From: Houston Chronicle
By: Mike Snyder // August 19, 2009
Passengers stepping off trains in Houston's expanding light rail network will be more likely to encounter walkable environments and interesting destinations because of action taken Wednesday by the City Council, city officials and transit advocates said.
The council unanimously approved changes in development codes intended to promote dense, urban-style development along the Metropolitan Transit Authority's Main Street rail line and five planned extensions. The pedestrian zone requirements and incentives were developed through more than three years of work by city officials, consultants, development experts and others.
Councilwoman Toni Lawrence said the changes, coupled with plans to expand urban development regulations from Loop 610 to Beltway 8 and high speed rail proposals under consideration for commuters, will have a major impact on automobile-dependent Houston. The measures take effect immediately.
“I'm excited about it,” Lawrence said. “We're behind cities our size to move forward with rail.”
MORE
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Denton County Transit Authority Purchases Property for Highland Village-Lewisville Lake Station
From: LakeCitiesSun.com
August 20,2009
August 20,2009
The Denton County Transportation Authority closed on two properties on the southeast corner of I-35E and Garden Ridge Boulevard. The properties will serve as the site for the Highland Village/Lewisville Lake station.
The purchases included a 1.1 acre tract for $1,508,391.83 and a 1.434 acre tract for $1,255,069. This acquisition of the 2.5 acres completes the station acquisition phase of the A-train project.
"This final phase of property acquisition illustrates our commitment to bringing rail service to Denton County. The progress we have made thus far is a direct result of the hard work of our board and employees and the support of our local and regional partners," said Charles Emery, DCTA Board Chairman. "The cities of Lewisville and Highland Village have been strong supporters of DCTA and continue to work with us to make the A-train a reality."
MOREAustin MetroRail: Still no opening date
From: statesman.com
By: Ben Wear // August 19, 2009
Capital Metro officials, still working to solve various issues with its commuter rail line, can’t yet say when the line will open.
When the line does open, agency officials said, some of the morning and afternoon runs on the 32-mile line between Leander and downtown Austin might start at stations further up the line rather than at the end points.
In the fourth monthly update since an eleventh-hour postponement of an announced March 30 opening date, Capital Metro said it had completed training engineers, completed adjustment to railroad crossing “safety equipment pending any new issues,” finished some track repairs at the U.S. 183 frontage road and Parmer Lane crossings and completed work on “signal preemption” technology meant to clear cars from places where the track is near a street traffic signal.
MORE
By: Ben Wear // August 19, 2009
Capital Metro officials, still working to solve various issues with its commuter rail line, can’t yet say when the line will open.
When the line does open, agency officials said, some of the morning and afternoon runs on the 32-mile line between Leander and downtown Austin might start at stations further up the line rather than at the end points.
In the fourth monthly update since an eleventh-hour postponement of an announced March 30 opening date, Capital Metro said it had completed training engineers, completed adjustment to railroad crossing “safety equipment pending any new issues,” finished some track repairs at the U.S. 183 frontage road and Parmer Lane crossings and completed work on “signal preemption” technology meant to clear cars from places where the track is near a street traffic signal.
MORE
Would High-Speed Rail from Dallas to Houston Make Sense?
From: The New York Times
By: Edward Glaeser // August 12, 2009
How large are the environmental and other social benefits of high-speed rail?
I’ve now reached the halfway point in this series of blog posts on the president’s “vision for high-speed rail.” The national discussion of high-speed rail must get away from high-flying rhetoric and tawdry ad hominem attacks and start weighing costs and benefits.
Environmental benefits are one potentially big plus from rail lines.
Today, I focus only on the social benefits that come from switching travelers from cars and planes to rail, not any indirect benefits associated with changing land-use patterns. I’ll get to those next week, when I also discuss high-speed rail as an economic development strategy. As I did last week, I use a simple, transparent methodology, focusing on costs and benefits during an average year. Today, I’ll estimate the environmental and other social benefits that will help offset the costs of rail.
I’d like to include buses, but this post is too long already. Only about 2 percent of inter-city vehicle miles are traveled by bus, and a Center for Clean Air Policy report has convinced me that buses wouldn’t make much of a difference.
I’m going to ignore fatalities for both rail and air and noise externalities (typical estimates for these are modest), and ignore any traffic congestion associated with getting to and from the airport or train station. For both air and rail, the only social cost will be carbon emissions. For cars, I’ll add in traffic deaths, congestion and local pollution.
As in the previous two posts, I focus on a mythical 240-mile-line between Houston and Dallas, which was chosen to avoid giving the impression that this back-of-the-envelope calculation represents a complete evaluation of any actual proposed route. (The Texas route will be certainly far less attractive than high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor, but it is not inherently less reasonable than the proposed high-speed rail routes across Missouri or between Dallas and Oklahoma City.)
MORE
By: Edward Glaeser // August 12, 2009
How large are the environmental and other social benefits of high-speed rail?
I’ve now reached the halfway point in this series of blog posts on the president’s “vision for high-speed rail.” The national discussion of high-speed rail must get away from high-flying rhetoric and tawdry ad hominem attacks and start weighing costs and benefits.
Environmental benefits are one potentially big plus from rail lines.
Today, I focus only on the social benefits that come from switching travelers from cars and planes to rail, not any indirect benefits associated with changing land-use patterns. I’ll get to those next week, when I also discuss high-speed rail as an economic development strategy. As I did last week, I use a simple, transparent methodology, focusing on costs and benefits during an average year. Today, I’ll estimate the environmental and other social benefits that will help offset the costs of rail.
I’d like to include buses, but this post is too long already. Only about 2 percent of inter-city vehicle miles are traveled by bus, and a Center for Clean Air Policy report has convinced me that buses wouldn’t make much of a difference.
I’m going to ignore fatalities for both rail and air and noise externalities (typical estimates for these are modest), and ignore any traffic congestion associated with getting to and from the airport or train station. For both air and rail, the only social cost will be carbon emissions. For cars, I’ll add in traffic deaths, congestion and local pollution.
As in the previous two posts, I focus on a mythical 240-mile-line between Houston and Dallas, which was chosen to avoid giving the impression that this back-of-the-envelope calculation represents a complete evaluation of any actual proposed route. (The Texas route will be certainly far less attractive than high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor, but it is not inherently less reasonable than the proposed high-speed rail routes across Missouri or between Dallas and Oklahoma City.)
MORE
Saturday, August 22, 2009
DART receives $78.4 million in federal funds for Green Line
From: Fort Worth Star Telegram
By: Gordon Dickson / August 13, 2009
Dallas Area Rapid Transit received $78.4 million in federal stimulus funds to speed up construction of the Green Line, a light-rail corridor from Carrollton-Farmer’s Branch to Pleasant Grove in south Dallas, officials said.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the award Thursday. It is part of an effort to infuse $48.1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding into roads, rails, buses, bridges and airports nationwide.
A portion of the DART Green Line is scheduled to open Sept. 14. As a result, Tarrant County residents may find it much easier to ride the Trinity Railway Express and DART light rail to the State Fair of Texas.
The $78.4 million awarded to DART is essentially an advance of federal grant reimbursements the agency was scheduled to get in 2013, DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said. It’s part of a previously announced, $700 million long-term commitment the Federal Transit Administration has made to the DART project.
"By getting the money now, we can shift funds and do other things more quickly," Lyons said. "It’s very good news."
DART was awarded $61 million in federal funds this year for the Orange Line, which is expected to connect to the north end of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport by 2013. The Orange Line is scheduled to be joined by a proposed commuter rail line operated by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority from Grapevine to Fort Worth.
By: Gordon Dickson / August 13, 2009
Dallas Area Rapid Transit received $78.4 million in federal stimulus funds to speed up construction of the Green Line, a light-rail corridor from Carrollton-Farmer’s Branch to Pleasant Grove in south Dallas, officials said.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the award Thursday. It is part of an effort to infuse $48.1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding into roads, rails, buses, bridges and airports nationwide.
A portion of the DART Green Line is scheduled to open Sept. 14. As a result, Tarrant County residents may find it much easier to ride the Trinity Railway Express and DART light rail to the State Fair of Texas.
The $78.4 million awarded to DART is essentially an advance of federal grant reimbursements the agency was scheduled to get in 2013, DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said. It’s part of a previously announced, $700 million long-term commitment the Federal Transit Administration has made to the DART project.
"By getting the money now, we can shift funds and do other things more quickly," Lyons said. "It’s very good news."
DART was awarded $61 million in federal funds this year for the Orange Line, which is expected to connect to the north end of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport by 2013. The Orange Line is scheduled to be joined by a proposed commuter rail line operated by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority from Grapevine to Fort Worth.
Mixed Use in North Texas
From: Texas A&M Real Estate Center
August 3, 2009
According to the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), developers completed mixed-use projects encompassing 913,000 sf of retail space, 255,900 sf of office space, 1,488 apartment units and 39 condo units during second quarter 2009.
Construction began on 1.1 million sf of retail space, 15,000 sf of office space, 1,998 multifamily residential units and 545 single-family units in mixed-use developments.
Mixed-use developments announced during 2Q 2009 will add 108,000 sf of retail space and 68 hotel rooms.
View the complete NCTCOG report here.
August 3, 2009
According to the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), developers completed mixed-use projects encompassing 913,000 sf of retail space, 255,900 sf of office space, 1,488 apartment units and 39 condo units during second quarter 2009.
Construction began on 1.1 million sf of retail space, 15,000 sf of office space, 1,998 multifamily residential units and 545 single-family units in mixed-use developments.
Mixed-use developments announced during 2Q 2009 will add 108,000 sf of retail space and 68 hotel rooms.
View the complete NCTCOG report here.
Construction Contract Awarded for Woodall Rodgers Deck Park in Dallas
From: Dallas Morning News
TxDOT this morning announced the award of a contract to begin construction on the planned deck park over the Woodall Rodgersfreeway that will link Uptown to downtown.
By: Rudolph Bush // August 3, 2009
TxDOT this morning announced the award of a contract to begin construction on the planned deck park over the Woodall Rodgersfreeway that will link Uptown to downtown.The contract went to Atlanta-based Archer Western to build the 5.2 acre span that is expected to become the city's most lavish park and a critical pedestrian connection between the Arts District and Uptown.
A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 14, according to a press release from TxDOT.
The $44.5 million contract will go toward construction of the main bridge between Pearl and St. Paul over the 8-lane freeway.
The $44.5 million contract will go toward construction of the main bridge between Pearl and St. Paul over the 8-lane freeway.
Sponsors of the deck park also say that they will now refer to it simply as"the Park" while they work toward selling naming rights to some major donor.
City Hall has long been eager to name the entire park in honor of a donor and to sell off the names of specific amenities planned inside the park.
Similar efforts have been successful nationally in funding significant features in important urban parks.
UPDATE: The deck park is scheduled to open in mid-2011. All of the features (or amenities as parks folks say) are to be in by 2012.
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