Blog Profile / The Overhead Wire
| URL : | http://theoverheadwire.blogspot.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Industries / Transportation | |
| Posts on Regator: | 1396 | |
| Posts / Week: | 5.1 | |
| Archived Since: | March 4, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
On Charlotte's Fight with North Carolina, Itself
A fight is breaking out between former Charlotte Mayor/current NC Governor Pat McCrory and current Mayor Anthony Foxx over funding related to the local Streetcar and LRT projects. Charlotte, unlike many other states gives state level full funding grant agreements for capital transit projects. Show More Summary
Grating on a Curve
I was in Houston for a work meeting last spring and went on a tour with our good friend Christof Spieler who has taken a hiatus from blogging
at CTC Houston while he is an active member of the board for Houston
Metro. He was kind enough to take me around to a lot of the new
construction going on to complete Houston's three newest light rail
lines. Show More Summary
Silicon Valley's Transit AND Land Use Problems
There's been a lot of bashing of Silicon Valley lately. It's the butt of transit jokes because of its light rail line which is one of the least traveled LRT lines in the United States for its distance and service. At the time it was built, it was one of the first new non legacy lines in the country. Show More Summary
Election 2012 Results Central - Transportation Edition
We're back for the November Classic! It's election season, and that means we'll be following the ones that matter around the country as they come in on election night. It can be a bit tough on the West Coast when returns come in early...Show More Summary
Austin Route Choice Part 3: The Guadalupe/Lamar Alignment
In the previous two posts we discussed the history of Austin's quest for rail transit and the possible political reasons behind the current urban rail alignment. Finally we're getting to what I feel is the most important part of this...Show More Summary
Local Control and Negotiation Politics
In 2000 a man many people called the Hammer decided that Houston Metro wasn't going to get any funding for a light rail project that scored very high on the FTA's cost effectiveness index because he didn't like it. Tom Delay kept Metro from getting money that would have saved Houston local funds. Show More Summary
Austin Part 2&3 Temporarily Down
My Austin posts were rather large and in order to fix my feedburner I need to reduce some file sizes. They will be back shortly. Wire Feed
Austin's Rail History & Route Choice Problem Part 1: History
This last week there have been flurries of articles and tweets about a subject that is near and dear to my heart. Austin's push for rail transit was the reason I started thinking about these issues and part of the reason why I started this blog. Show More Summary
Ralph McQuarrie, Space Exploration, and Cities
Earlier this week there was a disturbance in the force. Ralph McQuarrie, long time illustrator and the man who brought much of George Lucas' imagination to life has died. Ralph was one of my favorite artists. So much so that in highShow More Summary
Growing Regions Can't Be Affordable if They Don't Build Housing
Austin can keep its tax base at home. But there are some things that need to happen first. They aren't hard to understand, but for some reason they are a hard political sell. At some point you have to come to the realization that the...Show More Summary
Wanting the City Lifestyle, But It Costs Too Much
I love my neighborhood. It's walkable, close to BART which takes me to work in Oakland, and contains a grocery store just a quarter of a mile away. Unfortunately everyone else likes it so much that prices for houses are through the roof. Show More Summary
The Music & Urbanism Conflict
Wherever you lived in Texas at the time, you heard about the closing of Liberty Lunch. The iconic music venue had to close because of a redevelopment project which had taken the land. Ultimately the downtown area has boomed in part because...Show More Summary
Letters from Southeast Asia
Our good friend and sometimes guest blogger Ed recently came back from Southeast Asia. As they often do, our foreign correspondents take wonderful transit pictures abroad. Enjoy these beauties.
Wire Feed
OT: I Am the Mile - All 1609 Meters
Who out there in transit land watches track and field on television? I'm guessing not many of you. But most of you know that there is a big football game this weekend I'm sure. Track and Field is waning to a certain extent but hopefully...Show More Summary
High Speed Rail, For THIS Generation
I recently read a Burlingame Patch article where a local officials said this: “What I would like to see…is for us to take a position saying not just hat we think the current plan does not make sense…but to say what we do need for transportation,” said Councilmember Terry Nagel. Show More Summary
The Two Sides of Punishment
There are two sides to the phrase "my sport is your sports punishment". On one hand the 80 - 90 miles a week I ran in college are enough to make people gasp when I tell them. "You ran more than I drove my car" is the response that I often got from folks. Show More Summary
Thin Slicing Major Transit Planning
While I haven't been posting much I still think about all of these issues every day. It doesn't matter whether it's a book I'm reading for fun or even for work when thoughts flood into my head that I would love to write about. I just...Show More Summary
On to Vik
I don't really want this blog to turn into my travel log and I promise that I'll write some things soon over Christmas break when I get a bit of time but I did want to share some videos that I took on my trip to Scandinavia. The clip below is North of Bergen on Highway 13 on the way to the Stave Church in Vik (See images in posts below). Show More Summary
2011 Transportation Election Results
It's that time of year again!! I know I haven't been blogging lately but this is one of my favorite things win or lose. Here is 2008 and 2010 in case you want to hit the wayback machine. So let's get to it! There are a number of interesting ones out there tonight. Show More Summary
Go Underground Young Man!
Each time I go to a Rail~Volution conference I feel a bit revitalized. For some reason just seeing people doing all the great work that they do really gets me excited about the future, even though it's always hard when recent politics dictates one step forward and two steps back. Show More Summary