Bike Providence

Norquist: Route 34 Highway Removal is greatest national embarassment since the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska

2012-02-27T16:50:00.004-08:00

On the misuse of TIGER funds. Will Providence do better?

http://articles.courant.com/2011-12-22/news/hc-op-norquist-new-haven-connector1222-20111222_1_pedestrian-safety-mayor-richard-lee-freeway-ramp

Excerpt:

Since 1959, Route 34, the Dick Lee Highway, also known as the "Oak Street Connector," has blighted downtown New Haven.

Mayor Richard Lee and his planner Ed Logue reshaped New Haven in the 1950s and '60s, removing entire neighborhoods and attempting to transform the downtown into a suburban-style office park. They were pioneers in that era of urban renewal, bringing more federal money to New Haven per capita than any other city received.

But the total effect was devastating, and the highway's construction played a big part in the resulting loss of housing and population. The elevated roadway and parallel adjoining one-way streets occupy 26 acres of otherwise prime downtown land that could be redeveloped to double the size of downtown and add considerable value back to the city. A public-private effort called Downtown Crossing aimed to do just that by replacing the Route 34 connector with a walkable, pedestrian-oriented street plan.

Downtown Crossing was awarded a $23 million U.S Department of Transportation TIGER grant, one of the largest issued from Washington, to do the job. Yet the plan's current design does not align itself with the stated intent of the project.

The original plan called for a four-lane boulevard. This was rejected by Connecticut's Department of Transportation. Instead, current plans call for an eight-lane monstrosity that will be nearly impossible to cross on foot.

Like the Dick Lee Highway, the new arterial will function more as a long ramp extension of I-95 than as a street. Local activists challenged the plan by proposing alternatives in a community workshop, with hopes city and state leaders would understand the opportunity to restore vibrancy and value to downtown New Haven.

Led by Alderman Justin Elicker, activists supported a resolution to restore the original plan and increase pedestrian safety and reduce the number of lanes, making downtown more livable and walkable. The resolution called for greater pedestrian connectivity, bike lanes and a target speed of no more than 25 mph. It would have included two lanes in each direction with intersections at each block so that the street would serve the neighborhood, rather than just function as a freeway ramp.

These voices of reason fell on deaf ears. By early November, the board of alderman passed a lukewarm resolution that rhetorically mentioned pedestrian safety. New Haven's aldermen essentially caved in to the expressway advocates at the state DOT.

While the city's resolution calls for a greater commitment to pedestrian and bicycle safety, the current Downtown Crossing plan makes those goals impossible to achieve. The auto-centric design will not create a livable, vibrant city street. The state and city are wasting a huge federal grant and mangling a great opportunity to repair some of the devastation imposed on New Haven in the urban renewal era of Dick Lee and Ed Logue.

The U.S. Department of Transportation oft-lauded TIGER grant program is the impetus behind the Downtown Crossing plan. U.S. DOT administrators are quick to take the praise for TIGER's allegedly innovative approaches, but now are silent in the face of this wasted opportunity. TIGER is an acronym standing for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery. As now planned, it won't. Downtown Crossing is one of the U.S. DOT's largest projects — and it is likely to be its largest source of embarrassment since Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere."

The economic value of walkability

2012-02-06T09:14:00.001-08:00

Another great guide from VTPI. http://www.vtpi.org/walkability.pdf

"This paper describes ways to evaluate the value of walking (the activity) and walkability (the quality of walking conditions, including safety, comfort and convenience). Walking and walkability provide a variety of benefits, including basic mobility, consumer cost savings, cost savings (reduced external costs), efficient land use, community livability, improved fitness and public health, economic development, and support for equity objectives. Current transportation planning practices tend to undervalue walking. More comprehensive analysis techniques, described in this paper, are likely to increase public support for walking and other nonmotorized modes of travel. "

Traffic Calming: Benefit and Cost analyses - VTPI guide (PDF)

2012-01-31T13:42:00.000-08:00

An excellent guide from 10 years ago - still very relevant today.

http://www.vtpi.org/calming.pdf

"Traffic calming tends to provide the greatest benefits to pedestrians, bicyclists and local residents, while imposing the greatest costs on motorists who drive intensively (i.e., as fast as possible). Traffic calming tends to increase horizontal equity by reducing the external costs imposed by motor vehicles and improving the balance between different uses of public streets. Traffic calming tends to increase vertical equity because it benefits people who are physically, economically and socially disadvantaged, while imposing the greatest disbenefits on relatively wealthy, higher mileage drivers."

Providence Ride of Silence - May 18, 2011

2011-05-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

The Ride of Silence will take place in Providence, an in 200 cities world-wide, on Wednesday, May 18, 2011, to honor those injured or killed while cycling on public roadways, including, recently, members of the greater Providence community.

The event has no sponsors and no registration fees. It asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph and remain silent during the ride. All cyclists will be required to wear helmets, follow traffic laws, and use hand signals, aiming to raise awareness about the important of cycling safety and sharing the road.

Cyclists will gather at 6:15 on the Front Green at Brown University, at the corner of Prospect Street and Waterman Street. The ride, which will be 8 miles long, will begin at 7:00 p.m., with a reception to follow in the Multipurpose Room of the Stephen Robert Campus Center on the Main Green at Brown.

"Who Bikes?" & other new reports on smarter streets and livable neighborhoods

2011-04-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

These reports can help us create a healthier Providence region.

April 2011
New study by National Association of Realtors finds homebuyers overwhelmingly want smart growth amenities & walkable neighborhoods
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2011/04/04/new-study-by-national-association-of-realtors-finds-consumers-want-smart-growth-amenities/

New Neighborhood Traffic Monitoring Toolkit Can Get You Started on Street Safety Activism
http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/03/31/new-traffic-monitoring-toolkit-can-get-you-started-on-street-safety-activism/

New Tactical Urbanism Guide
"Improving the livability of our towns and cities commonly starts at the street, block, or building scale. While larger scale efforts do have their place, incremental, small scale improvements are increasingly seen as a way to stage more substantial investments."
http://www.ctdatahaven.org/know/index.php/File:Tactical_Urbanism_Guide_2011_sml.pdf

March 2011
New demographic analysis shows that "contrary to popular convention, the biggest share of bicyclists isn't yuppies, it's low income people. In fact, the lowest-earning quarter of Americans make nearly one-third of all bike trips."
http://rss.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2011/04/04/who-bikes?

From "Analysis of Bicycling Trends and Policies in Large North American Cities," a new report out by the University Transportation Research Center.
http://www.utrc2.org/research/assets/176/Analysis-Bike-Final1.pdf

Op-ED: This is Our Sputnik Moment for Infrastructure and Smart Growth

2011-01-28T09:57:00.000-08:00

An analysis of President Obama's State of the Union address from one of the top national advocates of smart growth and sustainable city planning: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-anderson/a-sputnik-moment-for-smar_b_814541.html

Excerpt:

The President's statement means we have to continue to expand our infrastructure and communities with an understanding of how the two connect and support one another, and that's exactly what smart growth does. The big national decisions we make about budgets and investment can ultimately make life better in the towns and neighborhoods that knit this nation together.

Smart growth is about building neighborhoods that work for the people who live there -- meaning rural, suburban and urban communities with more housing and transportation choices near jobs, shops and schools where people want them. These are places where strong economies and a healthy environment can both thrive at once. Places where community leaders choose to get the most out of each federal or state dollar invested in the neighborhoods. Where the private sector can help jump-start the local real estate market in a way that is right for that unique community. Where we make decisions to save money in our municipal budgets and in our own wallets and invest for the future.

Social Benefits of Walkability: Walking and Biking Neighborhoods are Happier!

2010-12-27T07:15:00.001-08:00

From Treehugger: The study, titled "Examining Walkability and Social Capital as Indicators of Quality of Life at the Municipal and Neighborhood Scales," was led by Shannon Rogers, a Ph.D. candidate in UNH's Natural Resources and Earth System Science (NRESS) program. It involved a survey of 700 residents of twenty neighborhoods in Portsmouth and Manchester, NH. Respondents answered questions on the walkability of their neighborhood and on their social capital. A UNH press release explained the results:

"Those living in more walkable neighborhoods trusted their neighbors more; participated in community projects, clubs and volunteering more; and described television as their major form of entertainment less than survey participants living in less walkable neighborhoods."

Urbanism Links from MarketUrbanism.com

2010-11-29T06:41:00.000-08:00

Great selection of recent links about cities and urbanism:

1. The WSJ claims that delinquent homeowners can expect to stay in their homes after making their last mortgage payment – that is, they can live rent-free – for at least 16 months. The longer it takes for foreclosures to happen, the longer it will take for real estate markets to adjust to the new paradigm.

2. Fascinating article about food trucks in Houston. In it I found a second example of bad anti-terrorism policy trumping good urbanism:

The article also confirms my suspicion that food trucks may actually be safer than restaurants: “These are essentially open kitchens…you can look in there and see exactly what these guys are doing, where they’re grabbing the food from, how they’re cooking it.”

3. Hong Kong and Singapore are both instituting controls on their residential property markets to avoid bubbles, but they are also freeing government land for developers (in spite of Singapore’s free market reputation, most residents apparently live in public housing). Some speculate that Hong Kong’s controls might be a sign of increasing control from Beijing. Reuters says that “China, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia have also unveiled more stringent regulations in recent months” – the bubble that led to the 1997 financial crisis had a large property component. The Beijing Communist Party mouthpiece, apparently fearing that investors have too much faith in the local government, blames the city’s high rents on prostitutes.

4. Cap’n Transit on road subsidies. These sorts of debates often frustrate me because I feel like people are not clear as to which roads they’re talking about (federal, state, local?).

5. Al Gore admits that first-generation ethanol was a mistake and he only supported it because of “a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa” (yes, he really said that). But talk is cheap – he’s still sticking by non-food biofuels, though I think those’re just as bad. On the bright side, though, DeMint and Tom Coburn are apparently ready to let some key ethanol subsidies lapse this year.

6. DC developer forced to offer below-market rents to an IHOP. You know what would really help “small, local, minority-owned businesses”? Eliminating mandates like this that lead to constrained property markets and sky-high rents.

7. Remember that god-awful North Jersey mall project Xanadu, whose demise prompted an item in the last link list? Well apparently Chris Christie wants to throw more money down that hole. Speaking of which: Did they really not realize the negative associations people have with the name “Xanadu”? Or is that just evidence that not even the person who named it had any faith in it?

8. Real estate investors are bidding up prices for apartment buildings, says the NYT. Hopefully the increase in prices will convince local officials to zone for more multifamily development.

Shootings, Armed Muggings beset Harvard Campus in Cambridge

2010-11-19T05:10:00.001-08:00

Careful when biking up there...

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/11/14/officer-harvard-suspect-cpd/

One of the victims, who asked to remain anonymous, said that he and his friends were on their way to purchase food when the suspect approached them and held them at gunpoint.

This incident was the sixth armed robbery on or close to the Harvard campus in two weeks and the third that involved Harvard affiliates. Following the armed robbery of a non-Harvard affiliate on Thursday morning at 2:45 a.m., HUPD added additional officers on patrol and "increased visibility" in and around the Yard, according to a community advisory that HUPD sent to Harvard affiliates yesterday afternoon.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/11/19/robberies-police-harvard-two/

Two robberies took place on campus—in addition to the Yard robbery, the Harvard University Employee Credit Union was quietly robbed by an unarmed white male on Oct. 30.

The other six robberies all occurred within one block of Harvard property, stretching from the Quad to the Divinity School. Two of them were very close to the Harvard Square T stop.

Two Mile Streetcar Route in Providence?

2010-11-17T05:13:00.000-08:00

What impact would this have on bicycling? Can streetcars safely be combined with bicycles?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2010/11/17/ri_transit_agency_picking_route_to_link_commuters/

Only Profitable Public Transit: Bikesharing

2010-10-27T08:57:00.001-07:00

Bike Hartford has a post on the London cycle share system.

Unacceptable: Buffalo, NY driver gets slap on the wrist for running red light, failing to yield to crosswalk, killing popular school teacher

2010-10-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.bikebuffalo.com/2010/10/buffalo-driver-gets-slap-on-wrist-for.html

Top Design Ideas of 2009: Bicycle Highways

2009-12-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

Very cool. Bicycle highways and banning cul-de-sacs = top ideas of the year: http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#design

Removing a Barrier in Providence: Will I-195 Removal Help Bike/Ped Access or Create Jobs??

2009-11-11T02:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/realestate/commercial/11iway.html

Out of the billion or so being spent on this enormous highway construction project, how much will go towards improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists in the city?

What percentage of the funding will be used to hire local and minority Providence workers, who currently face "real" unemployment levels of close to 50%?

Looking for Urban Bike Advocates on Twitter

2009-11-03T21:22:00.001-08:00

Know anyone into bicycle and pedestrian advocacy on Twitter, particularly advocacy focused on cities? Interesting Tweet here. Suggest a few!

Please RT @urbandata/urban-bike-advocacy Need to #follow more urban bike advocates! Can't get enough! #bikenyc @bcgp

Trucks at 40MPH in Countryside School Zone in Newton, Massachusetts

2009-10-29T08:54:00.001-07:00

"Every morning, trucks speed through the school zone at 40mph when kids are arriving at 8:20am."

http://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/9398

Is this a problem in any school zones in Providence?

How to web-enable your city in 6 minutes

2009-10-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

Interesting post on making governments more accountable through online civic engagement: http://twitter.com/urbandata/statuses/4926291069

Particularly useful to bicycle and pedestrian advocates, like Atlanta Bike.

Bicycle Wins in Sao Paolo: Beats Helicopter

2009-10-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/10/01/bike-beats-helicopter-in-traffic-choked-sao-paulo/

Intermodal race proving once again that bicycles are by far the fastest and most efficient (in terms of land, cost, time, etc.) way to get around a city.

Route 1 Bridge is a Suicide Run: Lobby DOT for Change

2009-09-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

If you use this route while cycling from Providence to New York City, you may be concerned about the rail crossing. Apparently, people are falling and being injured every day on the tracks, which cross the road at a 30 degree angle with no warning.

The bridge was built a few years ago and it is only a matter of time before a cyclist dies here.

http://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/1300 has a nice summary, a video of people falling during a group bike ride across the bridge (warning: graphic footage of cyclist falling), and images, and with over 200 comments detailing how advocates are trying to address the issue. The issue report on SeeClickFix has resulted in stories in Streetsblog and on the front page of the New Haven Register, and been viewed 4,500 timies.

You can file complaints directly with ConnDOT at http://www.dotdata.ct.gov/contacts/contact.aspx. Or call Governor Rell's office in Hartford.

Speaking of SeeClickFix, the Hartford Courant has a nice op-ed about how citizens should be allowed to report neighborhood concerns anonymously.

Instant Traffic Justice: Crosswalk Sting Operations in Sacramento

2009-09-23T15:37:00.001-07:00

Streetsblog has excellent reporting here:

http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/09/23/instant-justice-on-the-streets-of-sacramento/

Would be great for the Providence police to use this as a model, in order to make our crosswalks more accessible for all users.

New Haven fast becoming a bike city

2009-09-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

See article here, about the explosion of interest in cycling in Providence's nearby urban neighbor.

Sounds exciting: http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=14420

Also see this post, from last year, in Copenhagen's cycle blog:
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2008/05/new-haven-cycle-city.html

See here for a great thread comparing New Haven and Providence's renaissances, which cites a piece in the local Greater City: PVD blog:
http://downtownnewhaven.blogspot.com/2009/05/greater-providence-watch-and-learn-from.html

Anti-Bike Legislation Fails on Senate Floor. Take That, Senator Coburn!

2009-09-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

http://t4america.org/blog/2009/09/16/details-on-the-anti-bike-and-ped-amendments-in-the-senate/

The anti-bike and anti-pedestrian amendments Sen. Coburn offered would have allowed states to ignore a requirement (since 1991) in transportation law requiring states to spend 10% of their surface transportation budgets on what’s known as Transportation Enhancements (TE). Maybe that sounds like an unneccessary transport buzzword, so to simplify it somewhat, TE essentially covers the things that don’t fall under the much broader categories of highways or transit. TE includes things like bike trails, new sidewalks, complete streets, streetscape improvements, and converting abandoned rail corridors to rail-trails, among many others.

Good work! More from the WashCycle on the amendment can be found here: http://www.thewashcycle.com/2009/09/sen-tom-coburn-continues-his-war-on-cycling.html

But Senator McCain's amendments to cut public transportation projects are still on the floor. If you do not support more cuts to public transit, it might be worth making calls to your Senators as soon as possible -- particularly Democrats like McCaskill (MO), Klobuchar (MN), and Bayh (IN) who seem to have inconsistent records on sustainable transportation issues. http://t4america.org/ has more info.

Yale Campus: Unsafe Streets

2009-09-10T10:33:00.001-07:00

Reporting from New Haven Safe Streets on traffic safety issues that are just as relevant to Downtown Providence: http://www.newhavensafestreets.org/2009/09/yale-senior-safe-campus-unsafe-streets.html

An Iphone App in Providence?

2009-09-08T11:06:00.001-07:00

Robert Goodspeed of Planetizen discusses new urban uses for the Iphone. Some of these would be great for reporting and taking action on livable streets issues in Providence, RI, in particular the SeeClickFix Iphone app:

With a connection to the Internet, built-in camera, location-awareness, 3-access accelerometer and colorful display, the Apple iPhone has become much more than a mobile phone: it's a sophisticated mobile computing platform. Combine this technology with a library of thousands of programs and growing ecosystem of developers, the iPhone is powerful and versatile tool to transform how people interact with their surroundings.

A growing number of iPhone apps are taking advantage of the phone's functionality to allow people to navigate, measure, observe, and interact with cities in new ways. This post describes some I have come across for e-government, urban sensing and interaction, and navigation.

Transit Cuts and Fare Hikes Devastate Communities

2009-08-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Full report here: http://t4america.org/resources/stranded/

Also, despite the country's crumbling infrastructure, planning for long-term improvements to mass transit is virtually stalled, due to the lack of Federal legislation.