Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | No Comments
  • BeltLine Has Potential to Reconnect Atlanta Neighborhoods (National Journal, Saporta Report)
  • Despite Support for MARTA in Gwinnett, Vote Not Likely Any Time Soon (Curbed)
  • Atlanta First Southern City to Pass Comprehensive Energy and Water Efficiency Policy (Switchboard)
  • When Tickets Didn’t Stop Drivers From Running Stop Sign, Marietta Police Tried Humor (WXIA)
  • Opelika City Council Authorizes Alabama DOT Grant Application for Bike Lanes (OAN)
  • Birmingham Transit Leaders Travel to Jacksonville to Learn About Buses (WTVM)
  • Florida Chamber of Commerce Endorses All Aboard Florida (Sayfie Review)
  • FL County, Archaeological Group Claim Rail Line Would Damage Prehistoric Sites (Hyperallergic)
  • Five County Community Transit Brings New Service to East Mississippi (Daily Leader)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

via ATL Urbanist

When Smart Growth Gets Dumbed Down by Parking

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A few years ago, a prominent urban writer called Atlanta’s Glenwood Park “one of the most environmentally sustainable” smart-growth projects in the US. He pointed out specifically that “residents’ rates of driving and carbon emissions from transportation will be much lower than metro Atlanta’s regional average.” Read the full article, from 2009, here. How odd it is that this showcase for smart growth in Atlanta will  get a massive parking lot for a neighbor along with all the car traffic that will bring. Curbed Atlanta has the report on a new mixed-use development next to Glenwood Park that will feature an enormous Kroger grocery store (2.5 times the size of the average Atlanta store) fronted by a surface parking lot. To make matters worse, alongside the new development is the route for a planned segment of the Atlanta BeltLine – a project that is also a local smart-growth success story, one that connects city neighborhoods together with pedestrian and cycling paths and green spaces instead of just car routes. The cars that enter and exit this new parking lot will create traffic that hinders the growth of pedestrian and cycling activity on surrounding streets, something that could disrupt the ‘get people out of their cars and into active transportation’ goal of the BeltLine. Also, the surface lot (along with the other smooth surfaces of the rooftops of these massive structures) will contribute to the urban heat island – already a serious problem for Atlanta –  while also dispensing polluted rainwater runoff to the ground. What a strange neighbor this will be for two of Atlanta’s finest examples of urban sustainability. I hope this project ends up being an anomaly and that other new retail developments around the BeltLine and smart-growth nodes end up encouraging bike/ped traffic and safety much more so than car traffic.

Today’s Headlines

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  • Birmingham Announces Bike Share Program, First in Nation to Use Electric Assist Bikes (Alabama Live)
  • Charleston Needs to Boost Transit to Solve Transportation Problems (Post and Courier)
  • NC House Rolls Out Transportation Funding Package With Insurance Tax and Higher Fees (WRAL)
  • Greensboro to Participate in U.S. DOT Program to Improve UNCG Intersection (News & Record)
  • Column: Miami Is Proof of the Return of Cities (FCW)
  • Tampa Police Issue Record Number of Bike Citations, Eight of 10 to Black Cyclists (Tampa Bay Times)
  • Florida Public Service Commission Approves Orlando Bus CNG Fueling Station (NGT News)
  • New Orleans Is Rethinking the Way It Handles Stormwater (Times-Picayune)
  • NashvilleNext Seeks Public Input on Middle Tennessee Vision (Tennessean)
  • With Drivers Hitting People Left and Right, Louisville Admonishes Pedestrians to Pay Attention (WLKY)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

Today’s Headlines

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  • Some Georgia Republicans Are Learning to Support MARTA Expansion (Next City)
  • CAT Proposes FY 2015 Budget With Modest Increase, Money for Passenger Amenities (Savannah Now)
  • Pasco County Pedestrian Signals Not Operational Two Years After Installation (Bay News 9)
  • Miami-Dade Transportation Mess Has No Clear Solutions on the Horizon (Miami Herald)
  • Sarasota County Administrators Not Ready to Privatize Bus Service (Herald Tribune)
  • Poll Funded by Opposition Group Finds Opposition to All Aboard Florida … (WQCS)
  • … Meanwhile, Florida Counties and Cities Want In (Florida Today)
  • Can Charlotte Develop Smarter? (Charlotte Observer)
  • Raleigh Updates Development Maps and Zoning to Promote Dense Urban Core (News & Observer)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

via ATL Urbanist

MARTA Expansion Is a Popular Idea in Some Atlanta Suburbs

By ATL Urbanist | | No Comments
I took the photo above while riding the MARTA train home. It shows the traffic headed in the general direction of the northern suburbs of Atlanta. I thought about this view when I read the quote below from this week’s Are Georgia Republicans Learning to Love the MARTA Train? in NextCity:“I was maybe the first Republican to say it out loud, but many of us have been thinking it for a while. Roads and cars, in and of themselves, cannot move the enormous number of people who have to be moved.”– Rusty Paul, mayor of Sandy SpringsThat this quote comes from the Republican mayor of a city in the northern suburbs of Atlanta is significant. Long unpopular with the largely red areas in the outer parts of the Atlanta region, MARTA rail has suddenly become interesting to both leaders and commuters in the traffic-choked, sprawling ‘burbs.Things are looking up for an expansion of the Red Line it to the north parts of Fulton County, with public meetings happening and an environmental review in the works. And there are plans for rail expansion into Clayton County to the south of the City of Atlanta. Clayton recently became the third county, after Fulton and Dekalb, to join MARTA, paying for it with an approved sales tax. The agency is currently putting together a study of what use rail would get in the county.And in a fairly surprising news item this week, a recent survey shows that voters in Gwinnett County (northeast of the City of Atlanta) want MARTA extended into the county and they are willing to pay for it. Gwinnett is a particularly hard sell for transit, being very spread out and pretty lacking in walkable urban centers. These developments promise to put a fascinating spin on the long story of transit in metro Atlanta. The original plan was for MARTA to connect the five core counties of the region. But in 1971, voters in Clayton joined those in Gwinnett County in rejecting support for MARTA. Cobb County had already rejected it a few years earlier. That left only the remaining two, Fulton and Dekalb, as the service areas for the system.What will the system’s service area look like 20 or 30 years from now? It seems like serious growth is in the future for transit. But I wonder if the region’s built environment is ready for it. Specifically in Gwinnett, I think that a plan for the growth of walkable density is needed before MARTA could seriously consider trying to serve that area.

Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | No Comments
  • Poll: Half of Suburban Gwinnett Voters Would Pay to Join MARTA (AJC)
  • Atlanta MPO and Cycling Advocacy Group Plan Tactical Urbanism Event (Atl Biz Chronicle)
  • Transit and Walkability Key Factors in Kaiser Permanente’s Office Selection (Atl Biz Chronicle)
  • New Orleans Mayor Signs Ordinance to Allow App-Based Car Services (KPLC)
  • Gainesville Drafts City Ordinance to Limit App-Based Car Services at Airport (Gainesville Sun)
  • Newspaper Asks Readers If South Florida Can Change Its Car Culture (Miami Herald)
  • Tennessee DOT Says Nashville’s Options Are Interstate Widening or Monorail (Ledger)
  • Charleston Bicycle Use Survey Receives 1,300 Responses (Daily Journal)
  • Study Finds Similar Asthma Rates Among Black Youth in Detroit and Rural Georgia (Healio)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

via ATL Urbanist

Improvements Versus Innovation on an Atlanta Street

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It’s nice to see what’s happening to Ponce de Leon Avenue in Midtown Atlanta (we usually just call it “Ponce” around here). Slowly, it’s getting transformed into a street that interacts with its surroundings in an inviting way for pedestrians and cyclists. Which is a much-needed change considering that it passes under the BeltLine Eastside trail. For decades, Ponce was – and still is in some spots – a six-lane nightmare of car-centric street making that was a pretty foul place to ride a bike or even walk. Here’s what it looked like in 2013, where is goes past the BeltLine; it’s actually seven lanes wide at this point:And here’s that same stretch of road now. Notice that a car lane has been removed on each side and converted to bike lanes. This treatment only last for a few blocks (after which the bike lanes unceremoniously disappear), but it’s a good start:My family lived in this area for a couple of years and I remember how awful it was to walk along and to cross Ponce de Leon as a pedestrian. It was very unwelcoming and it felt like a dangerous place to be when you were outside of a car. We’ve walked here recently and it’s much improved, though still not great.An upcoming streetscaping project could improve things further. According to the Atlanta BeltLine website, work on the project (funded by a Livable Centers Initiative grant) could begin in 2017 and will include “sidewalks improvements, planting strips, increased lighting, buffered bike lanes, and vertical connections to the Eastside [BeltLine] Trail.“Here’s an image of the streetscape plan:An urbanist colleague of mine, Matt Garbett, noted that the street plan will consist of  51 feet of road, 10 feet of bike lanes, and 10-14 feet of sidewalk. Looking at those numbers, I wondered if there’s room for even more improvement here. This is a major street, after all, that is intersecting with a trail that’s often considered to be one of the most significant urban improvement projects in the US. Something I saw during my recent trip to NYC but wasn’t able to get a good photo of was a long section of Allen Street, in the Lower East Side, that contained what basically looked like a multi-use path running down the center. That’s what I call an innovative street plan. And I can’t help but wonder if Atlanta is aiming too low with what is merely an improved street here. Surely something as bold at the BeltLine is deserving of innovation in its surroundings. We want people to be able to connect with it, after all, in a safe way on foot and on bike. And we also need safe lanes for cyclists to use outside of the BeltLine.

Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | No Comments
  • South Carolina House Passes 10-Cent Gas Tax Increase (The State)
  • Atlanta Ranked as One of “Greenest” Cities in Nation (Curbed)
  • Savannah Recycled Bikes Program Gets National Recognition (Marketplace)
  • Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau Produces City’s First Bike System Map (Memphis Flyer)
  • Nashville to Hold Transit Fair at Downtown Farmers Market (WSMV)
  • Florida Mayors Sign Up for U.S. DOT Safe Streets Challenge (News Press)
  • Alabama Crossing Guard Honored for Saving Child From SUV Driver (Alabama Live)
  • Durham Subdivision Opposes Rail Line Route Through Neighborhood (WRAL)
  • Asheville City Officials Eliminate Fare-Free Bus Zone (Citizen-Times)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | 1 Comment
  • Georgia Father Arrested for Building Guardrail Along Road Where Daughter Died (GA Tipsheet)
  • Gwinnett Transit Extends Private Contract While Consolidating With GRTA (Gwinnett Daily Post)
  • Neighboring Businesses Encouraged to Get Creative About Getting Customers to Braves Stadium (MDJ)
  • Georgia Commute Options Hosts Weeklong Transportation Alternatives Campaign (SaportaReport)
  • Blue Line Extension Construction Begins in Charlotte (WCNC)
  • Private Operator Proposes to Take Over and Merge Sarasota and Manatee Agencies (Herald Tribune)
  • Birmingham Mayor Joins Safe Streets Challenge (Alabama Live)
  • Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan Wins National APA Award (Times-Picayune)
  • 24 Brand New Streetcars Were Destroyed in Katrina Flooding (Times-Picyaune)
  • Southern Drivers Spend the Most in the Nation on Gasoline (CNBC)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

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