Matthew Roth
Recent Posts
Sprawl Anemones
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Rarely would one describe sprawl as beautiful, but photographer Christoph Gielen managed to find some of the more incredible developments in the country and depict them in aerial photographs as a testament to the land use patterns he finds so distinctively and disturbingly American. Gielen, born in Germany and living in New York City since […]
CPMC Hospital Stirs Concern Over Transit, Traffic, Pedestrian Impacts
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Transit advocates have joined a broad coalition of opponents mounting a fight against California Pacific Medical Center’s (CPMC) long range development plan for its San Francisco facilities, decrying the significant increase in parking being proposed, and the attendant impact that will have on traffic, transit and pedestrian safety. They argue the increase in parking supply […]
BART Board to Debate Increasing Revenue with Video Monitors, Train Ads
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Unlike every other transit agency in the Bay Area, BART was able to stanch the economic bleeding over the past year and realize a modest operational surplus at the end of FY 2010 in June. The agency doesn’t have a warm and fuzzy feeling, however, and Board President James Fang has asked staff to present […]
BART Board Member Urges Agency to Consider Unlimited Monthly Pass
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At a recent BART board meeting where directors discussed various options for spending or saving an operating budget surplus, Director Tom Radulovich suggested the board consider the ramifications of instituting an unlimited ride monthly pass, which had been previously discussed but never seriously pursued. The issue came up most recently in 2005 and 2006 when […]
Depicting Bike Friendly Intersection Design in Holland
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This very interesting, if slightly low-fi, video has gone around the listservs recently and shows how Dutch traffic engineers have elevated bicycle safety at several of the more dangerous conflict points between cyclists and cars in intersections. I wonder how big a fit Caltrans’ MUTCD division would throw if SFMTA proposed one of these in […]
Board Challengers Hope to Change Culture at BART
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With the anti-incumbency narrative dominating elections this fall, it shouldn’t be a surprise that two of the longest-serving BART board directors are facing stiff competition from upstart challengers who claim they have lost touch with the electorate they serve. Far from the anti-government Tea Party rhetoric, however, the two candidates providing the greatest challenge to […]
BART Board Reaffirms Commitment to Build Airport Connector
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At a hastily scheduled board meeting today, BART’s directors once again voted to approve the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), this time granting General Manager Dorothy Dugger the flexibility to proceed with the contract, despite several outstanding sources of funding still unresolved. BART needed to send strong signals to the contracting team of Parsons/Flatiron that the […]
California Reps Urge FTA to Show Support for OAC Ahead Of Board Vote
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On the eve of another significant vote to proceed with the contract to build the controversial Oakland Airport Connector, BART and project supporters received a positive indication from Federal Transit Administration (FTA) head Peter Rogoff of his agency’s commitment to give BART $25 million in New Starts funds for the project, a necessary step to […]
Despite Cost, Clipper Card Promises Convenience
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As the Bay Area’s larger transit agencies transition away from paper passes to the universal fare payment smart card, Clipper, transit operators and planners insist the card will lead to greater convenience and simplicity, which they hope will increase ridership and enhance the attractiveness of transit. At its simplest, in theory, a transit passenger would […]
Testing New Designs for Pedestrian Safety
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Traffic calming can take a number of different forms, from speed tables to roundabouts, but CNN recently ran a story about an unconventional new traffic calming pilot in Vancouver, Canada, that has people literally doing double takes. Traffic managers there painted a three dimensional image onto the street that appears to drivers to resemble a […]
Proposition 23 Opponents: Climate Change Impacts National Security
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Climate change is a national security risk that will be exacerbated if Californians pass Proposition 23, the voter initiative on the ballot this November that would suspend California’s AB 32 climate change law, say opponents of the measure, such as former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz. Shultz and financier Thomas Steyer, co-chairs of the […]
The Oakland Airport Connector: BART’s Little Engine that Could?
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The fatigue is palpable, but the battle over BART”s Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) is nowhere near its conclusion. That’s the message coming out of yet another marathon hearing today at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the region’s transportation planning body, over the merits of the airport connector, which I would argue has now become the […]