Here’s the news!
Cancellation notice put up by activists at the proposed Gateway construction site.
- “Gateway canceled due to climate crisis” read the headline in my in-box. Great news! The Gateway is a controversial 11 billion dollar freeway expansion project being planned in Vancouver, BC. For a project of this scope to be canceled due to its climate impact is a huge, precedent setting shift. Unfortunately, reality has yet to catch up — the cancellation is a creative, well-promoted hoax by the vocal team of community activists opposing the project.
- In local freeway news, the Columbia River Crossing hired a panel to assess the impact of the planned $4 + billion I-5 freeway bridge project. Dylan Rivera reports that the panel agreed with CRC staff that the new bridge with more lanes (and undetermined facilities for anyone not in a car) won’t produce sprawl. Metro Councillor David Bragdon responds that the panel asks us to trust modeling over “the lessons of the last 50 years.” Rivera also speaks with Canadian transportation guru Todd Litman who points out that none of the CRC studies have yet to investigate the impact of adding tolls and mass transit to the existing bridge.
- Meanwhile, the folks at Streetsblog are concerned that Obama’s stimulus package might focus too much on much-needed maintenance of roads and bridges to the detriment of even-more-needed long term solutions like high speed rail, public transportation in cities, bicycle infrastructure, and walkable communities. Want Obama to get it? Tell his transition team what you think.
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- The Hawaiian island of Oahu is the latest place in the US to try a bike sharing service with their privately-funded Momentum B-cycle project.
- The Oregonian highlights the travails of people who live east of 82nd Ave and get around by bike, and predicts improvements to outer east side bike infrastructure under Sam Adams’ tenure.
- In news of the news… I have a custom Google News heading that searches for news containing the term “car-free.” Over the past two years, that section on my news page has gone from one or two new stories a week, mainly about “buy the home, get the car free!” sort of deals. Now there are 5 or 6 new stories each week, touting carfree days, carfree shopping streets, carfree holiday light shows, and carfree vacation advice and packages.