Posts under ‘Transit & Infrastructure’

The new episode of the PBS series NOW, Driven to Despair, is a very well-done showcase of the problems and weaknesses of car-dependent planning and far-flung suburbia. The episode introduces us to the Schleighs, a family living in California exurbia in a large four-bedroom house. Mr. Schleigh gets up at 4:00 AM every [...]

This Streetfilm shows a rarity - a bicycle drive-thru at a bank. This one’s located in Boulder, Colorado. It’d be nice if banks in urban Fort Worth could provide a bike lane, as many banks refuse to do transactions with bike-using customers in drive-thrus.

While awaiting the wrap-up from Councilmember Burns, here’s a selection of videos of modern streetcar systems to give you an idea of what the systems are like in operation:

Following up our previous note about the Portland Streetcar having record high ridership, I’d also like to mention (thanks to a post on The Overhead Wire) that the Seattle Streetcar has already exceeded its first year ridership projection three months ahead of schedule. Between the time the Seattle Streetcar opened on December 12, 2007, [...]

This Streetfilms video uses animation inspired by the classic game Frogger to show the usage and benefits of raised crosswalks, which help to slow traffic down on streets and provide safer pedestrian access.
This is similar to the planned raised plaza at 7th & Arch Adams in the Cultural District, in the Museum Place development.

In various cities with dedicated bike lanes, “bike boxes” are being used to make cyclists more visible and safer around motorists. This Streetfilms video shows how they’re used in Portland, Oregon. With dedicated bike lanes in the planning for Magnolia Avenue in the Near Southside, it would be worthwhile to consider using bike [...]

This film from Streetfilms features Greg Raisman of the Portland Office of Transportation giving a tour of bicycle parking facilities in Portland, Oregon. Watch the video and learn the pros and cons of on street bicycle parking (a bicycle corral) vs a sheltered bicycle parking oasis. Fort Worthology is about Fort Worth, but I [...]

While I await Councilmember Joel Burns to finish up a wrap-up of the Streetcar Study Committee’s trip to the Pacific Northwest to study the streetcar systems of Portland, Seattle, and Tacoma, I think it’s worthwhile to point out a bit of news (which I found linked to off the excellent transit blog The Overhead Wire) [...]

Here are some photos from today’s excursion on Seattle’s South Lake Union Streetcar. Here, we’re boarding at one of the stops.

Showing support… (note from Kevin: I’m honestly very flattered by your Fort Worthology shirt. Thanks!)

Here, we’re at Vulcan Real Estate, Paul Allen’s development company in South Lake Union, as we’re shown examples [...]

(Note from Kevin: This post marks the beginning of a series of updates from District 9 City Councilman Joel Burns, sending us photos and perhaps even a little video from the Streetcar Study Committee’s trip to the Pacific Northwest to study the modern streetcar systems of Portland, Seattle, and Tacoma. I just want to thank [...]

The fine folks at the Fort Worth Business Press have been busy on the streetcar front lately - there are two new articles, one from Leslie Wimmer and one from John-Laurent Tronche. Leslie’s article reports on the latest news to come out of the city’s streetcar study committee. The group has settled on [...]

Nifty article in the Fort Worth Business Press about Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. getting Washington Post columnist Neil Peirce to come to town to advocate for the city’s streetcar efforts.
What better time for Downtown Fort Worth Inc. to recruit worldwide traveler and journalist Neal Peirce to speak to one poignant point at its regular organization [...]

I attended the Fort Worth South, Inc. presentation yesterday evening on the proposed re-striping of Magnolia Avenue to feature fewer traffic lanes and create dedicated bike lanes. As I expected, there were both supporters and opponents in attendance. What I was pleasantly surprised at was the very strong showing of supporters at the [...]

The streetcar effort is picking up steam, and is starting to get more coverage in the local media (besides here, that is, where I’ve been writing about this for over a year now). The latest bit of coverage is over at the Weekly’s unfortunately named blog, Blotch, where Gayle Reaves passes along this bit [...]

It worries me somewhat that Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley has been placed on the streetcar study committee, when he has shown that he simply does not understand urban transportation. Case in point - this recent Star-Telegram article on the reworking of East Rosedale:
County Judge Glen Whitley and Commissioner Gary Fickes said the bond [...]

Refreshing honesty from TxDOT. I’ll have to remember this link the next time somebody blasts me for supporting transit and its “endless subsidies” over roads that “pay for themselves” with gas taxes:
Applying this methodology, revealed that no road pays for itself in gas taxes and fees. For example, in Houston, the 15 miles of [...]

Speaking of the Business Press, here’s a great article from them about a subject I’ve talked about before - the development opportunities that would be opened up by the proposed modern streetcar system: Streetcars open up opportunities for developments. Here’s an excerpt:
If streetcar lines are set up around town, the first locations to [...]

It didn’t get much press, and in fact most of the people I know didn’t even hear about it. Nevertheless, the City Council voted in late May to demolish the 7th Street bridge over the Trinity to replace it with a new bridge which will be able to accommodate the Cultural District line of [...]

Andy at North Texas Historic Transportation was able to get a list of the people selected thus far for the city’s Modern Streetcar Study Committee:
Mayor Appointees
Andy Taft (Chair)
Louise Appleman
Johnny Campbell
Ed Casebier
Marvinell Johnson
Fran McCarthy
Phillip Poole
Council Member Appointees
Dr. Carlos Vasquez (District 2)
Pending (District 3)
Bob Riley (District 4)
Pending (District 5)
Bob Parmelee (District 6)
Bill Cranz (District 7)
Janet Saltsgiver [...]

Over at North Texas Historic Transportation’s web site, they’ve got scans of a 1974 document that shows an old plan to extend the Leonard’s/Tandy Center subway under the rest of downtown, complete with a route and station locations and designs. It’s an interesting bit of Fort Worth transit history that never was.
A Preliminary Engineering [...]

Vintage photo scan by Pete Charlton, provided by Andy Nold
In late 1927, the North Texas Traction Company took delivery of ten of what you see in the vintage photo above - new 1928 Birney Safety Cars. Over the last 80 years, one of these streetcars has led quite the life - and now, thanks [...]

‘Tis true, according to the NCTCOG. This quote stood out a bit to me:
It’s a milestone — the city has more than 700,000 residents for the first time — but it’s tempered by indications that some people are shifting away from buying new homes in outlying neighborhoods and toward apartment rentals in Dallas.
Fort Worth [...]

The proposed modern streetcar circulator for central city Fort Worth has been slowly weaving its way through city corridors, quietly but steadily picking up steam as enthusiasm for the proposal grows. Yesterday morning, Dana Burghdoff of the city’s Planning and Development Department gave a presentation to the city council on the proposal, and Fort [...]

Please join me in welcoming another link to the Fort Worthology blogroll in the sidebar - The Overhead Wire. It’s a blog about transit, and a darn good one - if you’re looking for the latest transit talk, make this a regular on your blog visits.

I’ve had some print copies of the streetcar whitepaper for a few weeks now, and have been handing them out - and now at last I can offer up this digital version of the whitepaper for download! It’s a PDF of about 3.2 MB, and offers everything the printed version does - a description [...]