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Where Bike Commutes Could Potentially Rise in Atlanta Region

By ATL Urbanist | | No Comments
There’s a pretty incredible mapping tool from Deloitte that shows projections for bike commuting and ride sharing across the US. I was particularly interested in the bike commuting maps – the one above shows the level of bike commuting possible by people in the Atlanta region who work 5 miles or less from their homes. View the full map here.The map accompanies an equally fascinating study: “Smart mobility: Reducing congestion and fostering faster, greener, and cheaper transportation options.“The study made a model of projected bike commuting built around the idea that “anyone who works five or fewer miles from home could reasonably commute by bike.” Importantly, they note that year round bike commuting is not a reasonable expectation, so the model was adjusted:We recognize that few, if any, bike commuters will bike to work every day of the year. In fact, hours of daylight, weather, and climate will keep many from cycling as far or as often. We therefore apply a conservative annual frequency factor of 96 days per year. Even with that conservative adjustment to bike commuting, the model showed that US cities stand to gain $2.6 billion per year “in indirect savings based on lower road construction costs, reduced accidents, and lower carbon dioxide emissions.” For a region like Atlanta’s that is constantly struggling to address traffic congestion and infrastructure costs, there could be a huge benefit to taking cars off the road this way.For the entire Atlanta region, the projected new bike commuters at different commute distances work out to these numbers:1 mile: 96,8802 miles: 237,5093 miles: 352,8964 miles: 457,0755 miles: 556,630As the study notes, this is all very pie-in-the-sky number crunching without the proper infrastructure. It would require a complete network of protected bike lanes, along with other safety & convenience measures, to accomplish these numbers. But it’s useful to see what kind of possibilities there are for improving transportation in the region.

Today’s Headlines

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  • All Aboard Florida Reveals Plans for 23-Story Apartment Tower at West Palm Beach Station (Real Deal)
  • South Dade Officials Plead for Rail Expansion, Propose Local Funding (Miami Times)
  • SunRail Expansion to Orlando Airport Should Be Complete by 2020, If Not Sooner (WKMG)
  • Chapel Hill Increases Bike/Ped Safety Funding Ahead of November Referendum (Daily Tar Heel)
  • Anniston Receives Alabama DOT Approval for 13 Miles of Bike Lanes (Anniston Star)
  • Gainesville Bus System Set to Roll Out New Marketing Campaign (WDUN)
  • Greenville, SC, Forsakes Transit Investment, Welcomes Pod People (GSA Business, Greenville Online)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

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Missed Connections in the Peach State

By ATL Urbanist | | No Comments
Georgia offers small change for transit systems struggling to serve the growing divide between where people live and workHow do transit systems in Georgia struggle? Let me count the ways. A 2010 report from the American Public Transportation Association shows Georgia to have one of the lowest levels of transit spending, per resident, in the country. Georgia spent 63 cents per person on public transportation in 2008; compare that to $119.52 per person spent in New Jersey, $40.43 in Illinois and $7.94 in North Carolina for that year.That low spending is reflected clearly in Atlanta, where MARTA ranks as the largest US transit agency to have no state funding stream for operations.So you can understand the excitement felt by many when it was announced earlier this year that the state was going to set aside $100 million in bonds for transit projects statewide. It’s a small amount of money considering the budgets of transit systems, but it was encouraging to see Georgia at least make the gesture – one that might, arguably, be a sign of changing opinions on transit spending at the state level. But this week we have news that the amount, already a small gesture, has gotten smaller. It now stands at $75 million. Why? …$25 million was taken out and dedicated to other purposes, primarily a planned regional workforce training center near the “Savannah Megasite,” a 1,558-acre property at interstates 16 and 95 the state has been trying for years to peddle to auto manufacturers eying Georgia.Brookings report shows the damage of job-sprawl in AtlantaThis move feels like a slap in the face during a week when a Brookings report shows us the growing need for us to provide better connections in Georgia between people and jobs. According to the report, titled “The growing distance between people and jobs in metropolitan America,” it’s getting harder for people all over the country to live near jobs; metro Atlanta is pointed out as a place that exemplifies the troubles of commuters. Between 2000 and 2012, the Atlanta region saw a 14.8% drop in the average number of jobs located near a typical resident, one of the greatest decreases in the US. The problem is this: as the region sprawls outward in a low density fashion, it becomes harder for residents on the edges to be near the clusters of jobs; a situation that gets exacerbated by the equally sprawling locations of jobs. From the report:Although the Atlanta region gained jobs overall during the 2000s, the number of nearby jobs fell for the typical resident as employment spread out within the metro area…job density fell on average in both the city and suburbs. Thus, typical residents in both locations saw their proximity to jobs decline.Take a look at the image above – it contrasts the massive footprint of the urbanized Atlanta region with the cluster of job density. With the points on either ends of commutes becoming further and spreading in all directions, transit systems struggle to keep up with the needs of workers. The situation is particularly dire for the growing number of low-income workers who are settling in the suburbs; with a great Politico piece from last year noting that “poor residents of suburban Atlanta can only reach 17 percent of the region’s jobs” due to the lack of transit available to them in their sprawling, car-centric environments. Looking at these facts all together, that lost $25 million for transit systems in Georgia looks even more insulting. But we can take heart that at least it will go toward a workforce training center at the Savannah Megasite. And surely, since the money was taken from transit, this Megasite will be appropriately pedestrian friendly so as not to make the insult even more stinging. It couldn’t possibly be a typical car-parking-comes-before-all set up.Hmm. Well, surely it’s at least located on a road that allows for good pedestrian access.No? Then at least it’s located in Savannah and probably within close distance to residential density near the walkable city center, as befits a project born from transit money. Well. Damn it.

Today’s Headlines

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  • Georgia Tolling Authority Approves $75M in Bonds for Transit; Projects TBD (Atl Biz Chronicle)
  • Highlights of Tampa MPO Plan Include Highway Widening and Traffic Signal Timing (Tampa Bay Times)
  • Jax: Amtrak Train in Collision After Idiot Drives Around Crossing Arms (Times Union)
  • Memphis Suburb Begins First Mixed-Use Smart Growth Project (Memphis Daily)
  • City of Louisville Selling Riverside Land for $1 to Build Botanical Garden (Broken Sidewalk)
  • Turner Field Neighbors Want to Be Included in Development Plans (AJC)
  • Albany City Commissioners Recommend Purchase of Natural Gas Buses (WFXL)
  • Norfolk Southern Takes Railway Crossing Safety Campaign to Georgia (Railway Age)
  • Sustainable Cities Considers What “Urban” Really Means

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

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The Big-City Life, Family Style

By ATL Urbanist | | No Comments
As a family living in Downtown Atlanta, we sometimes end up using the urban space in a creative way. The photo above shows the top of a nearby parking deck where our son practices riding a scooter and bicycle. It’s not a cul-de-sac, but it serves the same purpose. Woodruff Park is our community green space; we share it with a wide range of visitors. The Curb Market and CVS are good for walking to get some groceries (though we do end up going outside the neighborhood for most grocery shopping). So there are some uniquely urban/downtown things we do that families in more traditional environments might not. But as someone who grew up in the suburbs of Cobb County, I’m mostly surprised by how many things about living here are not different. We know our neighbors (it’s actually a pretty tight knit community of committed residents, which is cool), we know local store owners whose faces we see every week, we know community and city leaders who we’ve met as meetings, we know the parents and administrators at our public school – it’s an average family life. The one thing we miss is having other kids around as residents. In a recent study of 61 large cities in the US, the City of Atlanta (not the whole metro) ranked in the bottom 10 for the percentage of children in the population. We don’t have as many kids in Atlanta overall in comparison to peer cities, but when you’re talking about my family’s Downtown home near Woodruff Park – that’s where kids are really scarce. We see visiting families in the park and on the playground, but that’s about it.What can be done in Atlanta to get more families in the dense core of the city? And should we even do that? I think so – living in a compact environment is, I firmly believe, a responsible thing to do in a world that is seeing population growth AND a population shift toward urbanized areas; we simply can’t continue to sprawl out. We need to fill in, and do so in a walkable context that allows for mobility in means other than personal cars whose infrastructure and parking needs are often at odds with walkability.Part of the answer to the “how do we make this place more kid friendly” question is in good public spaces. In his City Lab piece “The Decline of the Family-Friendly City,” Kaid Benfield writes:“We definitely should include more parks and other green space concurrent with dense development; while highly urban districts are unlikely to include large private yards, we should take advantage of vacant lots and other opportunities to integrate more shared green space into dense residential neighborhoods.”Shared green spaces, spread more evenly around the city core, would be a great amenity for kids.

Today’s Headlines

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  • Atlanta Regional Commission Working on Comprehensive Bicycle and Walking Plan (Saporta)
  • Despite Issues and Criticism, Atlantans Are Using the Streetcar (Curbed)
  • Atlanta Intown Takes Deep Dive Into Streetcar Expansion Plans
  • Traffic Is Strangling Businesses on Sprawly Atlanta Highway (Athens Banner-Herald)
  • Construction Causes St. Charles Streetcar to be Bustituted Through September (New Orleans Advocate)
  • Martin County Study Claims All Aboard Florida Caused Property Value Decreases (WPEC)
  • Florida Board Holds Public Meeting on All Aboard Bonds (Palm Beach Post)
  • GoTriangle Holds Public Meetings on Durham Light Rail Plan (News & Observer)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

via The Naked City Blog

Highways, Congestion and a Power Broker’s Lessons

By Mary Newsom | | No Comments
Frontispiece of The Power Broker maps Moses' roads, bridges, parks and playgrounds. The headline in this morning's newspaper could not have been more appropriate for the day I have to, at long last and reluctantly, return to the UNC Charlotte library my copy of Robert A. Caro's The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York.I checked it out in September 2013. It's roughly the size of a cinder block and just as heavy, and the librarians graciously let me keep renewing it, since apparently no one else wanted the tome. Which is sad. Published in 1974, it should be required reading for anyone studying public administration, transportation, planning, urban studies, political science, sociology and journalism. I finally finished it a few months ago but after so long it felt almost like a family pet and I didn't want to part with it.The headline today: N.C. DOT says Monroe Bypass construction has started. The article by Steve Harrison notes a lawsuit over the project is still active, and it could well be stopped for a second time.As it happens, one of Robert Moses' faithful techniques for getting money for his projects was to start work on them with only part of the funds he needed – having promised, of course, that the funds in hand would fully cover the cost. Then, when the money well ran dry, he'd successfully argue that so much money had already been spent it would be a waste not to finish the project, and he'd get more millions from the city or the state.  I suspect someone at N.C. DOT has read The Power Broker, or at least absorbed some of its lessons about how Moses extracted public money for his projects.The Monroe bypass will be a state-funded toll road intended to "relieve congestion" on Monroe's existing U.S. 74 bypass, a highway built to keep traffic congestion out of downtown Monroe. Today, of course, downtown Monroe has no traffic congestion to speak of, since the city and county allowed so much congestion-generating development on U.S. 74 that it successfully sucked all the economic energy out of downtown and into a now-fading enclosed shopping mall and a series of strip centers, fast-food restaurants and chain businesses – each with its own separate, congestion-generating driveway. Monroe's old bypass is like virtually every other bypass built in America in the past 50 years: clotted with traffic and deteriorating, cheaply built structures.The sad irony of the Monroe Bypass proposal – not to mention Charlotte's own Interstate 485 outer loop bypass highway (which will finally be completed in about a week), its own version of U.S. 74 a.k.a. Independence Boulevard, Gaston County's proposed Garden Parkway, and a dozen other projects I could mention in North Carolina alone – is that planners figured out as early as the 1930s that building highways was not relieving traffic congestion.Consider this passage from The Power Broker. Reminder: It was written in 1974. Caro is writing here about the 1930s. From page 515:"The Grand Central, Interborough and Laurelton parkways opened early in the summer of 1936, bringing to an even one hundred the number of miles of parkway constructed by Moses on Long Island and in New York City since he had conceived his great parkway plan in 1924. ... One editorial opined that the new parkways would, by relieving the traffic load on the Southern and Northern State parkways, solve the problem of access to Moses' Long Island parks 'for generations.'"The new parkways solved the problem for about three weeks. ... Some city planners noticed that the traffic pattern on Long Island had fallen into a set pattern: every time a new parkway was built, it quickly became jammed with traffic, but the load on the old parkways was not significantly relieved."If this had been the pattern for the first hundred miles of parkways, they wondered, might it not be the pattern for the next forty-five also? Perhaps consideration should be given to trying to ease Long Island's traffic problem by other means..."Caro describes throughout the book Moses' staunch opposition to mass transit, his blatant racial discrimination, and the illegal, politically infused methods he used – all while Moses was hailed nationally and internationally as "the man who got things done," the honest "non-politician" and so on.It's one of the most persuasive works I've ever encountered for the importance to our democracy of expert journalists who look deep into local and state governments and pay attention to what is really happening in their city's neighborhoods.I acquired The Power Broker a few weeks before I heard Caro speak in September 2013 to a roomful of journalists gathered for a Nieman Fellows reunion. He recounted the advice his editor at Newsday gave him, when he asked how to be an investigative reporter. The advice: "Turn every page." Indeed.-------- To read more about Robert Moses, I recommend Roberta Brandes Gratz' The Battle For Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, and Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City, by Anthony Flint.

Today’s Headlines

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  • As Legislative Session Ends, South Carolina Not Likely to See Transportation Funding Fix (Post & Courier)
  • Virginia Hosts Public Meeting on DC to Georgia High Speed Rail Line (Free Lance-Star)
  • No Approval for Maglev to Enter Orlando Airport as Project Moves Forward (Orlando Sentinel)
  • Tri-Rail Makes Over Pompano Beach Station With More Shade, Less Parking (Sun Sentinel)
  • As New Orleans Sinks and Sea Levels Rise, Risk for Home Owners Increases (Times-Picayune)
  • ULI Hosts TOD Forum in Raleigh to Discuss Wake County Transit Plans (PR.com)
  • Wendell Cox: Smart Growth and Transit Expansion Will Doom Atlanta’s Growth (City Journal)
  • MARTA Still Controversial in Cobb Despite Transit Needs (MDJ)
  • Atlanta Business Group Offers Free Transit Commutes to Get Workers Out of Cars (WXIA)
  • Tenor of MARTA Reddit and Ensuing Comments Are About What You’d Expect (AJC)

More headlines from Streetsblog USA

Today’s Headlines

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  • All Aboard Bond Hearing Begins Today in DC (TC Palm)
  • All Aboard Florida Releases Pricing Estimates and Projected Ridership in the Millions
  • Maglev Subsidiary Plans System Between Orlando Airport and International Drive (Metro Jacksonville)
  • Montgomery Transit Rebrands Itself “The M” (Alabama News)
  • Atlanta Plans New Bike Lanes, Bike-Share, Hiring New “Chief Bicycle Officer” (WSBTV)
  • Nashville MPO Director to Retire Next Month After Completing Regional Plan (Tennessean)
  • Student Starts Anti-Transit Harassment Group After Assault by Streetcar Operator (The Hullabaloo)
  • Rap Signs Appear Around Atlanta Landmarks as Art Concept Project (11 Alive)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

Tampa Installs Its First Green Bike Lane

By Angie Schmitt | | No Comments
Tampa recently painted its first buffered green bike lanes. Photo: Tampa Tribune There are splashes of green appearing in downtown Tampa, as the city installs its first buffered bike lanes on Platt, Cleveland, and Brorein streets, complete with green intersections. The Platt Street redesign trimmed the one-way, three-lane road down to a two car lanes plus a buffered bike lane. (The bike lane on Cleveland [...]
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Demolition of Atlanta Neighborhoods for Interstate Construction

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Demolition of Atlanta neighborhoods for interstate constructionThe top photo, which comes from the GSU digital collections, shows the area on the southeast side of Atlanta’s center in the 1950s, when demolition was just starting for Interstate 75 & 85. That bottom half of the photo shows parts of the Mechanicsville (on the left) and Summerhill neighborhoods. See a larger version here. The bottom photo shows what we have today. It’s basically unrecognizable, with a decadent amount of car infrastructure having taken over the neighborhoods, while disconnecting them for pedestrian mobility in the process.I wanted to post this today because, while speaking at a forum yesterday on preservation for the Georgia Conservancy, I completely butchered a great quote from Andres Duany about the damage that’s been done to the urban fabric of our cities by highway construction. Here’s what I meant to say:“The Department of Transportation, in its single-minded pursuit of traffic flow, has destroyed more American towns than General Sherman.” – Andres DuanyIt’s absolutely true. Sherman may have burned mid-19th century Atlanta, but in the mid-20th century we took that reconstructed city and dissected and destroyed its center with interstate highways – until what remained of neighborhoods ended up being separated like little islands, all of them fairly dependent on cars for transportation. Walking under interstate overpasses is grim, as I know well; not many people are going to do that.How does this fit into the subject of historic preservation (other than the obvious destruction of buildings directly for the construction of highways)? Because, as a keen audience member pointed out, when you have a city that people traverse mostly in cars, those residents only experience old buildings from a windshield perspective. To appreciate the aesthetic, historic, and place-making value of old architecture, you really need to be out of the car and walking slowly past these blocks.Atlanta has lacked a strong, widespread culture of historic preservation. Big causes with wide appeal – like saving the Fox Theatre – are nice to see, but the more humble buildings that have disappeared over the years have gone down without as much of a fight. I suspect that’s because we haven’t been outside walking these streets. In essence, the destruction of pedestrian-friendliness by way of car infrastructure has “paved the way” (ha!) for an inertia when it comes to preservation. If you don’t experience buildings up close, you don’t care about them as much – and you can’t experience them up close if you’re in a car all the time. EDIT: Kyle Kessler, one of my co-panelists from the Georgia Conservancy event this week, sent me a note about this post. If you look at the bottom image of the modern-day Atlanta above, just left of center, you’ll see a huge rectangle of red earth. That rectangle tells the story of the interstates’ damage to these neighborhoods as well as anything. As Kessler writes:“"The modern-day aerial image shows a big spot of red Georgia clay just south of I-20. This is where the Cooper Street School (built in the 1920s but vacant since the 1970s) stood until sometime last year. The damage caused by interstates is still happening – it took out the housing, which removed the population; and it separated better-off neighborhoods from the worse-off neighborhoods that are still struggling with the economic fall-out of their disconnectedness.“The loss of population and good pedestrian mobility in these neighborhoods – and the way they’ve been geographically and economically separated from the rest of the city – has been acutely felt for decades. It serves as a grim reminder of our past mistakes with the city’s built environment. Can Atlanta leaders find a way to undo the damage?
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