Moving Together, Faster
Via: Reconnecting America:
Next time you’re stuck going 20 mph in the fast lane, waiting forever to get through a traffic light, or trying to find your way out of a giant concrete parking structure, remember that it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time for America to rediscover the human scale. It’s time to build communities for people, not cars.
What seems out of place in this picture? If you guess the triangular sliver of grass amid all the concrete and parking, then you guessed right. I was browsing through the most recent copy of the LRTP or TIP, don’t remember which one but that is besides the point, when I came across some preliminary plans to acquire this sliver of land from the FEC. The plan, of course, would be for MDT to convert this last remnant of green space into further surface parking for the Dadeland North Metrorail station.
Now, I realize the importance of parking for metrorail, especially given our commuter-like use of the train and extremely autocentric lifestyles, but the pragmatist in me doesn’t see the need, especially when the immediate surroundings are already paved over with under-utilized land. Simon Malls certainly isn’t using all of their available parking, why can’t we learn to work with our neighbors first? The problem with metrorail, contrary to common belief, isn’t that “it doesn’t go anywhere” but that we haven’t constructed anything of any value around it. Sure Dadeland is a step away, but who wants to walk between 3 parking structures, just to walk under the teal pathway which meanders through the sea of parking? If Miami plans to make any significant upgrades to metrorail or any of our urban centers, we must begin around our existing transit nodes. It’s bad enough this ROW won’t be used to connect downtown Kendall with the MIC using an LRT…
From the World Carfree network:
Every September 22, people from around the world get together in the streets, intersections, and neighbourhood blocks to remind the world that we don’t have to accept our car-dominated society.
But we do not want just one day of celebration and then a return to “normal” life. When people get out of their cars, they should stay out of their cars. It is up to us, it is up to our cities, and our governments to help create permanent change to benefit pedestrians, cyclists, and other people who do not drive cars.
Let World Carfree Day be a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars…365 days a year.
As the climate heats up, World Carfree Day is the perfect time to take the heat off the planet, and put it on city planners and politicians to give priority to cycling, walking and public transport, instead of to the automobile.
“There is no such thing as a natural level of car use. The number of cars used in the city is a political decision. Traffic problems don’t come from more cars, they come from more roads…”
-Former Mayor of Bogota Enrique Penalosa
Apparently we were having an HTML error due to the recent wordpress software upgrade. We apologize for the inconvenience and incomplete emails that were sent out this morning.
Let me see if I am reading this sequence of events correctly:
I don’t know about you, but I’m left scratching my head on this one. How stupid are we? One of the proposed “solutions” is to move more of the training flights out to the Dade-collier transition facility in the middle of the everglades. In case you aren’t aware, in the late 1960’s some of our legislative geniuses laid the foundation to create the world’s largest airport (Everglades Jetport) in the middle of the Florida Everglades. Luckily, only one of the airports proposed 6 runways (a 10,500 ft behemoth nonetheless) was actually constructed before environmentalists (rather the cancellation of the SST aircraft, the main reason why the airport was conceived from the beginning) convinced the government that the airport would cause irreparable harm to the ecosystem.
I digressed as usual, but am I the only one in complete disbelief? This reminds me of the other geniuses in Kendall who never realized that existing rail rights-of-way like the CSX or FEC corridor could actually once again be used for regular rail service…
But residents are worried about the dangers associated with testing equipment in such a highly populated area.
It has even led homeowners to question whether it’s time for the Federal Aviation Administration to revisit airport guidelines now that the landscape around the airport has significantly changed from mostly empty fields to hundreds of homes.
Once again, this chain of events is the result of developers controlling our land-use regulations. Land-use planning is pro-active, why is it that in Miami-Dade County we’re always left cleaning up other people’s messes?
The swath of land centered in the image below was a former airfield in Pinecrest, forced to close due to encroaching development, could Kendall-Tamiami experience this fate one day? How about Homestead General Aviation Airport or even Dade-Collier?
Do you fancy yourself a traffic expert? I sure don’t, but thought my status as an observant urbanist might lend itself to a decent score. Well, after submitting to the Tierney Lab Traffic Quiz, I only got two questions out of ten right. So much for that. Think you can beat me? Take the quiz.
TM thanks Kathryn for the link.
Last Wednesday, I had the chance to drive north along I-95 in Miami-Dade County where I snapped the pictures below of the then incomplete sections of 95 Express, the variable priced road pricing scheme program going into full effect by 2010. Little did I know that just 2 days later, FDOT would be “completing” the first segment of 95 Express and opening the lanes up to the public. Driving, I actually thought to myself “This should make for some interesting conversation on TM.” In fact, had I known this, I likely would have driven north to Palm Beach instead of taking tri-rail this past Friday.
95 Express’ opening day was a disaster. I will tell you why. This is the sort of outcome you should expect when our government blindly throws hundreds of millions of dollars at an unproven concept. Not congestion pricing. We are generally in favor of road pricing policies because of their effectiveness in reducing urban congestion and smog. I am concerned with the urban partnerships program. Essentially, this program threw $1 Billion dollars at five cities to “relieve congestion” in existing rights of ways while combining public transportation with road pricing. Or in the preferred government alliteration speak:
The Department sought applicants to aggressively use four complementary and synergistic strategies (referred to as the “4Ts”) to relieve urban congestion: Tolling, Transit, Telecommuting, and Technology.
Now, how a transportation project can go from conception to construction in just over 1-year’s time is beyond me, this process is sure to be riddled with problems. Note: In August 2007, the Secretary announced five final urban partners: Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle.
I predict that most Miami drivers will have no problem mowing down the delineated candlestick markers, just as they managed to do along Dolphin Mall Blvd (see below), or Kendall Dr. (Note: here they raised the delineated markers onto a concrete curb after they had been plowed a few times, encouraging most Hummer sedan drivers to stray away.)
This is likely an issue which we’ll be writing on frequently and is the subject of much controversy (especially now) in South Florida. Before I get to the transit aspect of 95 Express, let’s open this up for some conversation…
98% of Americans are in favor of expanded public transportation. Yes, there is a catch. This is what the study released today by the APTA concluded:
A study released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association reveals that 98 percent of Americans support the use of mass transit by others.
Now, that is a scary statistic. With hordes of environmental and financial problems looming over the US economy (chiefly the result of our unappeasable appetites for oil), one would assume that our citizens would become better acquainted with more sustainable lifestyles. This national mentality falls in line with some situations we’ve addressed here on TM; evidenced by the opposition against bringing commuter rail service to the CSX corridor because it would “hamper the commutes of motorists traveling along several east-west corridors.”
Of the study’s 5,200 participants, 44 percent cited faster commutes as the primary reason to expand public transportation, followed closely by shorter lines at the gas station. Environmental and energy concerns ranked a distant third and fourth, respectively.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news America, but this is not how transportation works:
Anaheim, CA, resident Lance Holland, who drives 80 miles a day to his job in downtown Los Angeles, was among the proponents of public transit.
“Expanding mass transit isn’t just a good idea, it’s a necessity,” Holland said. “My drive to work is unbelievable. I spend more than two hours stuck in 12 lanes of traffic. It’s about time somebody did something to get some of these other cars off the road.”
You will notice that equally important in our quest of reshaping the American Landscape (and mentality) is to create a better understanding of our land use policies.
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