The week in transportation, Oct. 18 edition
A few stories that caught my eye over the past week...
Very smart story in the Idaho Statesman by Rocky Barker about who the next Department of Interior Secretary may be. Excerpt:
He would manage more than 600 dams that bring water to 31 million Westerners and irrigate 60 percent of all the vegetables grown in the United States. He would be in charge of the fate of 1,265 threatened or endangered species. He would be responsible for 68 percent of the nation's oil and gas reserves and millions of acres of federal mining lands. The next president’s choice for Interior also will sit on the Cabinet, discussing the major issues that face the nation and the world.
The current Interior chief is Dirk Kempthorne, by the way. Barker reports that Rep. George Miller of California may be a candidate if Sen. Barack Obama wins. The job also entails overseeing the National Park system. The above photo is of Glacier National Park in Montana.
Motorists in Chicago are driving less. Yet traffic is just as bad as always, maybe even worse. How can that be?, asks Trib columnist Jon Hilkevitch, reviewing a new traffic study in the Windy City. Turns out local roads were so saturated to begin with that even removing a few vehicles hasn't helped much. Nor have some major construction projects and continued suburban sprawl.
The chief of the BART rail system in the Bay Area thinks passengers should be allowed to have coffee on the trains -- if they buy a special cup. BART staff throws cold water on the idea, citing the cost of cleaning up spills and extra police that will be needed to patrol coffee drinkers. Yes, I'm serious. Fun story from KTVU and just to make my bias clear I'm with the chief on this one and I'd be willing to fork over some dough for the special cup.
Zach Behrens at Laist wrote a great little ditty on the fact that more than 100 fire hydrants in Los Angeles have blown their tops in recent weeks, sending some impressive towers of water into the air. You guessed it: most hydrants blew it after getting bonked by a car.
The U.S. EPA released its list of most fuel efficient cars this past week and take a stab at which model was No. 1. That would be the Toyota Prius, reports Grist. Hybrids dominated the top four slots, but the Smart managed to grab fifth place. Jeep Cherokee -- with 11 mpg in city and 14 on the highway -- was among the worst.
A longer read comes from NYT's Key Magazine, where Mark Oppenheimer writes about the block where he lives in New Haven, Conn., and tries to figure out what makes it such a great block to live. The answer is complicated. Residents are a variety of ages, there's a lot of kids, the sidewalks are wide enough to accomodate people walking side-by-side, the homes have porches and people use them, a nearby street handles much of the area's through-traffic and preserves the quietness of his block. Great article.
I love reading stories about ambitious mayors. Take, for example, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He wants a third term in office and is trying to change the law so that he can run again and do more green stuff in the Big Apple. Interesting contrast with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who turned down a chance in 2006 to get his office included in Prop R, the City Council's successful effort to provide themselves more time in office. Perhaps the mayor here has plans to go somewhere (Sacramento?). And, speaking of ambitious mayors, there's Indianapolis' Greg Ballard, who wants to build 200 miles of bike lanes at a cost of $50 million or more. The city doesn't have the money, but Ballard is going to seek private dollars for the plan and the Indianapolis Star editorial board gives him a deserved pat on the back for his worthy ambition.
photo: Allen Schaben / LAT
