Current edition: Mobilizing the Region #496
April 11, 2005
An Era of Transportation Reform?
We have written previously about the profound changes underway in the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s approach to transportation planning (MTR #’s 477, 482).
Most Agree: Xanadu Will Create Traffic Hell
Traffic congestion is one of the complaints in the NY Giants’ recently filed lawsuit to stop construction of Xanadu, the proposed recreational and commercial center in the NJ Meadowlands.
Planning to Fail in Williamsburg?
There is no evidence of any serious collaboration between the New York City Dept. of City Planning and any transportation agency in the city’s drive to rezone and densify the northern Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg.
First, every community interest in Lower Manhattan came out in opposition to the idea of a West Street tunnel opposite the World Trade Center site. Now Goldman Sachs is so against it that it has said that it will abandon its planned $2 billion, 40-story headquarters building at the northwest corner of Vesey and West Streets.
New Beginnings for Greenwich Street
New York New Visions, a collaboration of architecture, planning and design organizations convened by the Regional Plan Association after September 11th has crafted a plan for a new "Greenwich Street South" neighborhood, bordered by Liberty Street and Battery Place, Broadway and West Street.
Thruway Tolls Should Help T-Z Transit
In a letter sent last week to the NY State Thruway Authority, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign urged the agency to use some of the additional revenue it will reap from this year’s planned Thruway toll increase to bolster the operating budget for commuter buses operating between Rockland and Westchester Counties.
CityTicket Successful, Still Temporary
CityTicket, the program that provides a discounted fare for weekend riders who travel within New York City on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro North (MNR) will continue to run as a pilot program in 2005 despite increasing ridership trends.
New Jersey Transit says the cost of constructing the $5 billion Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel (THE Tunnel) — a second commuter rail tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan — is dwarfed by the expected $10 billion it would pump into the region’s economy.
Although the New Jersey Department of Transportation is rapidly transforming its planning processes, there are some residual "old way" projects still emerging from the project pipeline and causing local battles.
New Bike Trails for S.I. Miss Critical Path
New York City has decided to build six miles of bike paths that run through the 2,800 acre Staten Island Greenbelt this summer, but the network will not include the 5.5 mile Amundsen Trail along the unbuilt Willowbrook Parkway right of way.
| Each week, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign publishes Mobilizing the Region, or MTR. MTR is a bulletin on New Jersey, New York and Connecticut transportation news and opinion from the perspective of advocacy for sustainable transportation. |
| MTR #496 printable format (PDF) file (requires Adobe Acrobat).
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GO TO INDEX of past issues of MTR, since Fall 1994.ll M
Recent editions:
MTR 495-April 4, 2005
MTR 494-March 21, 2005
MTR 493-March 7, 2005
MTR 492-March 1, 2005
