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Next American City: Who’s Scared of a Transit Bridge?

Next spring, Portland will begin building its first bridge over the Willamette River in 37 years. The Willamette River Transit Bridge – which will link a future Oregon Health & Science University campus on the west side of the river with a museum and opera house on the east – will be 71 feet wide and feature 14-foot-wide paths on both sides for bicycles and pedestrians. The bridge’s middle will provide space for public-transit vehicles but no private cars


The Transport Politic: As a New Congress Sets Up Shop, Questions About the Future of Transportation Funding


Grist: Cafes will be popping up on the streets of New York

Pop-up Cafes provide outdoor public seating in the curb lane during the warm months and promote local businesses. Such cafes are popular in Europe, where narrow sidewalks prevent sidewalk cafes, and have recently been established in California and Canada.

In the summer of 2010, DOT partnered with two Lower Manhattan restaurants to pilot the city’s first Pop-up Cafe. Building on this success, DOT is expanding the Program in 2011 by partnering with restaurants or cafes in up to 12 locations throughout the five boroughs.

Two words: Atwells. Avenue.


DC Streetsblog: The Power of the Pursestrings Shifts to a Livability Denier in the House

…flying under the radar is another big shift with potentially enormous consequences. The Transportation and HUD subcommittee on Appropriations is getting a new master too. And livability advocates are alarmed.

Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA) made it onto the League of American Bicyclists’ Trash Talk list this spring when he said every biker is “one less person paying into the transportation trust fund.”


DC Streetsblog: Our Stagnant Gas Tax Rate Is Making the Deficit Worse

Despite the anti-tax rhetoric of this round of elections, there’s been a little flurry of support for raising the gas tax lately. Two senators just proposed bumping it by 25 cents to replenish the highway trust fund. And the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform included a gas tax hike in its proposal for reducing the deficit by $3.8 trillion.

Also…

They also proposed eliminating the tax deduction for mortgage interest payments – or at least restricting the tax breaks so that second homes, expensive homes, and home equity loans weren’t eligible.

The mortgage tax break is a sprawl-inducer, encouraging people to buy “more house” for their money. Besides, home ownership rates are higher in the suburbs, since urbanites are more likely to rent. By removing the tax break, as the deficit commission recommends, they would require people to pay the full cost of the house they buy – and stop subsidizing the choice to live in the suburbs instead of cities.

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