Judge Protects Bike Lane With Restraining Order

An increasingly unusual situation in Baltimore has led to a dubious milestone: A circuit court judge has issued a restraining order to stop a U.S. city from removing a new protected bike lane.

It's only the latest in a string of odd events, beginning with the city's decision to scrap an already-completed public process and tear out a four-week-old post-protected bike lane under construction on Potomac Street. From Streetsblog USA:

The city has already spent $775,000 designing and installing the bike lane, which had been included in city planning documents for the past five years. The project received federal funds distributed by the state and met design guidelines set by the Federal Highway Administration and the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

The local city councilperson and some neighbors are in favor of the bike lane, but other neighbors aren't — and after construction began, the neighbors who don't like the plan persuaded the mayor to reverse the public process on the grounds that the International Fire Code requires streets to have 20 feet of clearance.

Read the rest of the story here.

FHWA Issues Record of Decision for Hampton Roads Crossing Study

SUFFOLK -- A project to expand the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and widen Interstate 64 between Hampton and Norfolk reached a major milestone this week with the conclusion of a nearly two-year environmental study. 

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Hampton Roads Crossing Study on June 12. The signature of the document concludes the National Environmental Policy Act process for the study and allows VDOT to proceed with more detailed procurement and design of the project.

In its Record of Decision, the FHWA selected Alternative A as the Preferred Alternative to relieve congestion in the I-64/Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel corridor. Alternative A expands I-64 and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel to a consistent six-lane facility from I-664 in Hampton to I-564 in Norfolk. The expansion includes a new bridge-tunnel at the existing HRBT.

The document, a copy of which may be found here, presents the basis for the study decision, per 40 CFR 1505.2, and summarizes the mitigation measures to be incorporated in the project.

The next step in the procurement process is the anticipated release in late 2017 of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to potential proposers who wish to compete for a contract to design and build the project. Many details, including the final lane configuration and construction method of the new tunnel, will be determined as design and procurement advances.

Future updates on the I-64 Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion will be posted to the new project website at www.HRBTexpansion.org.

Jim’s Journeys … Traveling the TTA Highway

Hey fans!  I gotta tell you, I'm super exhausted.  I've been all over this great state running workshops for all our great transportation employees!

Since my last update I've been to Charlottesville, Fairfax (twice) Arlington and Thornburg, putting tons of miles on my car, listening to a bunch of podcasts and eating way more bagels than I should.

The look that says
"I've been on the road
 A LOT lately."

But it has been worth it seeing class after class of students getting their work zone certification- yes, all of these class have been for Basic, Intermediate and Advanced work zone training.

Just because I've been in workshops every week doesn't mean I don't want to visit with all our great Public Works and VDOT employees.  If you want me to come down and talk about TTA and all of our awesome classes just shoot me an email- jwz9m@virginia.edu and we'll see about setting up a visit.  

If you need training and just want to set up a class contact Robin Carpenter at 434-982-2897 and she will get you what you need!

Be safe out there this summer and I'll see you on the TTA Highway!

How Does Your City's Bike Network Rank?

It takes many things to build a good city for biking, but one of them is indisputably a nice mellow network.

Just as the car boom of the 1920s was made possible by new continuous networks of paved roads, the growth of biking in the next decade will depend on building continuous networks of wide or protected bike lanes, off-street paths and low-traffic streets.

Just as importantly, bike networks need to go places — they need to connect people to each other, to jobs, to public recreation and services, to private businesses.

Read the rest of the story here.

The Need for Safe Speeds: 4 Surprising Ways Slower Driving Creates Better Cities

This week is UN Global Road Safety Week, focused on the theme “Slow Down, Save Lives.” WRI works to make cities around the world safer and more sustainable by implementing street design and regulations that reduce vehicle speeds while supporting walking and cycling. There is a growing body of evidence on the impacts and wider benefits of such efforts, which we’ll explore in blog posts this week. 

Traffic crashes kill 1.25 million people every year and cause permanent disability to millions more. No matter the location, speed is frequently a factor.

Deaths and serious injuries are the painful and highly visible result of a lack of road safety, but we have lost more to high car speeds than we realize. What about fear of children playing on sidewalks, walking to school, or learning to ride a bike? What about people who struggle to pay high transport costs, but don’t feel safe commuting by bike?

Speeding cars can limit physical activity, use of public space and quality of life, and the impacts are felt most by the least advantaged. Lower-income residents often live in close proximity to roads with dangerously fast-moving traffic. They are also more dependent on walking, biking or public transport, which are most exposed to the danger of speeding cars. These negative impacts are even more dramatic in developing countries, where a rapid increase in car and motorcycle ownership is taking place on roads with little speed regulation.

Read the rest of the story here.

Information Meetings Scheduled for June 12, 14, and 15 for I-66 Outside the Beltway

Meetings

June 2017 Public Information Meetings

Meetings are scheduled for the following dates:

• Monday, June 12, 2017
  Oakton High School Cafeteria
  2900 Sutton Road, Vienna, VA 22181
• Wednesday, June 14, 2017
  Stone Middle School Cafeteria
  5500 Sully Park Drive, Centreville, VA 20120
• Thursday, June 15, 2017
  Piney Branch Elementary School Cafeteria/Gym
  8301 Linton Hall Road, Bristow, VA 20136

All meeting times are 6-8:30 p.m. A brief presentation at each meeting will begin at 7 p.m., followed by a question and answer session.

November 3, 2016 - Gov. McAuliffe Announces Selection of Private Sector Team to Finance and Deliver I-66 Outside the Beltway Project in Northern Virginia

News Release

Video of Gov. McAuliffe's announcement

November 3, 2016 - Transportation Public-Private Partnership Advisory Committee Meeting

Date: November 3, 2016

Time: 3:00-4:00 p.m.

Location: Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Central Office Auditorium

Additional Information: Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne gave a detailed update on the I-66 Outside the Beltway project to the P3 Advisory Committee Meeting. The briefing was held in the VDOT Central Office Auditorium, 1221 East Broad St., Richmond, VA. There was no public comment.

Click here to watch the P3 Advisory Committee Meeting Briefing. 

Presentations delivered during briefing:

• Secretary Aubrey Layne's update
• VDOT Commissioner Charles Kilpatrick's update

Visit the Virginia Public-Private Partnerships website for information regarding the Transportation Public-Private Partnership Advisory Committee.

Public Hearings - May 23, 24 and 25, 2016

Hearings were held on the procurement and HOV-2 to HOV-3 conversion.

View the hearing notification >>>

View the hearing materials >>>

December 14, 2015 Transportation Public-Private Partnership Advisory Committee Meeting

Visit the Virginia Public-Private Partnerships website for information regarding the Transportation Public-Private Partnership Advisory Committee.

December 8, 2015 CTB Public Meeting

The public was invited to share input on the Transform 66 Inside and Outside the Beltway projects during a public meeting held by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB).  Click here to view a copy of the meeting notification.

October 2015 Public Information Meetings

Click here to view the Public Information Meeting materials and exhibits, which include the concept plans for the Preferred Alternative and Phase 1.

August 17, 2015 Transportation Public-Private Partnership Advisory Committee Meeting

Visit the Virginia Public-Private Partnerships website for information regarding the Transportation Public-Private Partnership Advisory Committee.

Click here for Finding of Public Interest >>

Click here for Intent to Respond >>

May and June 2015 Public Hearings

View the Tier 2 Draft Environmental Assessment, technical reports and conceptual plans from the May and June 2015 Public Hearings.

January and February 2015 Public Information Meetings

View the Comment Summary Report from the January and February 2015 Public Information Meetings.

View documents, a video, and photos from the January and February 2015 Public Information Meetings.

15 Subway Maps Compared to Their Actual Geography

The subreddit r/DataIsBeautiful is one of the most popular communities on reddit and its members have become well-known for creating original and engaging content that helps us all make better sense of the world.

A recent post by vinnivinnivinni that recently went viral showed an animated comparison of the Berlin subway map vs its actual geography.

The post inspired a lot of other community members to create equivalent maps for cities around the world and now most of the major subway systems have gotten the same animated treatment.

Below you will find 15 animated subway maps compared to their actual geography. You can find links to the original post under each image to learn more about how it was created and which source maps were used.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out r/DataIsBeautiful, but be warned you may spend a lot of time on there!

See the maps here!