Why Dallas's Streetcars Got the Feds' Transportation Funds, Not Fort Worth's

Dallas Observer

Robert Wilonsky // February 17, 2010

As mentioned below, the North Central Texas Council of Governments is indeed "seeking clarification" from the U.S. Department of Transportation concerning today's announcement that Dallas is getting $23 million to fund the downtown streetcar project. NCTCOG wants to know if Fort Worth is supposed to be getting a piece of that pie -- since, after all, NCTCOG made the request on behalf of both cities in its $96 million joint grant application.

Michael Morris is supposed to respond upon his return to the office, but Cathy St. Denis at the USDOT finally responded to Unfair Park's request for a clarification. In short, she says, "Fort Worth is not a part of this. The money is just for Dallas." And why's that?

"The typical awardee averaged about one-third of their request," St. Denis says. "So we couldn't completely fund the Dallas-Fort Worth streetcar project at the requested level. And, we were impressed by how well Dallas had lined up its local match and the other requirements necessary to get the project under way."

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Dallas CM Linda Koop shares thoughts on street car grant

Dallas Morning News

Rudolph Bush // February 17, 2010

Dallas council member Linda Koop, a key transportation advocate in North Texas, said she was "delightfully surprised" the city won a piece of the highly competitive TIGER grants.

The grant of $23 million was a little less than half the $48 million Dallas sought for its street cars, but it will go a long way toward helping plan construction of the city's first street car circulator.

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Cap Metro Turns Toward a 2020 Vision

The Austin Chronicle

Lee Nichols // February 19, 2010

What will Austin look like in 10 years? If history is any guide, its population will be about 50% larger, and the area will need a transit system to accommodate that.

On Monday, the Capital Metro board of directors will consider Service Plan 2020, a 370-page analysis of the Cap Metro system and recommendations on how to improve it.

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Creating “A Better Tomorrow” in America with Sustainable Transportation

Check out this video from America 2050, as part of its “A Better Tomorrow” project to create a “positive vision for the future of America built around investments in sustainable transportation and livable communities.”

Suburban Poverty and the Transit Connection

DC.StreetsBlog.org
Sarah Goodyear // January 22, 2010

Today on the Streetsblog Network, Yonah Freemark of The Transport Politic looks at the new Brookings Institution report on suburban poverty levels and the connection to future transportation planning in those regions. Freemark, who recently wrote about how the city of Paris is extending its transit infrastructure to its traditionally lower-income suburbs, points out that the challenges to transit in American suburbs are greater. The infrastructure of American suburbs, as well as the governmental planning mechanisms, present significant challenges to reducing automobile dependence -- a dependence that weighs especially heavily on people with low incomes.

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Dallas May Get Subway Downtown

WiredPRNews.com
February 2, 2010

Dallas city planners are considering plans for further developments in the area that may include a subway station downtown. As reported by NBC DFW News, the subway plans of Dallas Area Rapid Transit are being considered as a possible means to relieve congestion in the downtown area.

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North TX Leaders to Take Another Stab at Local Transit Option Bill

Dallas Morning News
Michael Lindenberger // February 2, 2010

The Star-Telegram reports that after the hearing North Texas leaders laid out their plans for another run at the local-option tax bill that would allow local communities to vote to raise their own fees or taxes to pay for additional transportation investment.

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Downtown Dallas Plan Hinges on Public Space & Transportation

Dallas Morning News
Rudolph Bush // February 1, 2010

Theresa O'Donnell, director of Dallas' development department, said there's also focus on really capitalizing on Union Station, which she said could be a catalyst project for redevelopment.

The trick will be developing around rail stations and building up public spaces and public amenities or 'animating the public realm.'

The transportation element is major. DART's new lines are expected to work in concert with an as yet unfunded streetcar system.

In the long run, the most important transportation element, though, will be feet and how downtown accommodates them.

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DART, TRE land FRA funds for double-track project

ProgressiveRailroading.com
January 29, 2010

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Trinity Railway Express (TRE) announced they will receive about $7.2 million in federal funds to help fund the construction of a five-mile section of double track between the West Irving and CentrePort/DFW Airport stations.

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Experts Weigh In -- Are New Transit Guidelines An Improvement?

National Journal Expert Blogs Transportation

January 19, 2010

Last week Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposed new livability-based funding guidelines for major transit projects and rescinded Bush administration requirements that based funding decisions on how much a project shortened commute times compared to its cost. The criteria determine which projects get funded under the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts and Small Starts programs.

"We're going to free our flagship transit capital program from long-standing requirements that have allowed us only to green-light projects that meet very narrow cost and performance criteria," LaHood told the Transportation Research Board annual meeting on Jan. 13. "Instead, as we evaluate major transit projects going forward, we'll consider all the factors that help communities reduce their carbon footprint, spur economic activity and relieve congestion. To put it simply, we will take livability into account."

Experts Reply on: What do you think of the new criteria that Secretary LaHood proposed?

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Rule Change Could Boost Light Rail Plans in Houston

Houston Chronicle
January 15, 2010

Metro's University light rail line and other local public transportation projects stand to benefit from revised federal rules for funding new rapid transit systems, officials said.

The new rules could put Houston in a stronger competitive position because the planned expansion of its light rail system focuses on moving people among major urban activity centers — such as downtown, Uptown and the Texas Medical Center — rather than on commuter trips from urban workplaces to suburban homes, transportation experts said.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said this week that the Obama administration would consider “livability issues,” such as environmental benefits or economic development, in its evaluations of requests for federal money for new rail or bus rapid-transit systems.

The formula used by the Bush administration, LaHood said, essentially weighed the costs of new projects against time saved and distance traveled for commuters.

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EPA Air Chief: We Need to Do More to Reduce VMT

DC.StreetsBlog.org
Elana Schor // January 14, 2010

Obama administration officials "need to align together" to work on reducing the nation's total vehicle miles traveled -- work that should go beyond a pending congressional climate bill -- the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) air-quality chief said today.

McCarthy called for federal agencies to work together on a coordinated approach to transportation policy that makes economic and environmental factors an essential part of the mix.

"When we say transportation, everybody thinks 'car'," McCarthy said. "That's a challenge for us as individuals, as a society -- and clearly it's a challenge for me, as someone who's supposed to deliver clean air to breathe."

McCarthy described lowering VMT as the third leg of the EPA's transport stool. The other two, she explained, are encouraging vehicle technology to reduce emissions and promoting cleaner-burning fuels.

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Feds announce change to consider livability in funding transit projects

Transportation for America
Stephen Lee Davis // January 13, 2010

Following through on a policy change hinted at for much of 2009, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced this morning that federal transit officials would begin considering expanded criteria as they select which transit projects to fund, bringing a new focus on improving livability and sustainability.

“Our new policy for selecting major transit projects will work to promote livability rather than hinder it,” he said. “We want to base our decisions on how much transit helps the environment, how much it improves development opportunities and how it makes our communities better places to live.”

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Of Race & Transit Policy

Dallas Morning News
Rodger Jones // January 11, 2010

An item on TransportPolitic picks up on a theme you hear around Dallas and elsewhere -- that commuter-friendly trains to the suburbs get the cash and bus service for the masses gets the shaft.

This undercurrent may be one reason that some southern Dallas state reps have been decidedly cool toward the regional push to expand rail transit through some kind of new taxes or fees.

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Austin shows off its new Capital Metro rail cars

Dallas Morning News
Micheal Lindenberger

The Cap Metro passenger rail expansion in Austinhasn't been with its significant setbacks, but last night it showed off a gleaming new rail car that should soon besnaking along the city's 32-mile track.

The cars will remind Dallas riders more of the TRE vehicles than the light rail trains they are used to. That's true in part because the CapMetro tracks are used for both passenger rail and freight rail services

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DFW 2020

nbcDFW.com

How Will the Arts Develop?

What Will We Build?

How Will DFW Airport Change?

help with learning more about TOD

myurbanist
November 2, 2009

Moving forward, our region will benefit from two recently released research reports, both of which document the pitfalls and potential for transit oriented development. The first, of which I was the lead author, is entitled “TOD and Urban Centers: From Barriers to Solutions and Best Practices”, and was prepared by the University of Washington’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies in collaboration with the Quality Growth Alliance (QGA). The report and companion bibliography are available on the QGA website. The report was recently summarized in a seattlepi.comarticle. The second, the recently released Futurewise/GGLO “Transit Oriented Communities: A Blueprint for Washington State.

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U.S. to unleash millions for streetcar, bus projects to reduce pollution

The Oregonian
Dylan Rivera // December 1, 2009

The Obama administration today announced it wants to spend $280 million on urban neighborhood mass transit projects, such as streetcars and bus facilities, in an effort to make more livable communities that reduce pollution.

The news marks the first batch of money for a new Livability Initiative, which U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has characterized as a way to make cities more like the Portland area, where the streetcars, light rail lines and local land use policies promote walkable urban neighborhoods.

The money amounts to pocket change in the context of the billions of federal spending on transportation each year. It makes use of money Congress designated for mass transit projects, but which the Bush administration did not spend. It could help Portland's efforts to grow with streetcar lines beyond the downtown area and grow business for Clackamas-based United Streetcar, the only U.S.-based maker of modern streetcars.

"This represents a significant effort to promote livable communities, improve the quality of life for more Americans and create more transportation choices that serve the needs of individual communities," LaHood said. "Fostering the concept of livability in transportation projects will stimulate America's neighborhoods to become safer, healthier and more vibrant."

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Mayor Speaks on Dallas' Strong Foundation of Can Do Spirit

Dallas Morning News Op-Ed
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert // December 31, 2009

The coming of a new year and moving into a new decade provides an opportunity to reflect on where we have been and what lies ahead. In the face of this economy, Dallas has moved forward like no other city, and we have laid the foundation for even more progress in the decade ahead. The "can-do spirit," that belief in tomorrow, is again alive in Dallas. In fact, I believe at the next decade change, in 2020, people here will look back on this period as a historic point in our city's timeline that reshaped our image in a positive way, putting Big D on a world stage.

Through actions like comprehensive green building standards and the purchase of renewable energy, we are now recognized nationally as one of the leaders in addressing environmental challenges.

We'll also look back on this period as the time when downtown Dallas finally turned a corner. We welcomed AT&T, Tenet and more than 50 other companies into the city core, and major firms like Oncor and Deloitte renewed their commitments to downtown. Thousands of residents also chose downtown as home.

And we provided compassionate support for the homeless at the Bridge and, in doing so, enhanced the investments we have made in downtown.

Through strategic investments and the commitment of this community, we have built a foundation that will ensure a strong, vibrant economy in the future. And this was the time we invested in our future with the Dallas Convention Center hotel.

I also believe we'll look back at this period as the launch of southern Dallas investment – a time when businesses, developers and investors saw the future in this part of the city. In the last few years, the foundation has been laid for more investment in this area than at any time in the past. DART light rail, the Inland Port, UNT-Dallas and other investments in the southern half of the city have created the impetus for a new economic engine to benefit the entire region.

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New Year’s Resolutions for Cities: 10 Keys to Sustainability Planning Success

The City Fix

Don Knapp // December 30, 2009

Any serious New Year’s resolution requires a plan. But a mayor’s pledge to make his city more sustainable takes a lot more planning effort than your vow to drop 10 pounds. Crafting a comprehensive sustainability plan, even without procrastination, can take a full year for a city, and involve close coordination among dozens of individuals.

Trailblazers like New York City and Minneapolis have already shown that the end product is worth the effort: a detailed blueprint to combat climate change, save energy and taxpayer dollars, nurture solid economic development, renew infrastructure, and improve public health and education for all.

The planning lessons from these leaders were distilled in a Sustainability Planning Toolkit, released last month by ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA to its 600 U.S. local government members. Boil down those lessons even further and you get 10 keys to sustainability planning success, listed below. They’re worth a read for urban planners, plumbers, lawyers—anyone who lives in a community that values sustainability and is beginning its sustainability planning process.
It may encourage you to know that such communities are becoming more common. A 2009 Living Cities survey found that four in five of the 40 largest U.S. cities consider sustainability among their top five priorities. Approximately one-half are either currently creating sustainability plans or have finished one within the past year, and another one-quarter finished their plans earlier. For cities, towns, and counties, the keys to sustainability planning success are the same.

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