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Portland's Street Grid: Bad for the Environment?
For decades, urban planners have hailed Portland's street grid as one of several influential ideas others should replicate. But in an Op/Ed in the Planetizen urban planning Web site, two designers contend that Portland-style street grids have negative consequences for the environment, among other factors. The Oregonian, October 20, 2009
City Might Shift Direction on Leg of Ash Creek Trail
The city will consider altering plans for the proposed Ash Creek Trail that would shift the trail out toward Hoffman and Riddell roads. The alignment deviates from an early design that put the path within the Ash Creek corridor between 16th Street and Gentle Woods Park, thus steering clear of most private property and potential conflicts with land owners...Councilor Kathy Fultz called it a smart move that provides opportunities for people to ride bikes, walk dogs and generally increase livability in Monmouth. "That's (instead) of what I have to do now, which is go outside Monmouth in order to do those things," Fultz said. Polk County Itemizer Observer, October 20, 2009
Task Force Given Green Task
A legislative task force will take a third stab at what another task force and lawmakers failed to do in the past two years — propose ways for how transportation and land-use planning can help reduce Oregon's greenhouse-gas emissions...A report prepared for the task force by the Oregon Department of Transportation estimates that transportation accounts for about 34 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions by Oregonians... The report also says that while one in every five metropolitan-area jobs is filled by workers who commute from outside their areas, their trips generate about half the total gases produced by light-vehicle travel. Statesman Journal, October 18, 2009
Residents of Transit-Oriented Orenco Station Still Driving Cars to Work
Orenco Station, the award winning neighborhood touted as an ideal of mass-transit oriented New Urbanism, has failed to persuade a majority of its residents to use mass transit to get to work. About two out of three Orenco residents drive to work in cars, slightly less than some other suburbs but hardly the car-free utopia many idealists expect of the transit-oriented area. Even as the neighborhood has grown closer, block by block, to the MAX light rail station named for it, the use of cars for work trips remains relatively high. Offsetting that car-reliance, however, is a finding that Orenco residents also walk to shopping and use mass transit for nonwork trips – to the zoo or symphony, for example – at rates that beat other suburban communities. The Oregonian, October 17, 2009
Gresham Wrestles with Big-Box Rules
It’s been five years since the Southwest Gresham Neighborhood Association appealed to Gresham city leaders to create a code regulating big-box stores. Now, after a Tuesday, Oct. 13, presentation in which city planners insisted none is needed, councilors appear to be ready to fast-track the idea...John Pettis, associate comprehensive planner, said some cities limit building size to 100,000 square feet. And some create design standards to ensure buildings fit in with the surrounding area. Portland Tribune, October 16, 2009
Initiative Would Make Denver Streets More Friendly to Pedestrians and Bikes
Increasing business to merchants along Denver's busiest roadways is one of the goals of a city initiative focused on designing streets to accommodate pedestrians and bikes, as well as cars and public transit. Eight city departments are collaborating on the Living Streets initiative...after San Francisco narrowed traffic lanes to slow cars and accommodate other users on Valencia Street, nearly 40 percent of Mission District merchants reported in increase in sales and 60 percent said more area residents were shopping locally, according to a study...Living Streets also can help occupancy rates in commercial buildings. In a walkable area, the vacancy rate for retail and office properties averages 7.5 percent, compared with 11.5 percent on streets that are not pedestrian friendly. Denver Post, October 13, 2009
DeFazio: I-5 Bridge Must Be Smaller
Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio says transportation planners need to scale back the scope and cost of the Columbia River Crossing for the project to attract federal funding. “What has been designed so far is sort of the optimal project, and we can’t afford that,” DeFazio says of the planned 12-lane, $4.2 billion version of the proposed replacement Interstate 5 bridge between Portland and Vancouver, Wash. Portland Tribune, October 12, 2009
Can Street Layouts Affect Residents' Health?
Sometimes, a neighborhood’s street layout can be harmful to public health. At least that’s why the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is undertaking the Southeast 122nd Avenue pilot project, a study of the land-use, transportation and connectivity problems in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood and how they affect residents’ health. Planners and public health advocates alike say the Southeast Portland neighborhood lacks sufficient through streets, sidewalks and paved roads, and that those deficiencies lead to obesity in residents and navigational problems for drivers of emergency vehicles. Daily Journal of Commerce, October 12, 2009
Driving on to Irrelevance: That Or a 21st Century Train System
There is an old saying that Americans will always do the right thing...let's look at the true subsidy costs of a mono focus on highway investment. At least $100 billion of state, county, and city general funds are invested every year in highways and highway costs. Those are direct subsidies to the highway system, outside of any “user pay” trust fund...I am suggesting that there are corridors, less than 500 miles long, where density and economic activity make high speed passenger rail the only viable mobility investment. The total trip time of air travel in those corridors, combined with the energy costs, makes high speed rail the logical choice and a far better choice than the costs of expanding highway capacity in those congested and dense corridors. Citiwire, October 8, 2009
City Council Passes Big-Box Ordinance
Lynchburg [Virginia] City Council narrowly approved the new big-box ordinance Tuesday, bringing more than two years of debate and negotiations to an end. The ordinance...allows the city to more closely regulate the development of large retail stores, otherwise known as “big boxes.” ...Requirements include making provisions for mass transit access; building a connected system of external sidewalks and internal walkways...The ordinance also requires developers to make provisions for cross-access between their land and adjoining commercial properties where feasible...The city considers cross-access between properties to be a desirable traffic management technique because it allows drivers to get from one store to another without getting back onto the main road. News Advance, September 22, 2009
Momentum Builds for Better Downtown
Momentum continued Thursday night for creating a vital downtown Pendleton. More than 70 people filled seats and stood along walls in the conference room at the East Oregonian to discuss how to imbue new life in downtown, where some businesses have struggled in the current recession and more than a dozen store fronts stand hollow. George Crandall and Don Arambula led the way during the two-hour meeting and workshop....A grant from the Oregon Transportation and Growth Management program allowed the city to bring in the firm to meld current discussions and findings with information from previous studies. East Oregonian, May 29, 2009
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