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UNStudio, HKS, and Gehl have been selected by the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) to lead the architecture and urban design of Project Connect, a major expansion of the city’s public transit system. The voter-approved investment includes new light rail, expanded bus routes, a subway, and more... View full entry
The Union Square Branch opening of the long-awaited Boston Green Line Extension (GLX) marks a major milestone for the Arup-supported project. The first of two segments as part of a 4.7-mile extension of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) regional transit system, the... View full entry
“This is an opportunity to think in new ways, but people will still want to live close to transit,” [Dr. Richard J. Jackson] said.
The challenge for developers will be marrying density with safety, which will now require an interdisciplinary approach [...]
— The New York Times
The New York Times takes a look at the potential impact the coronavirus pandemic could have on the future of transit-oriented development in the United States. Transit use has fallen drastically during the lockdown period, while many high-profile figures, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo... View full entry
The Roosevelt neighborhood has the makings of a huge transit-oriented development success story. A building boom is underway, protected bike lanes have recently gone in, and the station site will be home to an affordable housing complex right around the time trains begin operating.
Northgate Link, along with an underground station in Roosevelt, will open in 2021, and the neighborhood–like others along the line–are already transforming
— The Urbanist
The Urbanist takes a look at three neighborhoods in Seattle that have seen a rush in transit-oriented development as a new light rail line heads toward its 2021 completion. View full entry
Voters in Phoenix have soundly rejected a proposal that would have halted the expansion of the city’s light rail system—a proposition that had the backing of dark money linked to the notorious anti-transit Koch brothers. — Streetsblog
The rejected initiative would have terminated "all construction, development, extension, and expansion of” light rail lines in the city in order to redirect funds appropriated for transit expansion to more auto-centric infrastructure. The result represents a set back for the dark... View full entry
Proposition 105, a measure backed by a group called Building a Better Phoenix, would halt all future light rail expansions, directing already-earmarked tax dollars toward “other transportation improvements”—mostly road construction. Like a number of efforts to kill urban-rail plans around the U.S., the initiative to stop Phoenix’s transit development has ties to Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group funded by David H. Koch and Charles Koch. — CityLab
CityLab's Laura Bliss delves into the multi-faceted and contentious back-and-forth effort to build new light rail infrastructure in Phoenix, Arizona, where issues of urban equity, dark political money, and changing transportation needs have rankled residents of all stripes. View full entry
Metro Oregon and Portland's TriMet are studying the possibility of creating a new below-ground transit route through the city's downtown. Planning for future growth, the organizations are working to link the Lloyd Center shopping mall on the eastern banks of the Willamette River with Southwest... View full entry
The ArtCenter College of Design continues to move forward with a 15-year master plan for its two Pasadena campuses, with the release of a draft environmental impact report for the project. At completion, the Michael Maltzan- and Tina Chee Landscape Studio-designed expansion would increase the school's total enrollment from 2,000 full-time students to 2,500 full-time students, and its total staffing from 753 faculty to 994 faculty. — urbanize.LA
The City of Pasadena informs on its web page dedicated to the master plan project: "The ArtCenter College of Design (ArtCenter) proposes a 15-year Master Plan (the Project) that focuses growth on its South Campus, while providing for infrastructure improvements and building renovations on its... View full entry
Engineers have to ensure the bridge will remain buoyant when a pair of 300-ton trains pass each other, and that the high-voltage current that powers the trains won’t stray into the bridge’s pontoons and corrode its steel rebar. They spent $53 million just to design the section across Lake Washington. — The Seattle Times
The Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge is a floating bridge that stretches across Lake Washington, connecting Seattle and Bellevue through Interstate 90 freeway.This April the final design promising to replace the center express lanes of I-90 with full speed light rail was signed off. Subject to... View full entry
Researchers from the Urban Displacement project, a joint UCLA and UC Berkeley effort, recently released a gentrification map of Los Angeles.
They examined the city from 1990 to 2000 and up to 2015, focusing on neighborhoods near transit stops. The goal was to see if these areas saw higher rents and more displacement than other areas.
The answer? Yes — with some exceptions.
— scpr.org
Some of the UCLA researchers' key findings for Los Angeles Country (via the project's website, urbandisplacement.org):Our analysis found that areas around transit stations are changing and that many of the changes are in direction of neighborhood upscaling and gentrification.Examining the changes... View full entry
“A good part of any day in Los Angeles,” Joan Didion wrote in 1989, “is spent driving, alone, through streets devoid of meaning to the driver, which is one reason the place exhilarates some people, and floods others with an amorphous unease.” I quote this statement every chance I get; it is among the most trenchant ever written about the place. But all that is changing, or might be, if the promises implied by the Expo Line expansion can be kept. — nytimes.com
On May 20, Los Angeles's Metro will open the expansion of its Expo Line, stretching from downtown past its current terminus in Culver City all the way to Santa Monica, blocks from the Pacific Ocean. The dream of "Broadway to the beach" by train in LA will soon become a reality, and stands to be a... View full entry
When City Manager Oliver Chi looks across Station Square next to the new Gold Line stop in Monrovia, he doesn't see a dilapidated train depot. He sees a bustling restaurant.
Where an empty lot now sits, he sees a five-story apartment complex. That old lumber house? A bustling food hall.
Los Angeles County's growing light-rail network plunges deeper than it ever has into suburbia this week with the opening of the Gold Line extension linking Pasadena to Azusa.
— LA Times
Obsessed with infrastructure? Take a look at some related coverage:The Bike Wars Are Over, and the Bikes WonMore details on Glendale's "freeway cap park" emergeWhy cranes keep collapsing, despite "sophisticated equipment"US government agency develops new batteries that could revolutionize energy... View full entry
The City of Vancouver has reached an agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway that will transform a contentious stretch of old rail corridor into a public greenway.
Under the deal, the city will pay $55 million to purchase the land on the railway route, which extends for nine kilometres from False Creek near Downtown Vancouver to Marpole on the city's south side.
— CBC News
Once the unofficial home to community gardens and in situ artworks, under the city's plan the Vancouver's Arbutus Corridor will become a place for cyclists and walkers. It's not the High Line (although much like that project, Vancouver city officials would like to continue thinking that the rail... View full entry
The transformative effect of removing cars from a dedicated street or urban center and creating a pedestrian-friendly area isn't a new idea, but it's a popular one. Sydney, Australia has decided to repurpose its relatively trafficky George Street into an elegant shopping and walking area bisected... View full entry
Tilikum Crossing is the nation's first multi-modal bridge that will be off-limits to private automobiles. It will carry MAX light rail trains (the impetus for construction) as well as Portland's streetcar line and city buses, and of course pedestrian and bike lanes on both sides—but no cars. [...]
"Transit has a huge impact on urban planning. I mean, if you look at our city, it was designed around streetcars. On some level, it has to be part of their DNA."
— citylab.com
