market Street will soon be redesigned for use by buses, pedestrians, and cyclists.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors has unanimously approved the so-called Better Market Street Project, a plan that will expand existing bus-only lanes, add new fully protected bicycle lanes, and create pedestrian safety improvements to the thoroughfare. The measure would also largely ban use of the street by private automobiles along the street, including ride-hailing services, Curbed reports.

Diagram showing where cars will be allowed to cross Market Street. Image courtesy of Better Market Street.

The $604 million initiative would transform Market Street between the Embarcadero, at the foot of the city's downtown, and Octavia Boulevard on the western edge of the city center, where the Mission, SOMA, and Civic Center areas meet.

The move comes as New York City's bus lan...

Red bus-only lanes are coming to Portland soon

2019-10-12T09:00:00-04:00

Late last month, the Portland Bureau of Transportation received approval from the Federal Highway Administration to use red coloring on bus-only lanes. Since the use of red to designate bus-only lanes hasn’t been fully adopted into the FHWA’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), cities that want to use the treatment have had to “request to experiment”. After going through an application process, Portland is now on the list of cities sanctioned to use the color.

Bus-only lanes are sweeping the nation.

With recent federal approvals in hand, Portland, Oregon is set to become the latest major American city to implement bus-only lanes in its downtown and suburban districts.

View of suburban area bus lane network. Image courtesy of PBOT/Regional ETC Pilot Program Candidate Enhanced Transit Locations.

Portland joins New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Seattle, among others, in instituting the lanes. The recent implementation of bus-only lanes in New York City has transformed one of the city's notoriously traffic-choked cross-town streets into a pedestrian paradise.

New York City's car-free artery makes its debut

2019-10-03T19:04:00-04:00

On Thursday, New York City transformed one of its most congested streets into a “busway” that delighted long frustrated bus riders and transit advocates but left many drivers and local businesses fuming that the city had gone too far. Passenger cars, including taxis and Ubers, were all but banned from 14th Street, a major crosstown route for 21,000 vehicles a day that links the East and West Sides of Manhattan.

The New York Times tries out NYC's new cross-town, car-free boulevard along 14th Street in Manhattan.

Under the new rules, between the hours of 6 AM to 10 PM every day, cars are only allowed allowed to make deliveries or pick up and drop off passengers along the stretch of the street; Drivers are not allowed to make left turns, however, and their movements will be monitored by surveillance cameras.

Danny Pearlstein, a spokesperson for transit advocacy group Riders Alliance told The New York Times, “It’s not that cars are losing ground, it’s that New Yorkers are gaining ground, literally. We make the city what it is. Cars get in the way."

The War on Cars notches another victory in New York City

2019-08-09T14:30:00-04:00

Starting on Monday, cars will be all but banned from one of Manhattan’s main thoroughfares. The busiest stretch of 14th Street—a major crosstown route for 21,000 vehicles a day that links the East and West Sides—will mostly be off-limits to cars. Drivers will be allowed onto the street for just a block or two to make deliveries and pick up and drop off passengers. Then they will have to turn off.

Closing a stretch of 14th Street in Manhattan to most car traffic is but the latest step New York City officials has taken in recent years to wrest precious urban space from automobiles.

According to The New York Times, since 2008, the City of New York has installed 79 car-free pedestrian plazas across the city, and built 1,243 miles of bicycle lanes, including 480 miles of separated bike lanes.

The moves come as the city moves to institute a congestion pricing plan that would charge drivers to travel anywhere south of 60th Street in Manhattan.

From California to Texas, car culture is losing its monopoly

2015-08-12T14:36:00-04:00

"You have generations of people under the age of 35 … who are choosing to live car free and car-lite." – Westside Councilman Mike Bonin

From the newly installed "protected" intersections in Austin, Texas and Davis, California to additional proposed bus lanes and bike paths in Los Angeles, car culture is becoming less of a given and more of an expensive, perhaps even less desirable, option. Cities across the U.S. are starting to rethink their approach to large scale transportation infrastructure projects (i.e., freeways) as driving per capita remains stagnant. Of course, this trend is somewhat complicated by the rise of cheap door-to-door transportation options such as Uber, which make it easier for the car-less to get around without having to own a vehicle. For its part, Los Angeles is considering approving an initiative known as Mobility Plan 2035, which would redesign major boulevards and avenues to encourage people to get out of their cars and into the mass-transit dreams of city planners.

Last week, Archinect highlighted Christopher Hawthorne's review of the additional lane on the 405 freeway, a project that bega...