Your weekly guide to heroic and villainous actions in tri-state transportation and development

Winners

New Haven, Connecticut—New Haven announced plans to introduce new, pedestrian-friendly wayfinding signage that will help walkers and cyclists get around the city.

Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance—Last night, the community coalition took a stand against New York City’s decision to stop studying the removal option for the Sheridan Expressway, a underutilized stub of highway in the South Bronx.

Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli and Carlstadt Mayor William Roseman—The two north Jersey mayors called for the completion of a thorough regional traffic study on the American Dream Meadowlands before the Meadowlands Commission Board approved a crucial report on the project. The megamall could seriously disrupt traffic patterns in the Meadowlands, and proponents have yet to identify how congestion will be adequately mitigated.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone—This week, County Executive Bellone presented his Connect Long Island plan, which places transit and transit-oriented development at the forefront of Suffolk County’s needs. Although the plan’s specifics must be examined in more detail, Bellone is right when he says that “we can’t grow our economy by adding more cars to the roadways.”

Losers

Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan—In response to a joint Jets-Giants lawsuit concerned with traffic congestion resulting from American Dream Meadowlands, County Executive Donovan penned a column that assailed the teams’ position. But what really puts County Executive Donovan in the loser column this week is that she takes this position while one of her prominent advisors is on the payroll of Triple Five, the company that’s currently developing the American Dream Meadowlands site.

Earth—According to MTA chief Joe Lhota, the water damage in the South Ferry subway station owes to both a poor sealing job and rising water levels in New York Harbor. Yet another reason to invest in the public transportation and sustainable development that help reduce carbon emissions.

Congress—While Congress has finally approved a new transportation bill, election-year politics apparently got in the way of true reform. The bill is a disappointment for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the rest of the nation. At the same time, it’s only because of the hard work of the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut delegations that the bill includes some transit reforms and avoids the most extreme cuts to transit, walking, and biking proposed by the House.

New Jersey State Senators Jim Holzapfel and Robert Singer—After passing a bill that digs New Jersey even further into debt to pay for its transportation needs, the two New Jersey Senators spoke about the importance of “reduc[ing] our reliance on borrowing” to pay for transportation projects. The legislation they sponsored does the exact opposite.