Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Census data on Racial composition
Transit gains while peak-hour congestion drops: National news
Although high gas prices until late last year and the increasingly painful economic crisis curtailed the nation's vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and boosted transit ridership, neither the steep gas-price plunge since the fall nor disastrous job losses have stopped transit gains or diminished the urgent need for investment in transit upgrades and expansion, a long-overlooked policy requisite once more documented by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) in its newest report, which shows that Americans "took 1.7 billion trips on public transportation in 2008" -- 4 percent more than in 2007 and the most in the 52 years.Read full article here.
Last year, peak hour congestion on major urban roads in 99 of the 100 largest metro areas, except Baton Rouge, Louisiana, decreased 30 percent -- being 15 to 60 percent lower each hour of every day depending on day and time -- not because of road expansion, but because of some 3 percent fewer vehicle miles traveled (VMT), an unprecedented decline forced by higher gas prices and economic hardships, and a kind of incidental "transportation demand management," writes CEOs for Cities chief economic analyst Joe Cortright in an Infrastructurist guest commentary on Kirkland, Washington-based INRIX' second annual National Traffic Scorecard, built on many billions of real-time travel data sent from nearly a million GPS-equipped cars and trucks.Read full article here.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Federal Stimulus for Boise
Idaho History: Manufacturing in Boise area in the days before the car
In 1890, the Idaho Statesman pointed out that "Boise is becoming quite a manufacturing center in the way of wagons, carriages and stage coaches, especially the latter. Several were shipped west yesterday from one of the largest factories. They are models of workmanship and strength."
In the horse-powered world of the 1890s, all kinds of manufacturing flourished that was related to horses. In 1892, Boise's newest industry was a factory for the manufacture of horse collars. The Statesman said the company had six employees but was expected to grow. "The Boise City Manufacturing Co. Ltd." advertised In the 1893 city directory that it was the manufacturer of horse collars of every description and that it operated its own large tannery for the manufacture of the leather it used in its products.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Boise Streetcar
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Is sprawl an American problem?
Suburban Despair - Is urban sprawl really an American menace?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
You asked: How can 1 gallon of gasoline cause 20 pounds of GHG emissions?? Answer is....
Although it seems improbable that a gallon of gasoline, which weighs about 6.3 pounds, could produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) - the greenhouse gas or GHG in question - when burned. However, most of the weight of the CO2 doesn't come from the gasoline itself, but the oxygen in the air.
When gasoline burns, the carbon and hydrogen separate. The hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water (H2O), and carbon combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2).
A carbon atom has a weight of 12, and each oxygen atom has a weight of 16, giving each single molecule of CO2 an atomic weight of 44 (12 from carbon and 32 from oxygen).
Therefore, to calculate the amount of CO2 produced from a gallon of gasoline, the weight of the carbon in the gasoline is multiplied by 44/12 or 3.7.
Since gasoline is about 87% carbon and 13% hydrogen by weight, the carbon in a gallon of gasoline weighs 5.5 pounds (6.3 lbs. x .87).
We can then multiply the weight of the carbon (5.5 pounds) by 3.7, which equals 20 pounds of CO2!
Commuting Data - Sources
2. Census Transportation Planning Project (CTPP 2000) - the American Community Survey (ACS) from Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Unhappiest city: Portland, OR
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Cities vs. suburbs - from Pew trends project
Bus Rapid Transit resources at CCNY
Monday, March 2, 2009
Urban Mobility Report from TTI @Texas A&M
Apart from mobility, there is a plethora of research publications from TTI on integrated public transit and even specific policy measures such as the effectiveness of HOV lanes in TX. Enjoy exploring the site on your own!
Science magazine special issue on: Cities
By 2030, nearly 5 billion people, or 60% of the world's projected population, will live in cities. As described in a special section of the 8 February 2008 issue of Science, these hot spots of production, consumption, and creative thinking present both the problems and solutions to the sustainability challenges that face an increasingly urbanized world.
In this video presentation, Michael Batty of University College London, Jesse Ausubel of The Rockefeller University, Nancy Grimm of Arizona State University, and Science's Asia news editor Richard Stone discuss the implications of the mass embrace of city life around the globe.
In the same issue, there are several very interesting articles on cities - including what the city of the future will look like.