Each year, the environmental agency’s Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program brings development professionals to improvement-minded municipalities across the country, where they advise officials, conduct day-long seminars, and assemble [...]]]> Towns in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are planning for safer, more walkable streets, and now the Environmental Protection Agency is lending a hand.

Each year, the environmental agency’s Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program brings development professionals to improvement-minded municipalities across the country, where they advise officials, conduct day-long seminars, and assemble “next steps” documents.

In the coming months, experts will visit Binghamton, NY to study complete streets, Onondaga County, NY to study zoning codes, Stony Point, NY to study smart growth economics, Simsbury, CT to audit the parking system, Passaic County, NJ to study green streets, and Jersey City to conduct walking audits.

Last week, several Connecticut Post reporters found that getting to work without a car isn’t as easy as the New Haven line’s record-breaking 2011 ridership would suggest.

In a series entitled “Getting There,” the paper’s staff spent a day without a car, travelling instead by train, bus, bike, [...]]]>

Photo: Brittany Lyte, Connecticut Post

Last week, several Connecticut Post reporters found that getting to work without a car isn’t as easy as the New Haven line’s record-breaking 2011 ridership would suggest.

In a series entitled “Getting There,” the paper’s staff spent a day without a car, travelling instead by train, bus, bike, or leg. The writers’ transit adventures, exhaustively chronicled on The BlogJam and developed into a series of articles, highlighted the challenges facing those that don’t travel by car.

Reporters found several problems with the region’s transit, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure: long waits, sidewalks to nowhere, a paucity of bike parking, and unreliable service. But these challenges are not insurmountable, and in some cases, fixing them isn’t as expensive as it sounds.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT), for example, could make buses faster and more reliable without overhauling their system. Implementing pre-board fare collection (a system in which riders buy tickets before they get on the bus, so that the driver doesn’t have to wait for them to pay), signal prioritization (a system that gives buses more green lights), and dedicated bus lanes would get people to work faster and attract more riders.

“Getting there” also showed that Connecticut must continue working to address the needs of cyclists and walkers. Even after the passage of complete streets legislation and changes to ConnDOT’s bike and pedestrian policies, there’s still work to do. One reporter had to bring her bike into a mall food court because she couldn’t find a bike rack, and another discovered that Connecticut’s sidewalk system is far from adequate.

Reporters also found that route planning was more difficult than it should be. Despite ConnDOT’s recent Google Transit initiative, the Post’s writers still had a hard time plotting out trips. 15 bus systems get people around Connecticut, but a coordinated effort to make cross-system trip planning easy has yet to be developed. It’s not hard to imagine a web and smartphone app that makes this possible.

The experiences weren’t all bad, of course.

One reporter assured readers that biking doesn’t lead to excessive sweatiness, another found that her nighttime ride on a busy road wasn’t as perilous as expected, and a number of them found that walking to the station made them see their neighborhoods with fresh eyes. And while some confessed that they’d be happy to get back behind the wheel, others relished their carless lifestyle. Vinti Singh:

I was not worried. I had headlights for the front and back of my bike, I was wearing all white, and my coworker had lent me his reflective vest. I was hard to miss. And the 2.2 mile ride was all downhill. On the way, I passed a gas station and saw regular unleaded was $3.89 a gallon.

“Not tonight,” I thought, as I pedaled by.

In 2007, after a troubled widening of I-84, a reform commission reported that the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) “badly needs fundamental change.”

TSTC analyses indicate that ConnDOT has been slowly improving since then, and we sat down with Commissioner Jim Redeker, who has headed the agency since last [...]]]>

ConnDOT Commissioner Jim Redeker

In 2007, after a troubled widening of I-84, a reform commission reported that the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) “badly needs fundamental change.”

TSTC analyses indicate that ConnDOT has been slowly improving since then, and we sat down with Commissioner Jim Redeker, who has headed the agency since last March, to talk about his work. He will be speaking at tomorrow’s transportation financing forum in Hartford.

TSTC: How did your work at NJ Transit prepare you for the commissioner job?

Commissioner Jim Redeker: I think that Connecticut is much like New Jersey was 30 years ago: there’s not a lot of transportation-oriented development happening, there’s still opportunity for new investment in transit and opportunity to improve branch lines. And I really came to try to make a difference there.

TSTC: What are some of the other priorities that you see moving forward?

JR: Connecticut has, as do all northeastern states, an extensive transportation network, be that highway or transit.  It is old. So my goals really start with state of good repair and they have to come first. The rail system has not had the benefit of Amtrak’s funding mechanism to help pay for infrastructure, and with a hundred-year-old infrastructure of movable bridges, catenary signals, and track, it could be a risk.

Beyond that, I think there are opportunities to make the system work better. And that can be in speeding up transit services, investing in new equipment, adding capacity through parking and new vehicles, bringing new technologies in, and making our highway systems function better. Branch lines offer opportunities as well. Just small incremental improvements, from a dollar point of view, can make major changes in service.

TSTC: How are you bringing change into your agency?

JR: I’m not. It’s sort of happening on its own. And that’s the great part of it. For example, I didn’t say we should put a bike path on the Putnam Bridge. My engineering group came to me and said, “we’re doing it, is that okay?” And I said, “Okay?! What are you talking about? Sure!”

I also think that having a full-time bicycle coordinator is beginning to make a change, but it’s not just because Kate Rattan [Connecticut’s bicycle coordinator] does a great job. It’s because the design group, the financial group, engineering, and planning are working together. My goal is to set some aggressive dates to get things done. I’m just patching together what have heretofore been independent ideas, and if I can set a goal, independent ideas become a strategy, and we’ll get them done. I’m trying to be the cheerleader that makes that happen.

TSTC: TSTC advocated for the transit-oriented development grants that came out this year. Who’s taking the lead to make sure that they are successful on a local level?

JR: We’re working on it together. You will hear over and over again that the three amigos [Jim Redeker of ConnDOT, Dan Esty of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and Catherine Smith of Department of Economic and Community Development] meet regularly, and that’s true. We meet on a monthly basis, and it really is about smart growth. We’re identifying what resources can come to bear; what priorities should be set. And then we select those  priorities and make sure that our agencies individually and  collectively get things done. What we’ve got is a complete administration and set of commissioners that get it.

TSTC: Over ½ of Connecticut transit riders take the bus. What can they expect as a result of the January 1^st fare increase?

JR: Let me dislink the fares from the service for the moment—I don’t think it’s in our interest to say that each dollar in a fare increase goes to a dollar in service. Frankly, it was 5 years without a fare increase, Connecticut bus fares are some of the lowest anywhere, and this increase is a nickel. I think that we’ve been very sensitive to the needs and income of users in shaping what we did.

But we are constantly looking at service. We will be replacing almost all of our buses with the greenest fleet east of California. We’re also putting in some high capacity articulated hybrid buses—the first of their kind—that give us high capacity capabilities and could potentially add service without increased cost.

We’re also trying to push very hard on integrating our system design. One of the hardest things in Connecticut for me was to figure out 24 different operators with different systems, logos, information systems, and websites. With Google Transit, we’ve got the beginnings of a system of information, but there’s a lot more integration to go.

TSTC: We strongly support the complete streets bill in Connecticut. How are you implementing it?

JR: That’s an easy answer—we have adopted a complete streets philosophy into our design process from the beginning. It’s fully embraced and you’ll see it as part of everything that we do.

TSTC: You’re speaking at our transportation financing forum. Could you give a preview of how you see Connecticut financing its transportation priorities and addressing the issues that you’ve raised today?

JR: No previews—that wouldn’t be fair to everyone else. But I will say that I’m sitting at a time in Connecticut that couldn’t be better, with a governor that added a billion dollars into highways and transit.

TSTC: Especially when you look at the surrounding states.

JR: Yeah, exactly, all of the other commissioners want to move to Connecticut and take my job. But, to get back to the question, there also are other opportunities here—we are studying tolling, we’ve got two pilot programs. The governor has also passed legislation that you might think is about project delivery, but it’s also about a type of financing called public-private partnership. These are all mechanisms that, to me, when you put them on the table, show that there are new ways of looking at how we fund projects.

TSTC: Thanks for speaking with us.

Transit for Connecticut, TSTC, and several other groups are sponsoring a forum on transportation funding in the state (and not a minute too soon). Emil Frankel of the Bipartisan Policy Center will deliver the keynote; Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Commissioner James Redeker will speak as well.

The event will run from 9am-12 on [...]]]>

Transit for Connecticut, TSTC, and several other groups are sponsoring a forum on transportation funding in the state (and not a minute too soon). Emil Frankel of the Bipartisan Policy Center will deliver the keynote; Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Commissioner James Redeker will speak as well.

The event will run from 9am-12 on January 20. It’s being held in the state capitol’s Old Judiciary Room.

For more information and to RSVP, click here.

Last week, the Connecticut Department of Transportation provided a friendly holiday reminder to transit riders that the first of three scheduled 4% fare increases will take effect on January 1, 2012. The fare increase really is a gift that keeps on giving—it will be the first of three consecutive 4% [...]]]>

Photo: Mira Hartford

Last week, the Connecticut Department of Transportation provided a friendly holiday reminder to transit riders that the first of three scheduled 4% fare increases will take effect on January 1, 2012. The fare increase really is a gift that keeps on giving—it will be the first of three consecutive 4% fare hikes in the coming years. Happy holidays, Connecticut transit riders!

Transit will get some good news this holiday season, though: ConnDOT commissioner James Redeker has put train and bus schedules onto Google Transit. Currently, seven of the state’s eight transit districts have uploaded their schedules, with the lone outstanding district, Waterbury, primed to join the fun by the end of January.

The tie-in to Google Transit will clearly benefit CTTransit passengers, and it may also help draw new riders into the system. Often, people that have access to transit simply don’t use it because they don’t know how the trains and buses work (or when they’re coming). By making its system more user-friendly, ConnDOT stands to increase customer satisfaction and ridership.

In New York, Connecticut, and many other parts of the country, travelling by foot has gotten more dangerous. A recent analysis from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that pedestrian fatalities in car crashes rose by 4.2% between 2009 and 2010. [...]]]>

NHTSA's data shows a decrease in fatalities per vehicle mile traveled.

In New York, Connecticut, and many other parts of the country, travelling by foot has gotten more dangerous. A recent analysis from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that pedestrian fatalities in car crashes rose by 4.2% between 2009 and 2010. Both New York and Connecticut saw increases in motor vehicle crash fatalities among pedestrians and vehicle occupants. The news in New Jersey was better: fatalities dropped by 4.8%.

While experts remain unsure why pedestrian fatalities have increased, two theories are surfacing: distracted walking and arterial roads. In its yearly analyses of the region’s most dangerous roads for pedestrians, TSTC has regularly found that the region’s arterial roads have higher shares of pedestrian fatalities. Improved roadway design has been shown to significantly help calm traffic, making streets safer for all.

The news isn’t all bad, though. Overall fatalities in motor vehicle crashes continue to decline in the United States—they’re at their lowest level since 1949, and have decreased 2.9% since 2009. In addition, the agency reports that the “fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fell to a historic low of 1.1.”

For a more fine-tuned analysis of the motor vehicle fatalities in the tri-state region, stay tuned for TSTC’s Most Dangerous Roads report.

Apparently 13 is a lucky number for Central Connecticut transit riders and businesses. That’s because after 13 years, Connecticut and the Federal Transit Administration have finally signed off on a Full Funding Grant Agreement for the Hartford-New Britain [...]]]>

Governor Malloy and FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff at the signing agreement on Monday. (Photo: Scott Vargas/FoxCT)

Apparently 13 is a lucky number for Central Connecticut transit riders and businesses. That’s because after 13 years, Connecticut and the Federal Transit Administration have finally signed off on a Full Funding Grant Agreement for the Hartford-New Britain Bus Rapid Transit, scheduled to begin operations in 2014.  The agreement, signed Monday at Central Connecticut State University, will allocate $275 million in federal New Starts funding, and sets the stage for construction to begin in March 2012.  All told, the Federal Government will finance 80% of the $567 million project. Initial bids for construction contracts have come in approximately 23% under previous estimates.

Buses to and from Waterbury, Cheshire, Southington, Bristol, the UConn Health Center in Farmington would also take advantage of the busway. (Click to view larger version on ConnDOT's website.)

TSTC has advocated for the project for over a decade and urged Gov. Malloy to endorse it earlier this year.

The project will eventually employ 4,000 people, see ridership of 16,000 a day, have headways of between 3-6 minutes and reduce congestion along I-84. Monday’s signing is a triumph for Governor Malloy, who has pushed hard to complete the state’s long-standing transit projects. The New Haven-Springfield Rail Line is also close to construction-ready.

Advocates are eager for the busway to attract new housing and offices, and help the state reduce future sprawl development. Connecticut recently targeted its initial round of transit-oriented development planning grants to several municipalities along the corridor.

As a way to jump-start the state’s economy, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a $626 million bipartisan jobs bill last month. Included in the jobs bill were some important transportation and land use investments, as well as [...]]]>

Goodwin College's new campus in East Hartford, CT is being built on a former brownfield site.

As a way to jump-start the state’s economy, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a $626 million bipartisan jobs bill last month. Included in the jobs bill were some important transportation and land use investments, as well as reforms to the State Traffic Commission (STC), an obscure state board that has a significant role in Connecticut’s quality of life.

Coming on the heels of the recent release of a national report highlighting deficient bridges, it was heartening to see the legislation include $50 million for bridge repair. Tri-State’s analysis of Connecticut’s 2010-2013 transportation capital program, found that nearly 33% of the state’s bridges are considered deficient, making this $50 million allocation a welcome addition.

The jobs bill also included $20 million for developers and businesses to tap into as a way to redevelop the state’s brownfields. Considering the state has 281 brownfields totaling nearly 2,600 acres, it’s important to ensure that this money be targeted to communities that are developing, or are willing to develop, in a more smart-growth or transit-oriented manner.

The bill also includes reforms to the State Traffic Commission that should speed up the permitting process (the Commission must issue a certificate of operation for any development next to a state road that is greater than 100,000 square feet or includes at least 200 parking spaces). Unfortunately, these reforms will do little to change the 1950′s era assumptions that lead to overestimates of traffic impacts caused by development projects. As Tri-State board member Norman Garrick highlighted in a 2010 op-ed about Mansfield Road in Storrs, the Commission failed to adequately consider different types of development in its traffic-generating models. By not doing so, the STC ends up recommending wider roads to deal with new development as opposed to pedestrian, cycling or transit improvements as solutions to mitigate congestion.  Similar considerations (driven by ConnDOT) are causing challenges in the Route 34 highway-to-boulevard project in New Haven.

Photo: EPA.

Last week, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy announced the approval of the state’s first ever transit-oriented development assistance grants.  During the Rell administration, Tri-State advocated for over three years for the release of $5 million that [...]]]>

Stratford plans to reorganize the area around its rail station and promote transit-oriented development. (Click to view larger.)

Last week, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy announced the approval of the state’s first ever transit-oriented development assistance grants.  During the Rell administration, Tri-State advocated for over three years for the release of $5 million that had been dedicated for that purpose, and urged Governor Malloy early on to support the release of this funding. In one of his first acts as Governor and Chairman of the State Bond Commission, he delivered.

The grants will be given to eleven municipalities throughout the state. More than double that number applied, for a total of $13.2 million in requests.

Most of the grants, ranging from $250,000 to $850,000, will be used to help plan and prepare for transit-oriented development around the State’s current and future transit projects — the New Haven Line, the Hartford-New Britain Bus Rapid Transit project, and the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line.  The support will pay for, among other items, the implementation of New Britain’s “Streetscaping” Master Plan, the enhancement of bicycle and pedestrian connections along the Waterbury and New Haven lines in Derby and Shelton and the adoption of a transit-oriented development “overlay zone” in the City of Hartford to facilitate development around Union Station.

Tri-State is particularly pleased that the Town of Stratford will receive $250,000 in pilot funding to move forward on its transit-oriented development plan and draft ordinance. In 2009, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and One Region Funders’ Group awarded Stratford a $50,000 community assistance grant and are excited that the Town was able to use this seed grant to leverage additional resources for its transit friendly development efforts.

In a statement applauding Governor Malloy for his leadership and recognizing the efforts of all the municipalities, Tri-State also noted that, with over $8 million worth of projects unable to be funded due to limited resources, expanding upon and institutionalizing this pilot program will be necessary to adequately meet the need for smarter and more transit oriented growth in Connecticut’s future.

Image: Stratford presentation at TSTC/One Region conference.