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Transit Oriented Development Institute
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Washington, DC
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URBAN DESIGN AT THE GRAND SCALE - DC 200 YEARS
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Washington Post: The original idea for the Mall - a grand, tree-lined avenue flanked by imposing buildings - goes back to the very origins of the capital city, Pierre L'Enfant's plan conceived for George Washington. But in Washington, plans rarely go as planned, so the Mall has been a work in progress for more than 200 years. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the most recent addition but possibly not the last The idea for the Mall came from L'Enfant, a French engineer commissioned by President Washington in 1791 to develop a plan for the country's seat of government. L'Enfant imagined something more like a grand, tree-lined avenue, flanked by embassies and gardens. He also envisioned a canal running along its north side, crossing south in front of the Capitol, connecting to the Anacostia River. Washington Post Story | Placemaking | TOD Videos
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NEW RAIL STATION AND TOD UNDERWAY IN TOKYO, JAPAN
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The new station that East Japan Railway plans to build in Tokyo between the Shinagawa and Tamachi stops on the Yamanote railway loop likely will handle 130,000 passengers a day, JR East President Tetsuro Tomita told The Nikkei.
The railway operator is redeveloping 130,000 sq. meters around the planned station in a project that Tomita said reflects the company's intention to become involved in creating new towns. He said the redeveloped site would attract crowds equal in scale to the areas around the Ebisu and Gotanda stations in Tokyo.
The new station, scheduled to open partially in 2020, will cover 7,600 sq. meters and have two platforms, each equipped with two elevators and four escalators to handle the morning and evening rushes smoothly.
JR East plans to spend some 500 billion yen ($4.8 billion) to construct seven complexes covering a combined 1 million sq. meters around the station. The redevelopment project, which will create housing and offices as well as commercial and cultural facilities, is to be 60% finished when the new town is christened in 2024, with full completion slated for the 2030s.
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WATERLOO CHANGING DEVELOPMENT RULES TO ENCOURAGE TOD
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Waterloo is proposing new development rules and guidelines to create better, more livable and walkable places. The new comprehensive plan's vision says: "The town of Waterloo will be recognized as a safe, attractive and affordable residential community where natural and historical resources are valued and the rural atmosphere is balanced with a vibrant community center and strong retail and commercial businesses, all of which contribute to a significant quality of life for families, friends and neighbors."
The plan recommends:
-Exploring ways to encourage mixed-use development to foster population density where it best supports commercial growth
-Explore the use of overlay districts as a land-use tool to encourage a pattern based on sustainability
-It encourages growth in areas where infrastructure already exists, discouraging development in open spaces and farmland
-Explore opportunities to encourage mixed-use development with revisions in zoning laws and local laws that allow the town to waive density requirements to protect open spaces and better support commercial businesses in adjacent areas
-Make the town more walkable by establishing safe routes for pedestrians and bicyclists
Story | TOD Principles | Books
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WHY PROTECTED BIKE LANES SAVE LIVES
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Several weeks ago, painted lines and flexible plastic lane dividers began materializing on Maryland Avenue, one of the major north-south arteries that connect downtown Baltimore to the residential neighborhoods above the city. The resulting 2.6-mile route is called a cycle track, one of the city's first examples of fully protected bike infrastructure. This new two-lane bike highway eliminated a lane of automobile traffic and 15 parking spaces, to the disgruntlement of many motorists who used the rowhouse-lined thoroughfare as a means of bolting downtown. But it's a been something of a godsend to bikers, especially those (like me) weary of juking through traffic on narrow, bus-intensive city streets.
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"For some people, it's completely changed their whole commute," says Liz Cornish, executive director of the Baltimore City cycling advocacy organization Bikemore, which has been pushing the city and state to built the cycle track for four years. It's designed, she says, to be the spine of a network of lanes running east-to-west; like the Maryland Avenue track, these will also be buffered from traffic.
This kind of dedicated bike infrastructure is a new thing for Baltimore, which boasts but a handful of marked bike lanes and plenty of useless sharrow-posted streets, and Cornish is convinced that it's the best way to convince skeptical Baltimoreans to embrace cycling at rates similar to bike-friendlier burgs. "As cities look to increase the number of people riding bikes, they're finding that better-designed facilities are the ones that really work," Cornish says.
Story | Last Mile | Rail
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HOW BIG INVESTMENTS IN WALKING AND BIKING PAY FOR THEMSELVES
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The potential benefits of walking and biking in Colorado are immense, but the lack of safe infrastructure is holding us back, according to a new study prepared for the Colorado Office of Economic Development and Trade.
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BBC Research and Consulting found that the statewide economic benefits of walking and biking total $1.6 billion annually, a figure that includes all activity linked to the manufacture and sale of equipment like bikes or boots, as well as tourism and events related to biking and walking.
The health impact is larger. Using research tools from the World Health Organization, BBC concluded that the health benefits of biking and walking, in terms of years of life saved thanks to physical activity, are worth $3.2 billion annually.
There is room for these benefits to grow substantially if Coloradans walk and bike more. A 60 percent increase in walking and biking could prevent as many as 240 premature deaths each year, the report found.
"If you assume, as we do, that accessibility to bicycling and walking is one of the key mechanisms for getting people out to walk or ride, it would stand to reason that participation rates would increase with more infrastructure - especially infrastructure like protected bike lanes and detached sidewalks that offer improved bicyclist and pedestrian safety."
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Get in on the opportunities...
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LA METRO LARGEST WINNER IN BALLOT INITIATIVES - $120 BILLION!
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In a great victory for Los Angeles, the people voted to tax themselves $120 Billion to fund a massive expansion of rail in the LA region! L.A. County's Measure M received more than the two-thirds vote required to pass. The plan will provide funding for a slew of transit-rail projects in the region, and help transform Los Angeles into a rail-served, walkable, mixed-use city.
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Get involved in the $120 Billion in TOD and rail projects,
network with the leaders at this conference...
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