The Center for Neighborhood Technology recently released maps and a report of the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index for 337 metropolitan regions around the country. These easy-to-use maps show how much families pay for housing and transportation costs based on where they live.
Back in late 2009, Mn/DOT released a draft rail plan that calls for major investment in the state's freight and passenger rail systems. A final plan will be adopted in early February. It's a major step forward that allows Minnesota to apply for federal funding to make these improvements a reality. Read Fresh Energy's comments on Mn/DOT's draft rail plan.
Complete Streets means that our roads are designed and operated to be safe and accessible for pedestrians, transit riders, bicyclists, and drivers - all users, regardless of age or ability. Why is this important? Because too often we build roads that simply aren't safe for pedestrians, people with disabilities, bicyclists, transit riders, and older drivers. Everyone is impacted by "incomplete" streets, which lead to more injuries, fatalities, and very real barriers in our transportation system.
Last Thursday, 40 people came out for an introductory meeting that hailed the beginning of the Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition. Complete Streets means that our streets and roadways are designed and operated to be safe and accessible for pedestrians, transit riders, bicyclists, and drivers-all users, regardless of age or ability.
Last night, the Hennepin County board unanimously passed a Complete Streets policy (pdf) that "will enhance safety, mobility, accessibility and convenience for all corridor users including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, motorists, commercial and emergency vehicles, and for people of all ages and abilities by planning, designing, operating, and maintaining a network of Complete Streets." Hennepin County joins the City of Rochester as the first two jurisdictions in Minnesota to pass explicit Complete Streets policies. St. Paul has also passed a Complete Streets resolution and will have a full policy in place by the end of the year.
On Monday, President Obama gave an impassioned speech on urban policy (watch or read full speech here) that included a continued push for more livable communities built around accessible transportation options.
It has been just over 120 days since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus) was signed into law. A big portion of the stimulus dollars went to transportation infrastructure with a focus on "ready-to-go" projects that could begin work quickly. Minnesota received about $600 million and had unprecedented flexibility to use the funds on many types of projects ranging from walking, biking, transit, rail, road repair, and more.
Back in March, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the exciting Sustainable Communities partnership. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined the partnership and the three agencies offered more details about how they will move forward.
Posted by: Ethan Fawley in walking, transportation, transit, policy, planning, legislation, land use, global warming, driving, biking on
Jun 16, 2009
Last Thursday, the Minnesota Environmental Partnership hosted the first forum for the 2010 gubernatorial race, and transportation and land use were key issues in the discussion. Two gubernatorial candidates explicitly mentioned (and others echoed the sentiments) the need to finalize the Building Sensible Communities bill as an important part of simultaneously addressing global warming pollution and other quality of life issues such as air pollution, congestion, personal transportation costs, and dwindling open space.
On Transit: Fresh Energy submitted comments to the Minnesota Department of Transportation last week about the agency's draft Greater Minnesota Transit Plan. We called for a clear policy to ensure basic transit access for all, and also suggested that the plan likely underestimates future needs for transit services.
On Rail: The Federal Rail Administration (FRA) is working out the process, criteria, and priorities it will use to award $8 billion in grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for high-speed rail projects. Minnesota has been collaborating with Wisconsin and, at a meeting with FRA in Chicago on June 1, the two states stressed the following key messages.
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