 The town of Brookhaven will use its grant for an environmental review of its plan to develop around the Ronkonkoma LIRR station. A community visioning process to identify ways to reuse the old Department of Public Works site next to the Ossining Train Station.
Changing city ordinances to allow denser development at key locations along Newark’s successful Springfield Ave bus rapid transit “GoBus” route.
These are two of the eight projects that will receive funding via the One Region Funders Group, The Fund for New Jersey, and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s community assistance grants program announced today. The grants will help towns promote residential and commercial development within a half-mile of bus or rail stations, a concept otherwise known as transit-oriented development. Grants range from $10,000 to $50,000, and the eight winners were selected from over 40 applicants.
The Westchester, Long Island, and New Jersey grants were announced today, with funds going to Mount Vernon, Ossining, and Peekskill in Westchester; Babylon and Brookhaven in Long Island; and Newark and Trenton in New Jersey. The Connecticut grant will be announced at a public event next week.
The program is supported by The Fund for New Jersey and the One Region Funders’ Group, a partnership of private funders including the Westchester Community Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Fairfield County Community Foundation, Long Island Community Foundation, New York Community Trust, Rauch Foundation, and the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.
The descriptions of winning projects and quotes from recipient town officials, as well as the many applicants we unfortunately could not fund, show that interest in transit-oriented development is strong throughout the region. (Project descriptions and quotes below:) » Continue reading…
The metropolitan planning organizations of New York State have released their lists of transportation projects that are eligible for stimulus funds designated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The act, signed into law by President Obama in February, dedicates roughly $2.3 billion for New York to invest in public transit, roads, bridges, and bike and pedestrian improvements. Of this, $336 million is “suballocated” to metropolitan planning organizations and transportation management associations.
The below offers a snapshot into individual regions’ needs and priorities. Many listed projects in the Northern and Western parts of NY favor bridge and road maintenance. Not surprisingly, the NYC list is transit-heavy. Most lists have some sort of transit or pedestrian improvement request, showing that those needs stretch throughout the state.
 NYMTC's stimulus lists are available as Google Maps. Above: stimulus funding could go towards Brooklyn subway stations. Almost all of the lists are accessible via websites, but members of the general public may find it hard to navigate the jargon. Non-professionals may not guess that a file titled “Transportation Improvement Program 2007-2012″ is where to find a stimulus project list, though that is the only place where some MPOs put it. Other MPOs at least mention ARRA by name, but only a few use plain-English language like “Draft 2009 stimulus projects.”
New York Metropolitan Transportation Council has lists located on its main page, and even has them in Google Map format (scroll down to “Candidate Projects for ARRA”). NYMTC’s project lists cover NYC, Long Island, and Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester Counties. Nearly all of the funds for NYC are directed towards NYC Transit for subway upgrades, including station rehabilitation in Brooklyn and the Second Avenue Subway. Projects in NYMTC’s Lower Hudson Valley Region include modernization of Bee-Line facilities, bus purchases, and bridge and traffic signal replacements. The LI list includes traffic calming in Hempstead, buses for Suffolk County Bus, and a LIRR Atlantic Avenue Viaduct improvement.
After the jump, synopses of MPO stimulus lists from around the state.
» Continue reading…
NYCDOT and NYC Transit have already started using bus rapid transit to speed up New York City’s notoriously slow bus system. But where should the plans go from here? To answer that question, the Museum of the City of New York will hold a panel discussion between transportation planners and advocates on April 1 [...]
Sen. Hiram Monserrate's constituents will lose service on the G train and the QM22 and QM23 buses, and will have longer waits and more crowded trips on the 7, E, F, and R trains — but he still opposes a comprehensive transit rescue plan.
The Regional Plan Association continues its excellent work mapping [...]
Senate Democrats announced a plan today that does nothing but kick the can down the tracks.
At an Albany press conference today, the State Senate Democrats released a stopgap MTA funding plan that would not address the agency’s long-term capital needs and may not even fill the agency’s operating gap. The plan includes [...]
On March 4, Carteret became the newest participant in the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) “Live Where You Work” homebuyer incentive program. The smart-growth-oriented program began as a pilot program with the city of Trenton in February 2008, and is designed to build stronger communities by encouraging people to live closer to [...]
Newly released figures from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) show transit ridership growing 4 percent nationwide in 2008 over 2007, with 10.7 billion trips taken on trains, light rail, buses and trolleys in 2008, the most since 1956.
The upward trend in ridership was spurred by high gasoline prices last spring [...]
 “We believe that Senator Díaz—and Senators Espada and Hassell-Thompson— can change their minds," said Anna Vincenty of Nos Quedamos, "and that when they truly think about what public transit means to the people here today and in their districts, they will make the right decision and get on board to support the best interests of their constituents." So said one of the many chants ringing out this afternoon in front of Senator Ruben Diaz Sr.’s district office in the Bronx. Constituents of Sen. Diaz gathered to protest his obstruction of an MTA rescue plan at a rally organized by Communities United for Transportation Equity (COMMUTE).
Those following the Albany negotiations on an MTA rescue plan know that Sen. Diaz has been vocal in his opposition to tolling the East and Harlem River bridges, necessary to fund the MTA and avoid the insult and injury of service cuts and raised fares. The senator’s opposition is puzzling. His district relies on transit more than most in a city whose lifeblood is its subways and buses. According to COMMUTE’s press release:
In Senator Díaz’ district, more than 67% of households have no access to a car and are dependent on mass transit; more than 140,000 constituents are daily transit riders. The Bruckner Expressway which runs through the district and the 55,000 weekly truck trips along local streets and bridges associated with the Hunts Point Market alone have been documented as major contributors to the area’s poor air quality. The local asthma rate of one in four children, which has been directly correlated exposure to with truck and car exhaust, is among the highest in the nation.
The Bx4 bus is the most heavily used local bus that is slated to be eliminated due to the transit crisis, with a daily ridership of more than 13,000 people. There are at least 7 senior citizen centers that are served by the bus line.
The Senator’s own explanations are no help. According to his press release, “Low income families cannot afford these surcharges, and it is our duty as elected officials and as Democrats to protect the less fortunate members of our society.” The Senator’s conclusion is laughable. The proposed $2 toll is what low income families are paying every time they get on a bus or subway. Of course, that fare will certainly rise if funding isn’t secured for the MTA.
Diaz’s alternative solutions to the MTA’s funding gap, which include buying prescription drugs from Canada, are similarly unhelpful.
Let’s hope that the Senator hears the rising voices of his community and puts his vote where his heart should be – with the transit-relying people of the Bronx.
(After the jump, another picture from the rally:) » Continue reading…
A conversion of carpool lanes to high-occupancy toll lanes could have potential for Connecticut.
Today, Tri-State joined a coalition of civic, environmental, and transportation groups that called on elected officials to implement congestion pricing on Connecticut’s roads. The Connecticut Joint Committee on Transportation will hear a congestion pricing bill within the next two [...]
During the drafting of federal stimulus legislation, Transportation for America — a national coalition of over 225 organizations including Tri-State — was an active voice for increasing transit funds in the package. With the bill signed into law, the coalition is now working to ensure that the next 5-year federal transportation bill tackles the [...]
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Masthead Mobilizing the Region is published by the staff of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
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