There’s a bus stop at the end of my street on National Ave. And the 12 S. National bus goes right to the heart of downtown. Here’s my journey:

Technorati Tags: public transportation, walking, weather

It’s snowing like crazy today. So I walked. I also used the Bear Line to get downtown, so I didn’t miss my Tuesday/Thursday appointment to hang out and read the newspaper at the Mudhouse.

A short conversation this morning in the kitchen:

Wife: I’m happy to give you a ride, but you probably don’t want it.

Me: I don’t want you driving in this.

Two things: 1) It is very comfortable to ride in or drive a car in snowy weather. There’s just no doubt about that, but 2) it is also dangerous to drive in the snow — especially in the morning as many people are commuting.

Since I live 3/4-mile from my office, I just see no sense in putting my wife or myself in danger. Plus, proper dress really takes care of most of the comfort issues for a <15-minute walk.

Riding the Bear Line begs the issue of danger, but I’ll ignore that

The key here — to whatever point it is I’m trying to make — is that living close to your major destinations can be a really good thing if one finds it possible. I’m lucky. I have a wife who would venture into the snow by car (something I know she hates) just to make sure I’m comfortable. I live close enough to turn down the offer with few worries.

Technorati Tags: commuting, public transportation, walking, weather

Kid 1: “There’s just too much sprawl here.”

Kid 2: “Yeah, not enough density.”

Kid 3: “It doesn’t matter. We’re not going to live here anyway.”

How do we make our urban core more dense and, thus, have a chance at making Springfield the kind of place where these kids want to live?

I began this series with this claim:

I think making the urban environment attractive comes before increasing population density. The reasons to move must exist before people will move. One way to make the urban core attractive is to make it easier — better — to get around by some other means than a car. I believe creative classers will be attracted to a place in which they can live greener lives. We might even be able to attract workers for a green economy this way.

Build it, and they will come.

Well, as it turns out, this isn’t such a new idea (not that I made that claim). In terms of modern urbanism, it dates back at least to the construction of street-car cities (grid pattern, 7+ units per acre, narrow streets, public transportation along the thoroughfares) in North America — late 1800s — according to Patrick M. Condon in his new book Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities. Christopher B. Leinberger makes the same claim in the current issue of The Atlantic.

You want density? Build the transportation amenities that attract developers to build the dense urban housing and businesses that attract people. You can even let the developers build the transportation amenities as an attraction for their properties. That’s the way it used to be done, according to Condon and Leinberger.

We could begin this process in Springfield with a gung-ho complete streets effort to make our streets attractive to walkers and bicyclists — and, perhaps, a change from a route-based bus system to a grid-based bus system.

Our Urban Challenge Series:

• First in a Series
• Getting Started
• Green Density
• Networks
• Barriers
• Free Parking
• The Good Life
• Cost of Living

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle infrastructure, complete streets, cycling, public transportation, sustainability, traffic design, Transportation Planning, Urban and Regional Planning, urban design, urban development, Urban Planning, walking

Now, just because HNTB is an interested party doesn’t mean that its figures are bad. I can believe that a healthy majority of Americans would like high-speed rail. We could, however, be expected to disagree over such things as how to pay for it and where it might go.

For example, just a few days ago the Springfield City Council voted for a resolution to include Springfield in any Missouri plan. As you can see from the following map, Springfield doesn’t make the cut in the Obama plan.

The local resolution isn’t about how to pay for it. It’s about wanting it.

I’ll bet 88 percent of us can agree to want it.

Technorati Tags: public transportation

The good points from our point of view:

• MoTA is recognizing that people want to be able to have the choice to bicycle, walk, and use transit.  (In fact I have heard that the request to include “Complete Streets” is the top online comment they have received–click here to leave your own comment in support.)
• The decision to allow funding to be used for all types of transportation, not just roads and highways, is very significant.Under our current system, the state highway fund can only be used for roads and highways.  That makes MoDOT reluctant to fund other transportation options–even sidewalks and bike lanes in some cases–even when they make sense in context.
• The new funding source is likely to be something other than a fuel tax.  A tax raised from general funding sources creates a far greater moral imperative to provide for real transportation options for the 30% of Missourians who don’t have a driver’s license–and the much higher percentage who would like the choice of transit, bicycling, walking, or some other way of getting to places.
• One of the top items in our agenda in talking with MoTA was to have far greater accountability and transparency in MoDOT’s decision-making processes, and to better integrate public and community input in setting its priorities.The decision to include Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Regional Planning Commissions in MoDOT’s decision-making process for these new state transportation funds seems like a very simple and clean way to do this.

Contrary to the third point, I think increasing the fuel tax in Missouri is a good idea. Missouri is among the states with the lowest fuel taxes. A few cents more could be used for any number of worthy transportation projects, including projects that encourage citizens to drive less.

Technorati Tags: bicycle politics, complete streets, cycling, public transportation, transportation