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News clippings related to transit, mobility and quality of life
MoveNews #87 for the week of February 7, 2010
Regional
Event Invitation: "Hillcrest 2.0: Charting the future of Hillcrest"
When: Thursday, February 25 from 5pm-7pm.
Location: Hillcrest's famous Baja Betty's, located on 1421 University Ave.
The featured speaker at the Hillcrest BIA will be Dr. Sherry Ryan from San Diego State University. Dr. Ryan's research is on transportation and its elementsland use interactions, and the influence of land use patterns on travel behavior, physical activity, and health. She will be presenting new and exciting case studies as to what Hillcrest can do.
Please RSVP at benjamin@hillcrestbia.org. RSVP is not required, but preferred.
More information about Dr. Ryan can be found here: www.facebook.com/l/101f4;spa.sdsu.edu/oldsite/sryan.htm
National
The drumbeat of jobs, jobs, jobs in Washington and debate on financing have become major roadblocks to getting a six-year $500 billion transportation bill into gear and onto a fast-paced road to passage....
Instead of a comprehensive bill, Congress passed short-term extensions of SAFETEA-LU, "because nobody can agree on what the interim extension should be," Schenendorf said. ...
"I think all things are going to be shaped by jobs, regardless of the issue," said John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The House passed a jobs bill before it recessed in December, and a Senate version is due shortly. Both provide substantial sums for infrastructure investment. The White House likes the jobs bills, and Horsley believes Congress will make progress on a broader transportation bill, but in increments. By March, Congress will have to pass another SAFETEA-LU extension, Horsley said. Without it, state officials will lose $12 billion in funds available for transportation projects.
While the nation continues to grapple with a troubling housing market and a rash of mortgage defaults, new research has emerged drawing a direct link between "location efficiency" – a measure of the transportation costs in a given area – and mortgage foreclosure rates. The study shows that factors such as neighborhood compactness, access to public transit, and rates of vehicle ownership are key to predicting mortgage performance and should be taken more seriously by mortgage underwriters, policymakers, and real estate developers.
With transportation costs accounting for roughly 17 percent of the average American household's income, the need for better land use planning and better lending practices has never been more clear. NRDC recommends changes both to planning-related policies and mortgage underwriting procedures that can reduce transportation costs and risk of foreclosure while offering significant environmental benefits.
EPA Cracks Down On Pollution Spikes Near Roads
Associated Press, January 25, 2010
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it would control – for the first time – short-lived spikes of an air pollutant common along major roads and linked to respiratory problems. The new national standard sets a one-hour limit for nitrogen dioxide, a gas created by emissions from automobiles, factories and coal-fired power plants that peaks along highways and near cities. Along with the new limit, the EPA is also requiring at least 40 new monitors in cities and along roads to pinpoint which areas would violate the new standard.
To a degree probably unmatched anywhere else in North America, the city of Vancouver has tried to impose notions of sustainability in its decisions on what, where and how to build. The result has come to be known as "Vancouverism," an urban motif of public transit instead of freeways, a low-carbon energy infrastructure and gleaming high-rise condominium towers in sunlit, walkable neighborhoods laced with urban parks. ...
Over the last 20 years, Vancouver has managed to more than double the number of people living downtown while also reducing its carbon emissions per capita to the lowest levels of any big city in North America. The central city has refused to allow a single freeway and recently began to further tighten the noose around automobiles, closing lanes on crowded streets in favor of buses, bikes and sidewalks.
Fast Facts
BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) demonstrates relatively low capital costs per mile of investment.
Source: Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida
MoveNews #87 was edited by Carolyn Chase and published by Move San Diego, Inc. as a service to our members. You may subscribe, unsubscribe, or send article suggestions by sending an email request to: info@movesandiego.org
NOTE: if there is no link provided to an item, then there is no additional content on that item. All links were current as of the date of publication.
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