From: Dallas Observer Blogs
By: Robert Wilonsky // July 20, 2009
Jason Roberts -- a Happy Bullet, co-founder of the Art Conspiracy, Texas Theater-rehabber and, for the purposes of this item, Oak Cliff Transit Authority board member -- sends word that this morning's Dallas-Fort Worth streetcar item has (pretty much) nothing to do with downtown Dallas trolleys. Which is why Angela Hunt didn't know about the North Central Texas Council of Governments' joint grant application. Roberts says the Star-Telegram -- which noted that in Dallas, "the idea is to back streetcar circulator service downtown" -- got the story wrong as well.
Actually, Roberts says, the application for federal money is being filed on behalf of Fort Worth and the OCTA, which is trying to get dough to run a streetcar line between Union Station downtown and Oak Cliff (at this point, it would stop near Methodist Hospital before expanding throughout the O.C.). The request will be for $95 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants geared toward creating transit near workforce housing. Roberts says the 3-year-old OCTA, which doesn't have a formal relationship with Dallas Area Rapid Transit, needs help funding the project, since a good mile of the rail line would span the Houston Street viaduct and therefore not allow for the kind of cost-off-setting economic generators of which Hunt speaks in the earlier item.
MORE
Sunday, July 26, 2009
DART Orange Line to connect with DFW Airport
From: ProgressiveRailoading.com
July 25, 2009
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) board recently approved a route for the final section of the Orange Line: The light-rail corridor will connect to Terminal A at DFW International Airport by December 2013.
The board made the decision following a staff recommendation to provide direct terminal access from the future Belt Line Station, which will be located on airport property. The board also voted to add a future light-rail connection from the Orange Line to the Cotton Belt corridor, a DART-owned rail line that crosses the airport property, to provide additional rail access to the airport. The agency has proposed launching passenger-rail service on the Cotton Belt line — which crosses through the northwest Dallas-Fort Worth area — by 2013.
Earlier this year, DART launched construction on the first two sections of the 14-mile Orange Line, from the future Bachman Station in northwest Dallas to Las Colinas, and then to the Belt Line Station. The sections are scheduled to open in December 2011 and 2012, respectively. DART expects to award a contract for the final section to the airport next year.
July 25, 2009
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) board recently approved a route for the final section of the Orange Line: The light-rail corridor will connect to Terminal A at DFW International Airport by December 2013.
The board made the decision following a staff recommendation to provide direct terminal access from the future Belt Line Station, which will be located on airport property. The board also voted to add a future light-rail connection from the Orange Line to the Cotton Belt corridor, a DART-owned rail line that crosses the airport property, to provide additional rail access to the airport. The agency has proposed launching passenger-rail service on the Cotton Belt line — which crosses through the northwest Dallas-Fort Worth area — by 2013.
Earlier this year, DART launched construction on the first two sections of the 14-mile Orange Line, from the future Bachman Station in northwest Dallas to Las Colinas, and then to the Belt Line Station. The sections are scheduled to open in December 2011 and 2012, respectively. DART expects to award a contract for the final section to the airport next year.
Houston Pavillions Off to a Good Start
From: Houston Chronicle
By: David Kaplan // July 18, 2009
Depending on where people view it, they could make a case that the 9-month-old downtown Houston Pavilions is either succeeding or hurting.
Stand on the corner of Dallas and Caroline, and you'll see a lively scene at the House of Blues.
But on the second level, between Fannin and San Jacinto, there are vacant retail sites.
Sixty-two percent of the massive Pavilions is leased, and about 50 percent of it is occupied.
Although it's still half-empty, the project is off to a very good start, retail analysts say, when you factor in the economic downturn and gloomy state of retail.
By: David Kaplan // July 18, 2009
Depending on where people view it, they could make a case that the 9-month-old downtown Houston Pavilions is either succeeding or hurting.
Stand on the corner of Dallas and Caroline, and you'll see a lively scene at the House of Blues.But on the second level, between Fannin and San Jacinto, there are vacant retail sites.
Sixty-two percent of the massive Pavilions is leased, and about 50 percent of it is occupied.
Although it's still half-empty, the project is off to a very good start, retail analysts say, when you factor in the economic downturn and gloomy state of retail.
But if the project were to fail, it would be a major blow to the downtown area near the George R. Brown Convention Center. The three-block-long Pavilions was designed to be that district's entertainment hub and make downtown Houston more of a nighttime and weekend destination.
The $170 million Pavilions is a mixed-used development combining retail, entertainment and office space.
MOREHouston - Groundbreaking marks MetroRail Expansion
From; TAMU Real Estate Center
July 13, 2009
Houston's light rail is expanding. METRO held groundbreaking on two additional light rail lines - one on the southeast side of town, and the other up north.
The newly built north corridor is expected to run more than five miles from University of Houston-Downtown to Northline Mall.
On the southeast side, the new line will stretch 6.5 miles, running from downtown, past Texas Southern University and University of Houston to Palm Center.
The $150 million tab is being picked up by the federal government.
METRO Chairman David Wolff says Houstonians should celebrate that. "In the president's budget, there are only five light rail projects in the U.S. that got into that budget. Of those five, two of them are ours,” Wolff said.
The $1.4 billion vision for Houston's light rail is to add the east end, university and uptown lines by 2013.
The addition of the north and southeast rail lines will give 60,000 Houstonians jobs.
July 13, 2009
Houston's light rail is expanding. METRO held groundbreaking on two additional light rail lines - one on the southeast side of town, and the other up north.
The newly built north corridor is expected to run more than five miles from University of Houston-Downtown to Northline Mall.
On the southeast side, the new line will stretch 6.5 miles, running from downtown, past Texas Southern University and University of Houston to Palm Center.
The $150 million tab is being picked up by the federal government.
METRO Chairman David Wolff says Houstonians should celebrate that. "In the president's budget, there are only five light rail projects in the U.S. that got into that budget. Of those five, two of them are ours,” Wolff said.
The $1.4 billion vision for Houston's light rail is to add the east end, university and uptown lines by 2013.
The addition of the north and southeast rail lines will give 60,000 Houstonians jobs.
Does Dallas Need a Streetcar System?
From: Dallas Morning News Transportation Blog
By: Rodger Jones // July 16, 2009
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Interests invested in downtown are pushing for them, and the city is asking Washington for $80 million for them. But I wonder if there is time or interest in questioning the value, in light of the investment needed. I think it's a good debate. That is, would the huge investment in a fixed-rail streetcar system benefit the city more than a system of beefed-up crosstown buses to serve downtown?
If you have an open mind on the subject, it's worth reading a blog posting from one transportation consultant who hails from Portland, the city of the much-ballyhooed streetcar system. He writes in part:
Streetcars are in vogue, however, and local transportation and city planners can smell the money from Washington. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently went to Portland to admire the streetcar system there and offer encouragement to such undertakings.
MORE
By: Rodger Jones // July 16, 2009
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Interests invested in downtown are pushing for them, and the city is asking Washington for $80 million for them. But I wonder if there is time or interest in questioning the value, in light of the investment needed. I think it's a good debate. That is, would the huge investment in a fixed-rail streetcar system benefit the city more than a system of beefed-up crosstown buses to serve downtown?If you have an open mind on the subject, it's worth reading a blog posting from one transportation consultant who hails from Portland, the city of the much-ballyhooed streetcar system. He writes in part:
Streetcars that replace bus lines are not a mobility improvement. If you
replace a bus with a streetcar on the same route, nobody will be able to get
anywhere any faster than they could before. This makes streetcars quite
different from most of the other transit investments being discussed today.
Where a streetcar is faster or more reliable than the bus route it
replaced, this is because other improvements were made at the same time --
improvements that could just as well have been made for the bus route. These
improvements may have been politically packaged as part of the streetcar
project, but they were logically independent, so their benefits are not really
benefits of the streetcar as compared to the bus.
Streetcars are in vogue, however, and local transportation and city planners can smell the money from Washington. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently went to Portland to admire the streetcar system there and offer encouragement to such undertakings.
MORE
Austin - Emissions, ozone could be problematic for city
From: The Daily Texan
By: Syeda Hasan // July 15, 2009
The Clean Air Force of Central Texas, an organization that promotes improving air quality through educational programs, is continuing its efforts to inform citizens about the harmful effects of ozone emissions in the region.The group designed its “Big Push” campaign this year to keep Austin in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation standards this “ozone season,” the period from April 1 to October 31, when ozone levels are highest.
Bryan Lambeth, spokesman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said at the group’s presentation at Green Pastures Restaurant on Tuesday that while Austin’s ozone levels have been in decline, they still do not meet the new EPA standards which lowered the amount of emissions permitted.
Austin Capital Metro -- No start date yet for Red Line
Austin-American Statesment
By: Ben Wear // Friday, July 17, 2009
Capital Metro has just released its latest passenger rail update and the bottom-line still hasn’t changed: No start date yet for the Red Line from Leander to downtown Austin.
And, as has been the case since May, a promise to report back in a month.
And as has been the case with the other monthly reports, the jargon-heavy release from the transit agency reports progress on getting the track’s control systems nailed down and training completed, and in each case indicates that more is left to be done.
MORE
By: Ben Wear // Friday, July 17, 2009
Capital Metro has just released its latest passenger rail update and the bottom-line still hasn’t changed: No start date yet for the Red Line from Leander to downtown Austin.
And, as has been the case since May, a promise to report back in a month.
And as has been the case with the other monthly reports, the jargon-heavy release from the transit agency reports progress on getting the track’s control systems nailed down and training completed, and in each case indicates that more is left to be done.
MORE
Capital Metro insists progress made on MetroRail
BY JIM BERGAMO / KVUE News
There was still no word Friday on when Capital Metro plans to start its MetroRail service.
Two more federal safety violations discovered in June have contributed to the delay, but despite those, Capital Metro insists it is getting closer to a start date -- possibly as early as September.
The Capital MetroRail test runs continue at the rate of five to 10 per day. Most taking the trip on this day walked onto the rail car -- some did so rolling a bike beside them and one rolled herself onto the train in her wheelchair.
MORE
There was still no word Friday on when Capital Metro plans to start its MetroRail service.
Two more federal safety violations discovered in June have contributed to the delay, but despite those, Capital Metro insists it is getting closer to a start date -- possibly as early as September.
The Capital MetroRail test runs continue at the rate of five to 10 per day. Most taking the trip on this day walked onto the rail car -- some did so rolling a bike beside them and one rolled herself onto the train in her wheelchair.
MORE
Regional focus shifts to funding streetcar system in Fort Worth, Dallas
gdickson@star-telegram.com
Streetcar lines could return to downtown Fort Worth and Dallas by 2012, or at least be under construction by then, if the cities can secure federal stimulus money for the projects, officials said Thursday.
The two cities, with help from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, plan to apply for $95 million in federal grants by a Sept. 19 deadline. While it’s unclear how the money would be divided, it would help kick-start a streetcar line that Fort Worth officials have talked about running from downtown to museums, hospitals and the Stockyards. It has been estimated that the project could cost as much as $250 million.
"It’s a huge shift," said Fort Worth Councilman Joel Burns. "Until a few days ago, we were talking about still being in the planning process in 2012."
Planners in both cities and the region are optimistic that the projects may qualify for immediate aid. The key would be demonstrating to the federal government that the streetcars would improve mobility in economically distressed areas, thus qualifying them for a special grant.
And North Texas officials hope that the cities get Brownie points for submitting their requests together, as a regional show of force in the ongoing battle to reduce traffic congestion and spur job growth.
Streetcar lines could return to downtown Fort Worth and Dallas by 2012, or at least be under construction by then, if the cities can secure federal stimulus money for the projects, officials said Thursday.
The two cities, with help from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, plan to apply for $95 million in federal grants by a Sept. 19 deadline. While it’s unclear how the money would be divided, it would help kick-start a streetcar line that Fort Worth officials have talked about running from downtown to museums, hospitals and the Stockyards. It has been estimated that the project could cost as much as $250 million.
"It’s a huge shift," said Fort Worth Councilman Joel Burns. "Until a few days ago, we were talking about still being in the planning process in 2012."
Planners in both cities and the region are optimistic that the projects may qualify for immediate aid. The key would be demonstrating to the federal government that the streetcars would improve mobility in economically distressed areas, thus qualifying them for a special grant.
And North Texas officials hope that the cities get Brownie points for submitting their requests together, as a regional show of force in the ongoing battle to reduce traffic congestion and spur job growth.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Fort Worth & Dallas Team up on Streetcar Projects
From: Fortworthology
By: Ken Buchanan // July 17, 2009
After a recent meeting, officials from Fort Worth and Dallas have decided to shift their regional focus on transit, with a new emphasis on each city’s respective modern streetcar plans. As a result, Fort Worth and Dallas are teaming up and going to the feds as a unit, applying for $95 million to jump-start the Fort Worth and Dallas streetcar systems. Says Gordon Dickson in the Star-Telegram:
By: Ken Buchanan // July 17, 2009
After a recent meeting, officials from Fort Worth and Dallas have decided to shift their regional focus on transit, with a new emphasis on each city’s respective modern streetcar plans. As a result, Fort Worth and Dallas are teaming up and going to the feds as a unit, applying for $95 million to jump-start the Fort Worth and Dallas streetcar systems. Says Gordon Dickson in the Star-Telegram:
Dallas and Fort Worth, with help from the council of governments, would apply for $95 million in federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants by Sept. 19. The U.S. Transportation Department can award up to $1.5 billion at its discretion, with no more than $300 million going to any one state.
Federal rules would require that the money be spent by Feb. 17, 2012. That date would be the latest that construction could begin.
This is a major step forward for the Fort Worth streetcar project. Previously, city officials expected to still be in the planning stage of the project by 2012. If Fort Worth and Dallas can secure this jump-start money, the Fort Worth streetcar will be radically sped up - we’ll be seeing dirt turning no later than that February 17, 2012 date. It’s even possible the system could be running in 2012. When combining the jump-start funds with local funds, we would expect the full starter system becomes a very real possibility - or at the very least, Downtown plus one of the other lines (perhaps the Near Southside, since that line doesn’t require waiting on a new bridge to be built as the 7th Street line does). We’d also expect to see further cooperation between Fort Worth and Dallas on these plans - say, ordering cars together in the same batch.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Lone Star Rising
From: The Economist
July 9, 2009
Thanks to low taxes and light regulation, Texas is booming. But demography will bring profound changes.
VISITORS to Governor Rick Perry’s vast office in the Texas capitol building in Austin (with a dome a mite taller, naturally, than the one in Washington, DC) are sometimes offered a viewing of a triumphalist video. Entitled “The Texaplex”, the seven-minute film is a hymn to the successes Texas has achieved in recent years, and they look pretty impressive.
Texas now hosts more Fortune 500 companies than any other American state. They include AT&T, Dell and Texas Instruments; oil giants such as Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Valero; American, Continental and Southwest Airlines; Fluor, a huge construction firm (recently lured from California); J.C. Penney; Halliburton; and 52 others. Texas claims to have been responsible for 70% of all the net new jobs created last year in America’s 50 states, though since only a few states created any jobs at all that is not quite as astonishing as it sounds.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Houston's Impressive GDP Ranking
From: houston strategies
July 10, 2009
The NY Times had an interesting story yesterday about how the transportation stimulus funding is overly biased towards rural areas, which doesn't surprise me at all given the geographic nature of politics and the obvious fact that a road network will be more expensive per capita for a dispersed population than a concentrated one. We have more people inside the 610 Loop than in the entire state of Wyoming - whose road network do you think is more expensive to build and maintain?
But the really interesting item from the story was the graph below. Not because it shows Houston underperformed securing transportation stimulus vs. most other cities (inc. DFW), but because of the interesting GDP share numbers.
Note that Houston is the 5th largest GDP metro in the country, and ahead of DFW and Philly, even though they have larger populations. Atlanta and Miami have similar populations to us, but are significantly farther behind in GDP. San Francisco and Boston, which are 1 to 1.5 million smaller than us, but packed with highly productive, educated, creative class types still end up notably below us in GDP share - and Detroit, Phoenix, and Riverside with populations similar to both of them fall well below them in GDP. LA has more than twice our population, but less than twice our GDP share. Chicago has 67% more people than us, but only 41% more GDP share. We even slightly edge out NYC proportional to our populations.
Downtown Dallas Video Boards: New York Times Square
From: Dallas Business Journal
by: Phoebe Wu /// July 10, 2009
Five LED video boards, championed by Spectrum Properties Ltd. and The Okpa Co. LLC, are set to go up in downtown Dallas by the end of 2009.
Reminiscent of the moving advertisements in New York City’s Times Square, these boards will feature various advertisements and be used to create economic energy and excitement downtown.
After three years of negotiating with the City of Dallas and $150,000 in development costs, Spectrum, a Dallas-based real estate developer, and Okpa, an Addison-based commercial real estate brokerage, received City Council approval June 10 to install two of five planned boards downtown. The other three are awaiting final approval for the six-year permits.
The first two boards will be installed on the Main Street and Elm Street façades of the Third Rail Lofts building at 1407 Main St., which Spectrum and Okpa redeveloped together. The final three are proposed to go on nearby buildings along Commerce and Main streets.
Traffic Down in Dallas?
From: Dallas Morning News Transportation Blog
by: Rodger Jones // July 9, 2009
The gentleman from Kentucky, my esteemed colleague Michael Lindenberger, eased into the TTI urban traffic congestion report with a somewhat upbeat rendering. It was the right headline based on the figures in the biennial report.
On the editorial page, meanwhile, we addressed the same report more from the harried driver's eye view, and you know what that can look like. As opposed to glass half full, we said, Through the windshield, the glass looks dry as an El Paso July.
So what's your view? What do you see from the pavement you travel?
One thing is not easily within grasp -- a current, definitive measure of local congestion. What we have are tidbits and indicators of activity, plus the anecdotal.
Statewide, fuel tax collections are down, along with the economy. One would expect a similar impact here, but I don't have figures.
People's eyeballs tell them that fewer trucks are on the roads today. More fallout from the economy.
Beyond that, the data tell a mixed story. Behold a maze of fascinating data, posted on the North Central Texas Council of Governments' website. Pore over them and reach your own conclusions.
My eye goes first to NTTA transactions on the DNT, which seem somewhat insulated from the downturn. Over the entire system, as Michael has written, NTTA officials project a revenue falloff, but the transaction figures make the picture murkier for me. Bush drivers down, yes, but 121 has come on line.
Also of interest is how mass transit ridership has fared -- or not -- in the downturn. As a daily DART train rider, I can attest how people packed on the train when gas hit $3 a gallon and again at $4 a gallon. Then ridership seemed to level off. The NCTCOG graphs reflect that as well.
One other thing occurs to me here: Over years of building congestion, through two spikes in gas prices and now into this economic downturn, DART doesn't seem to be making gains in building permanent ridership, bus or train.
Is that "just the way Dallas is" and will always be?
DART Rail Ridership Continues to Rise
From: Dallas Morning News
July 8, 2009
by: Rebecca Simon
More people are jumping on DART's trains. After a record year in 2008, that trend is still on track.
On average, more than 65,000 people a day are riding rail during the week, according to Dallas Area Rapid Transit.
That compares with 63,000 riders during the same period last year – when gasoline was pushing toward $4 a gallon. (Regular gas is now selling for about $2.40 on average, according to DallasGasPrices.com, a Web site that monitors prices.)
Also Online
Citizens Work with Austin to Plan Future Development
From: Community Impact Newspaper
July 10, 2009
by: Mark Collins
On the second Wednesday of every month in an apartment complex activity room, a small group of people gathers around plastic tables and plans for the future of the most important neighborhood in Austin. This particular neighborhood is the most important because it is the one in which they live.
As Austin continues to grow and redevelop its central core, more and more citizens are taking an active role in their neighborhoods. Developers and city officials are listening as groups of neighbors shape how their community will grow.
“To really know what the issues are in a given neighborhood, you have to truly understand the community and the ramifications of potential changes, and only the neighborhood knows what that is,” said Bo McCarver, who has been active in his community for more than 25 years. “The city planners can’t tell you, the city council doesn’t know — only the people that live in the community truly understand.”
Austin Congestion
From: Austin Contrarian
July 9, 2009
The Texas Transportation Institute has issued its annual report on congestion in American cities. As usual, Austin doesn't do well, punching well above its class. Tthe average Austin traveler experienced an annual delay of 39 hours in 2007. That's up from 32 hours in 1997, although no worse than 2006.
Ryan Avent puts the Austin figures in perspective:
The average traveler in the New York metro area faces 44 hours wasted per year, for instance, while the average traveler in Los Angeles loses 70 hours per year to congestion, even though New York’s metropolitan population is much, much larger than LA’s. More interesting still, Austin and Raleigh aren’t that far behind New York with 39 and 34 hours wasted annually, despite the fact that both metro areas have less than two million people while greater New York is home to 20 million people.
TTI also calculates the percent of peak period travel that is congested. Austin again fares poorly -- its roads are congested for 70% of the peak travel period.
Austin 6th in Sustainable Cities List
From: Smarter Cities (NRDC)
One major advantage in climate change protection that Austin, Texas, has over other cities, according to Ester Matthews, director of the Austin Climate Protection Program, is the fact that the city owns its energy utility. It’s not just because it provides the city with more funding to invest in other green programs; it’s because Austin, the “Live Music Capital of the World” and home to the University of Texas, has a progressive community that insists on a responsive government. In the case of Austin Energy, this means the citywide-elected board members of the utility—City Council members—support efficient energy measures. Also, Texas is the only state on its own electrical grid.
This combination allowed the city—relatively quickly and without the need for federal approval—to plan to adopt a smart grid, which is the infrastructure of the not-so-distant future that will distribute energy production and storage systemwide. If the plan, known as the “Pecan Street Project,” materializes, it will develop alternative energy, putting solar panels on homes and compensating residents for excess energy used to power something else in the city. The project has partners in the university, the Environmental Defense Fund, and corporations including Dell, GE Energy and IBM.
Although the city is one of the country’s most advanced in using energy efficiency and allocating it effectively, its three major energy sources for electricity currently are coal, nuclear power and natural gas. But Austin Energy is working toward a goal of 30 percent renewable by 2020, and currently obtains 11 percent of its energy from wind power. It also offers a 100 percent green energy option, GreenChoice.
Officials agree on station locations for transit project
From: Fort Worth Star-Telegramby: Gordon Dickson July 8, 2009
D/FW AIRPORT — A proposal to link commuter and light-rail trains from Fort Worth and Dallas at the cities’ jointly owned airport by 2013 is back on track, now that transit officials have worked through their differences over station locations.
The proposal to connect the two transit systems at a station between Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Terminals A and B was among several items discussed Wednesday night during a joint meeting of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority and Dallas Area Rapid Transit boards.
The compromise allows the Fort Worth authority, known as the T, to continue with plans to build a commuter rail line through Northeast Tarrant County and Grapevine, connecting to the airport by running the tracks parallel to International Parkway and dead-ending at Terminal B.
From the east, DART would extend its Orange Line light-rail system through Irving to Terminal A, including a ground-level, dog-leg turn around the northeastern edge of the airfield.
Passenger Rail Service to DFW Airport has a Long Way to Go
From: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
July 10, 2009
Officials of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority and Dallas Area Rapid Transit had a pleasant meeting Wednesday. They’ve been in negotiations about planned passenger rail service from their cities to the north end of D/FW Airport, and part of the reason for this meeting was that they’ve reached a partial agreement.
But don’t be fooled. There are still plenty of unsettled issues between the agencies regarding the future of regional rail service, particularly with regard to the DART-owned Cotton Belt line from north Fort Worth through Grapevine.
DART board members passed a resolution last year making it clear that Cotton Belt service will be done their way or no way. They can do that because they own the line.
U.S. better at avoiding traffic jams; Houston's not
From: Houston Chronicle
July 7, 2009
WASHINGTON — Drivers are spending less time stuck in rush-hour traffic for a second straight year, the first-ever two-year decline in congestion as high gas prices and the economic downturn force many Americans to change how they commute.
In individual cities, Los Angeles traffic is getting better but is still the worst in the nation. Washington's is getting worse, now ranking second.
The average U.S. driver languished in rush-hour traffic for 36.1 hours in 2007, down from 36.6 hours in 2006 and a peak of 37.4 hours in 2005, according to a study being released Wednesday by the Texas Transportation Institute. Total wasted fuel also edged lower for the first time, from 2.85 billion gallons in 2006 to 2.81 billion, or roughly three weeks' worth of gas per traveler.
The records go back a quarter-century, to 1982.
The last time traffic congestion had declined was in 1991 amid a spike in oil prices during the first Gulf War.
This time, demographers attributed the decrease to a historic cutback in driving as commuters reduced solo trips, took public transit or carpooled after gas prices surged toward $4 a gallon and then the economy faltered. The housing downturn beginning in 2006 also has played a factor by reducing U.S. migration to far-flung residential exurbs.
But it won't last, assuming the economy recovers.
"Congestion won't be as bad as before for a while, but it will still be very frustrating, very unreliable and it will take a lot of time out of your day," said Tim Lomax, researcher at the Texas Transportation Institute, which is part of Texas A&M University. "The average traveler still needs 25 percent more time for their rush-hour trips."
The Los Angeles metropolitan area, with its car pool lanes and emerging mass transit, shed two hours of wait-time in rush-hour traffic. Still, its sprawling freeway system remained the nation's worst for congestion, with drivers wasting an average of 70 hours in 2007.
Other large metro areas showing congestion declines were San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Seattle.
In contrast, the Washington, D.C., area had more bumper-to-bumper traffic, surpassing Atlanta as the second worst in congestion. With the Washington regional economy faring relatively well, drivers heading to work in the nation's capital and surrounding suburbs wasted 62 hours in rush-hour traffic in 2007, up from 59 hours.
Houston, Las Vegas, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., had worse or equally bad traffic compared with the previous year, victims of a fast-growing population that outpaced roadway capacity.
What Happens Once You Get Off the Train?
from Dc.StreestsBlog.org
By: Ryan Avent
July 8, 2009
My question is simple: how could you take rail from Dallas to Houston and cope once you got there? San Antonio I can see, at least provided you will camp out in city center (a mistake, but that's a question for a different day). I am willing to be converted, but what are the odds of such a line attracting significant patronage, with or without ongoing subsidy to the fares and not just to line construction? Or is the vision that everyone takes the train and then rents a car on arrival? According to Matt Yglesias, the plan won't even directly link Houston to Dallas. By the way, here are some of the other planned links from Texas. Will people really take trains from Houston to Meridien, Mississippi?
I don't really understand why Tyler thinks this is a problem. People fly between cities all the time, and airports, unlike rail hubs, are miles from central business districts. So what will people do once they've taken a train from one city to the next?
Texas and America's four great growth waves
From houston strategies
April 9, 2009
Let's talk about the really big picture - like 200+ years of American history. It seems to me there have been four great growth waves in our history. In each case, there was an attractive new frontier, which not only drew migrating waves of people seeking new opportunity, but also developed large new bases of industry, wealth, and power.
The fourth wave is increasingly clear: Texas and the new South.
- The Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC corridor: America's original land of opportunity, wealth, and power. NYC was the big winner, and DC and Boston still do quite well.
- The rise of the agricultural and industrial Midwest, including Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and St. Louis. The fall here has been a hard one as manufacturing moved abroad, but Chicago still stands as a world class city produced during the region's heyday.
- The great westward migration, mostly focused on California, but with ancillary growth in adjacent and west coast states. This migration started well before WW2, but really took off after the war, and produced two top-tier mega-metros, LA and the San Francisco Bay Area, and several successful second-tiers like Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.
The fourth wave is increasingly clear: Texas and the new South.
TX Smart Growth and Houston Urbanism
From houston strategies
June 29, 2009
In case you missed it, Governor Perry vetoed a smart growth bill that came out of the recent legislature (Houston Tomorrow, Kuff, HRG). Setting aside all of the negative impacts that have come from smart growth plans elsewhere (the CA housing bubble, among others), and as relatively toothless as it was, I roughly agree with Perry and the Austin Contrarian that it was a misguided attempt to impose a state solution on what is fundamentally a local problem.
Where I disagree somewhat with AC is his comment on TXDoT and community control of their transportation. While the agency has run a bit roughshod, transportation is fundamentally a network that connects places, and that means it needs a master architect with control rather than every locality going their own way. Think about how master-planned communities prefer cul-de-sacs over street grids - nice for residents, totally unhelpful for people trying to pass through. Imagine that approach on a larger scale. Cities decide they don't like pass-through traffic so they constrict incoming boundry roads to 2-lanes - or worse put big tolls on them. Imagine if Bellaire could decide they don't like the 610 loop and they tore down the segment inside their city limits? Everybody wants the big infrastructure somewhere else - NIMBYism run amok is what we'd get. TXDoT has to have the power to break through those NIMBY barriers, even if it's not always pretty.
Where I disagree somewhat with AC is his comment on TXDoT and community control of their transportation. While the agency has run a bit roughshod, transportation is fundamentally a network that connects places, and that means it needs a master architect with control rather than every locality going their own way. Think about how master-planned communities prefer cul-de-sacs over street grids - nice for residents, totally unhelpful for people trying to pass through. Imagine that approach on a larger scale. Cities decide they don't like pass-through traffic so they constrict incoming boundry roads to 2-lanes - or worse put big tolls on them. Imagine if Bellaire could decide they don't like the 610 loop and they tore down the segment inside their city limits? Everybody wants the big infrastructure somewhere else - NIMBYism run amok is what we'd get. TXDoT has to have the power to break through those NIMBY barriers, even if it's not always pretty.
An Empty Victory: When urban planning fails to live up to expectations
From Dallas Urban CoreJuly 8, 2009
As the current severe recession shuts down countless buildings and spaces everywhere, it is a good time to take stock on why some real-estate ventures succeed and others fail. The generous financing available the past five years not only led to lots of construction but also enabled the consideration and speculation for new models of development. Many large-scale buildings and instant communities were planned and built to a degree never seen before. Urban concepts that were confined to academia not long ago were suddenly put to the test as built projects. For example, entire abandoned airports were transformed into attractive neighborhoods with commercial town centers. Many cities seized industrial brownfield sites as a way to regenerate urban life by masterplanning dense mixed-use districts. After decades of rapid suburban development, the central city was due for a comeback, as demographic developments, pollution reductions and changing tastes conspired to make downtown living look enticing. It was just a matter of finding an ambitious project to kickstart it all.
Dallas was no different. Having for a long time failed to populate its dowtown with any residents, the city made a concerted effort (i.e. gave lots of tax incentives) to refurbish and even repurpose vacant office buildings into top-of-the-line apartments and condominiums. It even subsidized a neighborhood grocery store to get residents to stay. Yet these efforts were modest compared to one of the largest new mixed-use developments just outside the central business district, Victory Park. The brainchild of Ross Perot Jr. (the son of the former presidential candidate), Victory was advertised as the the premier masterplanned urban community, designed for the on-the-go single professional who desired place to live, work, shop and play. Anchored by a state-of-the-art basketball arena and a luxury condo-hotel, Victory was going to be a district defined by high-rise apartments, fashionable street retail, trendy restaurants, and a public plaza surrounded by gigantic and moving digital projections. Apparently, what Dallas needed was an instant Times Square, complete with a glassed-in television studio at the corner to highlight the crowded pedestrian-filled sidewalks that are common in the city (...uh huh). After an early flirtation with a low-rise, historicist architectural theme, it was decided for this district to appear distincitively contemporary, with multiple glass skyscrapers of at least 25 stories, bamboo landscaping and reflecting pools with cleaned.
Dallas was no different. Having for a long time failed to populate its dowtown with any residents, the city made a concerted effort (i.e. gave lots of tax incentives) to refurbish and even repurpose vacant office buildings into top-of-the-line apartments and condominiums. It even subsidized a neighborhood grocery store to get residents to stay. Yet these efforts were modest compared to one of the largest new mixed-use developments just outside the central business district, Victory Park. The brainchild of Ross Perot Jr. (the son of the former presidential candidate), Victory was advertised as the the premier masterplanned urban community, designed for the on-the-go single professional who desired place to live, work, shop and play. Anchored by a state-of-the-art basketball arena and a luxury condo-hotel, Victory was going to be a district defined by high-rise apartments, fashionable street retail, trendy restaurants, and a public plaza surrounded by gigantic and moving digital projections. Apparently, what Dallas needed was an instant Times Square, complete with a glassed-in television studio at the corner to highlight the crowded pedestrian-filled sidewalks that are common in the city (...uh huh). After an early flirtation with a low-rise, historicist architectural theme, it was decided for this district to appear distincitively contemporary, with multiple glass skyscrapers of at least 25 stories, bamboo landscaping and reflecting pools with cleaned.
MOREs.
High Speed Rail Dallas to Houston
from DC.StreetsBlog.Org
By: Rayan Avent
July 6, 2009
Ed Glaeser is a fantastic economist. He has done magnificent work analyzing the economics of urban growth and written indispensable papers on the connection between housing regulations and migration.
But when the man picks up his pen to write a piece for public consumption, he tends to take complete leave of his senses. I realize that this is a common affliction among economists, but Glaeser suffers from a severe case of the syndrome.
In a Friday piece in the Boston Globe, Glaeser takes on the administration's push to fund construction of high-speed rail corridors around the country. In doing so, he combines the cognitive failures of every amateur train hater with a serious lapse in critical thinking.
He begins by making two very valid points: transit agencies are currently suffering serious and unfortunate shortfalls, and transportation funding generally is allocated where it's least needed -- to states with low levels of population, population density, and congestion.
But then he rapidly goes off the rails. Glaeser writes
Now the administration wants Americans to envision high-speed rail lines in the wide-open spaces of Texas.
For most workers in America’s sprawling metropolitan areas, no train is going to drop them within walking distance of their home or job. In Greater Houston, only 11.6 percent of jobs are within three miles of an area’s center and more than 55 percent of jobs are more than 10 miles away from the city center.
Of course, Texas has four of the nation's fastest growing metropolitan areas, all within a few hundred miles of each other -- an ideal distance for high-speed rail. Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio are currently home to some 16 million people, and those metropolitan areas have added 3 million people since 2000 alone. Congestion is an issue within those metropolitan areas and will continue to worsen as they grow.
Punching Above Its Class -- Austin Traffic
From Urban Returns
July 9, 2009
The Texas Transportation Institute has issued its annual report on congestion in American cities. As usual, Austin doesn't do well, punching well above its class. Tthe average Austin traveler experienced an annual delay of 39 hours in 2007. That's up from 32 hours in 1997, although no worse than 2006.
Ryan Avent puts the Austin figures in perspective:
The average traveler in the New York metro area faces 44 hours wasted per year, for instance, while the average traveler in Los Angeles loses 70 hours per year to congestion, even though New York’s metropolitan population is much, much larger than LA’s. More interesting still, Austin and Raleigh aren’t that far behind New York with 39 and 34 hours wasted annually, despite the fact that both metro areas have less than two million people while greater New York is home to 20 million people.
Fort Worth Becoming a Biking Mecca
From 360 Blogs
By: Jason Whaley Tuesday June 16, 2009
An interesting read on the future development of a cycling-friendly Fort Worth. …
When you think of the best bicycling cities in the U.S., Fort Worth probably doesn’t spring to mind. But there are some changes coming. Hundreds of miles of new bike lanes, “road diets” and a proposed streetcar system could fundamentally change the way people think about getting around town there.
Fort Worth is one of the fastest-growing cities in America, and Streetsblog Network member blog Fort Worthology has been doing a great job of documenting the challenges that growth poses. Blogger Bike Friendly Oak Cliff of Dallas has an interview with Don Koski, one of the planners who is helping shape Fort Worth’s streetscape. He talked about the role of transit-oriented development, how to incorporate bikes into road design from the beginning, and why Fort Worth isn’t too hot for bike commuting.
In Fort Worth we are planning and developing more mixed-use centers and urban villages and redeveloping and infilling downtown and other neighborhoods near downtown. We are also planning for higher-density development along existing and future commuter rail stations and potential streetcar lines. Making these areas and the city as a whole more accessible by bicycle is consistent with these plans and visions.
Regarding temperature, I don’t buy the argument that people won’t bike because it’s too hot/cold/wet/etc. Look at the cities that have the highest bicycle commute rates in the country: Portland (wet), Minneapolis (cold), Seattle (wet), and Tucson (hot). Certainly there are many cyclists who won’t bike for transportation purposes when it’s hot, but there are other ways to address that, like by promoting the provision of shower and change facilities at major employers. In fact, I would say Fort Worth has great potential as a bicycling city: relatively flat, decent street block pattern, great trail system to which to make connections, great cycling weather 8 months out of the year, etc.
While we don’t yet have quantitative data, we definitely feel that bicycling is beginning to take off as a mode of transportation in Fort Worth. When gas rose to $4 a gallon a year ago, bicycles began showing up all over, and even with the cost of gas relieved somewhat, anecdotally we believe the numbers are still higher than they’ve been in a long time. For a long time Fort Worth has had a number of substantial bike clubs primarily interested in cycling for recreation. We believe a good piece of that advocacy has crossed over into a call to make the city’s transportation network more accommodating of cyclists as well.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Dallas barely sneaks ahead for 8th place in population
As population rankings go, San Diego's descent this decade has been swift. First it was Phoenix that knocked the city down a notch from its No. 6 berth, and a few years later along came San Antonio, dislodging it from No. 7. Now, Texas has struck again.
By a margin of fewer than 600 people, Dallas has bragging rights as the nation's eighth-largest city, pushing San Diego to No. 9, according to population estimates released today by the Census Bureau.
As of July 2008, San Diego's population stood at 1,279,329, compared with Dallas' count of 1,279,910. Not since the 1970s has San Diego been ranked as the ninth-largest city.
But Dallas may not be able to gloat for long. San Diego's population last year grew by 1.5 percent — faster than Dallas' 1 percent, suggesting that America's Finest City could easily recapture eighth place if growth continues at a healthy rate.
But Dallas may not be able to gloat for long. San Diego's population last year grew by 1.5 percent — faster than Dallas' 1 percent, suggesting that America's Finest City could easily recapture eighth place if growth continues at a healthy rate.
Credit Dallas officials with last year successfully challenging the Census Bureau's estimate of their city's population by documenting nearly a decade of building-permit activity.
The result is that the bureau's latest estimates show the city's population jumping substantially over the past several years. That means, unbeknownst to Dallas and San Diego, the two had switched places two years earlier.
“Six hundred, that's a small, small difference,” observed demographer Ed Shafer of the San Diego Association of Governments. “San Diego could easily switch back next year. A 1.5 percent growth rate is pretty good.”
As far as Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is concerned, it's not hard to understand why his city is moving up in the population rankings. Its business climate, he said, is hospitable to companies, its cost of living is reasonable, downtown is enjoying a renaissance, and the city is close to completing a huge arts complex.
“Yes, we're a little short on oceans and mountains, but our quality of life more than makes up for it,” Leppert added.
The Future of Fort Worth
From Bike Friendly Oak Cliff
June 15, 2009
As we noted in a recent article, Fort Worth has unveiled an incredibly progressive infrastructure plan based on a people-first model. 400+ miles of bike lanes, bus only lanes, streetcars, and “road diets” are being planned throughout the city with an ambitious timeline for implementation. To help pull the project together, the city hired Don Koski, an experienced planner from the Twin Cities area (ranked in the top 10 for North American bike friendly communities). BFOC was able to catch up with Don to find out more details about Fort Worth’s bold new initiatives in planning:
First of all, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I’m a native of Minnesota and spent all but the last 4 years of my life in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I’ve been in the transportation planning field for over 10 years, including stints with state and metropolitan governments in Wisconsin and Minnesota, with Dallas County Public Works, and now with Fort Worth for two and a half years. I have a lot of experience in the planning of bicycle and pedestrian transportation systems and the development of bicycle and pedestrian transportation projects. Bicycle and pedestrian planning has always just been one of the many duties that I have had, along with arterial street system planning, project identification and prioritization, capital program development, and others. I jumped at the opportunity in Fort Worth because of the tremendous challenges and opportunities the city has with its rapid pace of growth and evolving development strategies. I was intrigued by Fort Worth’s walkable downtown, investment in mixed-use urban villages, relatively unconstrained growth potential, and interest in improving its bicycle and pedestrian transportation systems.
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June 15, 2009
As we noted in a recent article, Fort Worth has unveiled an incredibly progressive infrastructure plan based on a people-first model. 400+ miles of bike lanes, bus only lanes, streetcars, and “road diets” are being planned throughout the city with an ambitious timeline for implementation. To help pull the project together, the city hired Don Koski, an experienced planner from the Twin Cities area (ranked in the top 10 for North American bike friendly communities). BFOC was able to catch up with Don to find out more details about Fort Worth’s bold new initiatives in planning:
First of all, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I’m a native of Minnesota and spent all but the last 4 years of my life in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I’ve been in the transportation planning field for over 10 years, including stints with state and metropolitan governments in Wisconsin and Minnesota, with Dallas County Public Works, and now with Fort Worth for two and a half years. I have a lot of experience in the planning of bicycle and pedestrian transportation systems and the development of bicycle and pedestrian transportation projects. Bicycle and pedestrian planning has always just been one of the many duties that I have had, along with arterial street system planning, project identification and prioritization, capital program development, and others. I jumped at the opportunity in Fort Worth because of the tremendous challenges and opportunities the city has with its rapid pace of growth and evolving development strategies. I was intrigued by Fort Worth’s walkable downtown, investment in mixed-use urban villages, relatively unconstrained growth potential, and interest in improving its bicycle and pedestrian transportation systems.
MORE
How urban can Houston become?
Big changes to our development code loom, but some worry flooding, parking and other problems will follow
By MIKE SNYDERCopyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
June 28, 2009, 10:44PM
Density hasn’t been kind to Cottage Grove, a small neighborhood with narrow streets, few sidewalks, poor drainage and scarce parking for the owners of its many new homes and their guests.
Like many neighborhoods inside Loop 610, Cottage Grove in recent years has experienced a flurry of construction of large townhomes that loom over 80-year-old cottages next door. Two or three dwellings crowd sites where one house stood previously. Streets are cluttered with vehicles parked every which way. Water stands in the streets after heavy rains.
“It was shocking to see this jewel of a neighborhood in this condition,” said former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, a senior fellow with the nonprofit Urban Land Institute who toured Cottage Grove two years ago. “It was about the ugliest thing I’d ever seen, to be honest with you.”
MORE
By MIKE SNYDERCopyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
June 28, 2009, 10:44PM
Density hasn’t been kind to Cottage Grove, a small neighborhood with narrow streets, few sidewalks, poor drainage and scarce parking for the owners of its many new homes and their guests.
Like many neighborhoods inside Loop 610, Cottage Grove in recent years has experienced a flurry of construction of large townhomes that loom over 80-year-old cottages next door. Two or three dwellings crowd sites where one house stood previously. Streets are cluttered with vehicles parked every which way. Water stands in the streets after heavy rains.
“It was shocking to see this jewel of a neighborhood in this condition,” said former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, a senior fellow with the nonprofit Urban Land Institute who toured Cottage Grove two years ago. “It was about the ugliest thing I’d ever seen, to be honest with you.”
MORE
TX Smart Growth and Houston Urbanism
by Tory Gattis
http://houstonstrategies.blogspot.com/
In case you missed it, Governor Perry vetoed a smart growth bill that came out of the recent legislature (Houston Tomorrow, Kuff, HRG). Setting aside all of the negative impacts that have come from smart growth plans elsewhere (the CA housing bubble, among others), and as relatively toothless as it was, I roughly agree with Perry and the Austin Contrarian that it was a misguided attempt to impose a state solution on what is fundamentally a local problem.
Where I disagree somewhat with AC is his comment on TXDoT and community control of their transportation. While the agency has run a bit roughshod, transportation is fundamentally a network that connects places, and that means it needs a master architect with control rather than every locality going their own way. Think about how master-planned communities prefer cul-de-sacs over street grids - nice for residents, totally unhelpful for people trying to pass through. Imagine that approach on a larger scale. Cities decide they don't like pass-through traffic so they constrict incoming boundry roads to 2-lanes - or worse put big tolls on them. Imagine if Bellaire could decide they don't like the 610 loop and they tore down the segment inside their city limits? Everybody wants the big infrastructure somewhere else - NIMBYism run amok is what we'd get. TXDoT has to have the power to break through those NIMBY barriers, even if it's not always pretty.
You might have also caught the Chronicle's front page story today on coming changes to our development code. Given the success of what we've seen inside the Loop, I'm all for expanding it out to the Beltway. But I agree refinements might help. Requiring some minimal guest parking is prudent. Make the new higher-density developments retain more runoff and drain it more slowly to prevent flooding. A simple barrel or underground tank linked to the gutter system should do it. If trees are removed, require the developer to sponsor new equivalent greenery coverage on site or elsewhere in the neighborhood (street medians, bayou edges, parks, etc.). These are relatively minor costs that would mitigate most of the issues.
http://houstonstrategies.blogspot.com/
In case you missed it, Governor Perry vetoed a smart growth bill that came out of the recent legislature (Houston Tomorrow, Kuff, HRG). Setting aside all of the negative impacts that have come from smart growth plans elsewhere (the CA housing bubble, among others), and as relatively toothless as it was, I roughly agree with Perry and the Austin Contrarian that it was a misguided attempt to impose a state solution on what is fundamentally a local problem.
Where I disagree somewhat with AC is his comment on TXDoT and community control of their transportation. While the agency has run a bit roughshod, transportation is fundamentally a network that connects places, and that means it needs a master architect with control rather than every locality going their own way. Think about how master-planned communities prefer cul-de-sacs over street grids - nice for residents, totally unhelpful for people trying to pass through. Imagine that approach on a larger scale. Cities decide they don't like pass-through traffic so they constrict incoming boundry roads to 2-lanes - or worse put big tolls on them. Imagine if Bellaire could decide they don't like the 610 loop and they tore down the segment inside their city limits? Everybody wants the big infrastructure somewhere else - NIMBYism run amok is what we'd get. TXDoT has to have the power to break through those NIMBY barriers, even if it's not always pretty.
You might have also caught the Chronicle's front page story today on coming changes to our development code. Given the success of what we've seen inside the Loop, I'm all for expanding it out to the Beltway. But I agree refinements might help. Requiring some minimal guest parking is prudent. Make the new higher-density developments retain more runoff and drain it more slowly to prevent flooding. A simple barrel or underground tank linked to the gutter system should do it. If trees are removed, require the developer to sponsor new equivalent greenery coverage on site or elsewhere in the neighborhood (street medians, bayou edges, parks, etc.). These are relatively minor costs that would mitigate most of the issues.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Work begins on Denton County's A-train commuter line
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 1, 2009
By WENDY HUNDLEY / The Dallas Morning News whundley@dallasnews.com
LEWISVILLE – Preparations for the A-train rail line – Denton County's long-awaited foray into commuter rail – finally began this week.
Workers began unloading 20-ton lengths of steel track in Lewisville and Lake Dallas along the route of the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. The 1,600-foot lengths of steel will form the backbone for the new 21-mile railway that is expected to be completed by December 2010."This is the first evidence that real progress is taking place," said Dee Leggett, a spokeswoman for the Denton County Transportation Authority, which is managing the project.
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