Transit Miami » Melbourne

Toll Plazas

tdomf_2d632 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:20:02 +0000

As I was driving back from MIA today after dropping someone off for a flight I drove through the the sunpass lanes on 112 and just thought to myself why are we still building toll roads with boths in this country. We can warehouses where all locations of products are known real-time as they move, we have hospitals where a baby can’t be taken into the wrong room with out staff being notified. But on our roads we still have to have someone sit in a small both and collect payment while causing unneeded traffic congestions, decreased fuel efficentcy and unneeded construction and labor cost. Here a toll implementation that completely removed the booths and implemented the automatic surcharge for vehicles not registered under the toll system or equiped with an RFID transmitter. The surcharge was not a fine it was just a higher toll charge that would be mailed to the registered owners address. This completely removed the traffic congestions at the toll points. http://www.infrastructure.org.au/DisplayFile.aspx?FileID=4

This post was submitted by ben.

Toll Plazas

tdomf_2d632 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:19:50 +0000

As I was driving back from MIA today after dropping someone off for a flight I drove through the sunpass lanes on 112 and just thought to myself why are we still building toll roads with boths in this country. We can warehouses where all locations of products are known real-time as they move, we have hospitals where a baby can’t be taken into the wrong room with out staff being notified. But on our roads we still have to have someone sit in a small both and collect payment while causing traffic congestions, increased fuel consumption and higher construction and labor cost. Here a toll implementation that completely removed the booths and implemented the automatic surcharge for vehicles not registered under the toll system or equipped with an RFID transmitter. The surcharge was not a fine it was just a higher toll charge that would be mailed to the registered owners address. This completely removed the traffic congestions at the toll points. http://www.infrastructure.org.au/DisplayFile.aspx?FileID=4

This post was submitted by ben.

Brevard Fires

Gabriel Lopez-Bernal — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:26:48 +0000

I was up in Brevard County yesterday on business when I got caught in the middle of pure pandemonium on my way home. On my back country drive (I-95 and US-1 were closed, so I was seeking an alternate route) I witnessed people watering their homes/businesses, school evacuations, and extreme congestion.

From the SFWMD:

Effective April 18, 2008
In response to improved regional water resource conditions, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) modified emergency water restrictions across most of the agency’s 16-county region, transitioning from one-day-week landscape irrigation restrictions to two-day-a-week watering.

Guess not! What’s the deal with having a green lawn anyway?

Update: Well apparently the fires were deliberately set and not a direct cause of the lack of rain, but still, whose bright Idea was it to ease the water restrictions when we are still well below our normal rain levels?

Update #2: See, I’m not kidding…

Metro Monday: Melbourne

Gabriel Lopez-Bernal — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:23:05 +0000

For today’s Metro Monday, we once again direct you over to our friends at Streetsfilms to view an exceptional piece on Melbourne’s pedestrian facilities. It is simply amazing to see how quickly a city can change with the right policy, perhaps Miami 21 will serve as our saving grace.

There is an invaluable lesson here. In the early 90s, Melbourne was hardly a haven for pedestrian life until Jan Gehl was invited there to undertake a study and publish recommendations on street improvements and public space. Ten years after the survey’s findings, Melbourne was a remarkably different place thanks to sidewalk widenings, copious tree plantings, a burgeoning cafe culture, and various types of car restrictions on some streets. Public space and art abound. And all of this is an economic boom for business.

Miami 21 Update: On Thursday the City of Miami commission approved the continuation of the Miami 21 project with the mapping of the quadrants. Interestingly, the only mention of this in the Herald was a recent editorial two days before the actual vote by Daniella Levine… Perhaps this is a contributing factor for much of the confusion regarding Miami 21…