Posts Tagged ‘urban’

Both Roads and Transit

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Rush-hour traffic at Sixth and Lamar, looking eastward Courtesy of the Austin Transportation Department

Rush-hour traffic at Sixth and Lamar, looking eastward Courtesy of the Austin Transportation Department

Both Roads and Transit

Counting on traffic fixes

BY KATHERINE GREGOR

“Reduce driver frustration.” While the city Transportation Department‘s new Austin Mobility Program has other noble goals – faster commutes, economic vitality, improved air quality, climate remediation – the frustration factor strikes everybody. So over the past month, the relatively new department and its director, Rob Spillar, have begun rolling out a program to make Austin driving less of a headache. It includes three strands:

1) a Downtown circulation study;

2) a Strategic Mobility Plan, for which the city is seeking a consultant team; and

3) an Urban Rail Program, for which it’s already partnering with outside firms on the initial engineering, design, environmental work, and cost estimating required to prepare for a November 2010 transportation bond referendum.

Read more…

via Austin Chronicle

American Dream 2.0

Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Replacing the American Dream

Replacing the American Dream

22 August 2009 – 11:00am

From the increase of city living to the decrease in vehicle miles traveled, a “new American Dream” is developing, according to Carol Coletta. But without cohesion, the benefits of these developments aren’t likely to make a big impact.

“The problem is this: These remain only disconnected signals. To date, Americans are unable to see the new pattern that is developing. There is not yet a compelling narrative about this emerging good life into which Americans can project their own lives—certainly nothing with enough power to counter the stories we tell ourselves about what is ‘normal.’”

She calls for a new city agenda that can help guide urban places into a better future.

Source: Good, August 20, 2009