Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.
As some of our wonkier readers know, President Obama is releasing his budget today for fiscal year 2013, which begins in October. I’ll post more about it when there’s more details than conjecture on the details.
The secret to a successful urban stadium (The Atlantic)
The Super Bowl in Indianapolis last week won a lot of raves because of the city’s compact and walkable downtown that includes the football stadium. Downtown L.A. is far larger than downtown Indy, but perhaps there are lessons to be learned by packing as many attractions as close by as possible instead of spreading them out across L.A.’s sprawling downtown.
It’s a relevant issue as AEG and the city of L.A. look at building a new NFL stadium at L.A. Live. The idea is to attract a team to the city and secure some Super Bowls and other large events.
As a side note here, I grew up in Cincinnati, which is 100 miles from Indy. In the 1970s, Indy wasn’t known for much of anything besides the big race on Memorial Day weekend. And then the city got smart and concentrated on redeveloping its downtown and making the city a hub of amateur sports. Downtown Cincy today is struggling and is in no shape to ever host a Super Bowl. Meanwhile, just up I-74, Indy got smart. And successful.
Top skylines of the world (Diserio)
Blogger Liugi Di Serio created a formula to quantify which cities around the world had the best skyline. Hong Kong, Chicago and New York swept the top three spots while downtown L.A. ranked 34th — just behind Minneapolis and ahead of Bangkok and Calgary (hmm). Fun post. For my money, I’d put Vancouver far higher than 43rd.
Downtown L.A.'s skyline is a little spread out. Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro.
In California, support growing for high-speed rail (Welcome to the Fast Lane)
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says that in his travels across California last week, he found widespread support for the state’s high-speed rail project — although he acknowledged concerns remain. It’s obvious that even as critics continue to take aim at the project, the Obama Administration is standing firm in its support of the bullet train here.
Feb. 13: this day in transportation history — Bunker Hill redevelopment
Categories: Transportation Headlines
Hi Steve,
Just wanted to say how much I enjoy The Source. It, along with other transit related web sites (The Transport Politic, Streetblogs LA, Human Transit), has been such an education for myself, someone with no background in transit or urban planning. I use to doubt the value of a subway down Wilshire and assumed the best place for a light rail line was down the middle of a freeway! Thanks for the great site.
ps, I’d love to see a fantasy LA transit feature, what would professional transit plans do with LA if our transit policy were more like France.
Hi Kelly;
Thanks for the kind words–we appreciate it. I like your idea about a fantasy LA transit feature. Maybe we’ll try to do something in which everyone can propose or vote for the project they would most like to see done in the future. There’s a whole host of projects as part of Metro’s long-range plan (yes, there really is a plan!) but many of them await funding. If everything gets built, the transit scene would be far different than now.
Best,
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
I appreciate all the work you do at The Source, but I do not come here to read about transit at other cities. I come here only for Los Angeles transit, and I think most readers do too. I am not particularly interested in Indianapolis’ downtown revival; I would much rather here about Exposition Light Rail progress.
Hi John;
We try to include info on transit here and elsewhere because I believe context is important and L.A. is in many ways competing with other cities in the global economy.
As for the Expo Line, we’ve reported often that testing is ongoing. No word yet on an opening date and I’ll let everyone here know as soon as I have something firm.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source