CREATING LIVABLE INFRASTRUCTURE: THE CONNECTOAKLAND VISION TO RECONNECT NEIGHBORHOODS AND CONNECT CITIES THROUGH FREEWAY REMOVAL

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Andrew Faulkner ◽  
Jonathan Fearn ◽  
Chris Sensenig ◽  
Brian Stokle

INTRODUCTION Throughout the second half of the 20th Century, our nation's cities were marred by the onslaught of unsustainable suburbanization and the expansion of limited access highways that ripped through urban centers and divided communities within them. Paired with systematic disinvestment from redlining and white flight, these forces combined to create lasting physical, social and economic hardships in cities across the US. Over the last 20 years, cities have rebounded in America and new patterns of thought focused on livability, walkability and urban form have started to sprout: from the Big-Dig in Boston to Octavia Boulevard and the Embarcadero in San Francisco, cities are reassessing the value of highways that solely move automobiles through cities, and have started to focus on how these pieces of infrastructure impact the daily lives and economic interests of a their residents and visitors. In Oakland, California, through the efforts of ConnectOAKLAND, the city is taking up the mantle of this new pattern of thought and is beginning the planning process to reconnect West Oakland to Downtown by transforming an underutilized freeway (I-980) into a multi-modal transportation corridor that reestablishes the historic urban grid. The project's dual benefit will reconnect two of Oakland's historic neighborhoods while better connecting Oakland along with the entire East Bay to San Francisco, San Jose and Silicon Valley through the incorporation of a second transbay tunnel for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), commuter rail (Caltrain), and high speed rail (HSR). This article will explore the ConnectOAKLAND vision for I-980 as a case study for current and future patterns of highway removal, and as a part of the national movement to rethink the role of urban highways and holistically re-envision the US transportation infrastructure.

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Márcio De Paula Filgueiras

Neste texto vou apresentar alguns aspectos de um conflito que acompanhei na Califórnia, entre 2010 e 2011, em que representantes de algumas cidades localizada na Baía de San Fancisco, como Palo Alto e Atherton, desafiaram judicialmente uma agência estadual porque o projeto do trem de alta velocidade (High Speed Rail Project) que ligaria Los Angeles a San Francisco incluiria uma rota que atravessaria suas vizinhanças, causando efeitos ambientais e financeiros indesejados. Ações legais deste tipo, voltadas para a proteção do interesse público, são conhecidas naquele país pelo termo genérico public interest litigation. A partir deste caso, mostrarei alguns aspectos dos modelos de acesso a direitos e das noções de interesse público que podem ser visualizada em ação nos Estados Unidos. No final do artigo apresentarei um contraste, ainda que limitado, com o que pude observar no Brasil, a respeito da administração judicial de conflitos coletivos.


2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-35
Author(s):  
Kalafi Moala

"The largest number of Tongans outside of Tonga lives in the United States. It is estimated to be more than 70,000; most live in the San Francisco Bay Area. On several occasions during two visits to the US by my wife and I during 2004, we met workers who operate the only daily Tongan language radio programmes in San Francisco. Our organisation supplies the daily news broadcast for their programmes. Our newspapers— in the Tongan and Samoan languages— also sell in the area. The question of what are the fundamental roles of the media came up in one of our discussions..."


Author(s):  
Brent D. Ogden

The Altamont Rail Corridor Project will develop a new dedicated regional passenger rail link within Northern California for joint use by regional intercity and commuter trains connecting between the northern San Joaquin Valley and the Bay Area as well as statewide intercity trains fully compatible with the 200+ mph system being developed by the California High-Speed Rail Authority (the Authority). The corridor, which follows portions of the transcontinental railway, is presently served by the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) operated by the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission (the Commission) and is eligible to receive California High-Speed Rail bond funds. The Authority and Commission have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop the project which will greatly improve the existing service by providing a new dedicated passenger line separate from the Union Pacific Railroad over which the current ACE service operates. The strategic geographic location of the corridor within the Northern California network allows operation of a wide variety of services through Altamont Pass including commuter trains to the Bay Area, intercity corridor trains and regional intercity trains between Sacramento and San Jose` with the possibility that high-speed “bullet” trains from the statewide network could ultimately operate along the route. Although the shared-use potential broadens interest in the project, concomitant planning challenges include identifying workable, cost-effective solutions to incrementally develop the 80+ mile corridor over time while migrating the service presently provided by standard heavyweight diesel locomotive-drawn consists to a fully electrified, grade separated operation capable of supporting operation of 220+ mph lightweight trainsets.


2011 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1072-1077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth B. Claus ◽  
Lisa Calvocoressi ◽  
Melissa L. Bondy ◽  
Joellen M. Schildkraut ◽  
Joseph L. Wiemels ◽  
...  

Object Little is known about the epidemiology of meningioma, the most frequently reported primary brain tumor in the US. The authors undertook a case-control study to examine the relationship between family and personal medical history and meningioma risk. Methods The authors compared the personal and first-degree family histories of 1124 patients with meningioma (age range 20–79 years) in Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, the San Francisco Bay Area, and 8 Houston counties between May 1, 2006, and February 26, 2010, and the histories of 1000 control individuals who were frequency-matched for age, sex, and geography. Results The patients were more likely than the controls to report a first-degree family history of meningioma (OR 4.4, 95% CI 1.6–11.5), and there was an even stronger association in younger cases. The patients were less likely than controls to report immune conditions including allergy (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5–0.7) but were more likely to report a history of thyroid cancer (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.02–21.5) or leukemia (OR 5.4, 95% CI 1.2–24.1) (most after radiotherapy). Among women, patients were more likely than controls to report hormonally related conditions—uterine fibroid tumors (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.0–1.5), endometriosis (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.5–2.1), and breast cancer (OR 1.4, 95% CI 0.8–2.3). Conclusions The influence of genetics, the immune system, and radiation near the head on meningioma risk is suggested in the authors' findings; the role of hormones is intriguing but requires further study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Anthony Perl ◽  
Taotao Deng ◽  
Leandro Correa ◽  
Dandan Wang ◽  
Yulin Yan

Advances in transport technology have been shown to play a vital role in urban development over millennia. From the engineering and pavement innovations of the Roman road network to the aerospace breakthroughs that enabled jet aircraft, cities have been reshaped by the mobility changes resulting from new designs for moving people and goods. This article explores the urbanization impacts of High-Speed Rail’s introduction in China, which has built the world’s largest High-Speed Rail network in record time. Since High-Speed Rail was launched in Japan in 1964, this technology has worked to reshape intercity travel as a revolutionary transportation alternative. High-Speed Rail has developed steadily across Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland during the 1970s and 1980s. It expanded to Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Sweden in the 1990s. In the 21st century, China began developing High-Speed Rail on an unprecedented scale, and now has a national network that is longer than the totality of the rest of the world’s High-Speed Rail operations combined. China’s High-Speed Rail operation is exerting a transformative influence on urban form and function. This article synthesizes secondary research results to analyse the impacts of HSR on urbanization. These effects include population redistribution, urban spatial expansion and industrial development. We offer a typol-ogy that considers the urban effects of High-Speed Rail at three spatial levels: the station area, the urban jurisdiction, and the regional agglomeration. When organized through our typology, research findings demonstrate that High-Speed Rail influences urban population size, urban spatial layout and industrial development by changing the acces-sibility of cities. We highlight the processes by which High-Speed Rail ultimately affects the urbanization process for people, land use, and industrial development. However, High-Speed Rail’s impacts on urbanization are not always positive. While leveraging the development opportunity enabled by High-Speed Rail, governments around the world should also avoid potential negative impacts by drawing lessons from the experience of High-Speed Rail’s rapid de-ployment in China.


Author(s):  
Rod Diridon Sr. ◽  
Ben Tripousis

For over 50 years, after both public and private studies confirmed California's need for high-speed rail, nothing happened. The rest of the US had a similarly disappointing experience when attempting to break into the rapidly growing family of nations with operating high-speed trains. Yet, over the past year, California has contracted over $2.5 billion in high-speed rail civil work, is preparing RFPs for three times that amount, and has secured commitments for nearly $25 billion in additional federal and state funding over the next 30 years. Private investors are lining up for the nation's first high-speed rail public-private partnership to complete this $68 billion, 540 mile project. This chapter describes the unprecedented technical excellence, political courage, and visionary voter support that created that high-speed rail breakthrough for California and the nation.


Author(s):  
Regina R. L. Clewlow ◽  
Joseph M. Sussman ◽  
Hamsa Balakrishnan

U.S. airports face significant congestion problems, particularly in major metropolitan areas with continued population and economic growth. In addition to growth in air travel demand, frequent short-haul flights on routes of less than 500 mi contribute to airport congestion. The potential for high-speed rail (HSR) to substitute for aviation on these short-haul routes is well documented; however, there is a need to explore how rail can serve in a complementary mode to relieve congestion at airports by providing short-haul services in support of longer-haul airline services. The primary objective of this research project is to examine the role of cooperation between HSR and aviation to improve the aviation system planning process. This study addresses the following key questions: (a) How have airports, airlines, and rail operators cooperated to enable airport–HSR connectivity? (b) What are the service characteristics of airport–HSR connectivity? (c) What are the unique challenges associated with airport–HSR connectivity? (d) How has the demand for air transportation evolved in the presence of airport–HSR connectivity?


2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
LETA E. MILLER

The practice of segregated union locals, common in the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) during the first half of the twentieth century, led to racial confrontation in San Francisco. In 1934, black Local 648 sued its much larger counterpart, Local 6, which had attempted to control all musical employment in the Bay Area. Though Local 648 eventually withdrew its suit, its charter was revoked and black musicians were placed in “subsidiary” status. A new “colored local” (669) was chartered in 1946 and worked alongside Local 6 until the state forced amalgamation in 1960. Many other segregated locals did not merge until the late 1960s or early 1970s.The saga of Locals 6, 648, and 669 brings into focus the complex social and economic forces buffeting the working musician in the early twentieth century. Racialist attitudes in the US labor movement, mirrored in the musicians' union, forced blacks to organize separately and accept lower wages in order to secure employment. The AFM, for its part, was constrained by its dedication to local autonomy. Black union musicians were themselves divided—torn between outrage at their second-class status and the apparent benefits of working for change from within the organization.


Author(s):  
Kara Maria Kockelman

The relative significance and influence of a variety of measures of urban form on household vehicle kilometers traveled, automobile ownership, and mode choice were investigated. The travel data came from the 1990 San Francisco Bay Area travel surveys, and the land use data were largely constructed from hectare-level descriptions provided by the Association of Bay Area Governments. After demographic characteristics were controlled for, the measures of accessibility, land use mixing, and land use balance—computed for trip-makers’ home neighborhoods and at trip ends—proved to be highly statistically significant and influential in their impact on all measures of travel behavior. In many cases, balance, mix, and accessibility were found to be more relevant (as measured by elasticities) than several household and traveler characteristics that often form a basis for travel behavior prediction. In contrast, under all but the vehicle ownership models, the impact of density was negligible after accessibility was controlled.


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