An Array of Utopian Flowers
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Defensible Space: My Wildfire-Appropriate Retrofit Journey – Part I
Posted on November 16, 2018 | No Comments -
KXL Blocked – How Indigenous People Will End Tar Sands Pipelines
Posted on November 12, 2018 | No Comments -
Mythological Journey to the Aztec Underworld
Posted on October 10, 2018 | 1 Comment -
Confronting Wildfire: Retrofit Communities, Not Forests
Posted on September 17, 2018 | 1 Comment -
San Onofre Nuclear Waste Dangers Compound
Posted on September 4, 2018 | No Comments
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transportation Archive
Five Actions to Protect Communities from Explosive Crude By Rail
Posted on October 6, 2014 | 1 CommentA surge in rail transport has accounted for hundreds of thousands of gallons of spilled crude oil, more than the previous four decades combined. Ross Hammond from ForestEthics outlines five immediate actions for President Obama on train safety.
Orange County Automates Toll Road Collections to Increase Profits
Posted on May 30, 2014 | 1 CommentOC's toll roads have a new way to make money from their empty lanes crisscrossing the county: Hundreds of dollars charged in automated fines per missed toll payment, versus a measly single-time $6-per toll. Commuters beware.
OC Toll Road Follies: CEO Resigns Amid Funding Anti-Enviros
Posted on March 14, 2014 | No CommentsOrange County Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) CEO Neil Peterson, who was placed on leave last month, has offered to resign in exchange for receiving a hefty out-the-door payment. This from an agency suffering low toll revenues and misguided attempts to extend their roads against environmental rules and opposition.![Caltrans plans to widen the 91 Freeway [again], spending $1.3 Billion to improve commute speeds 1.5 miles per hour, while further destroying the only wildlife connection between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Puente-Chino Hills. Commuter trains, anyone?](https://www.wilderutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Jerry-Collamer-91-Freeway-Insane-Toon-115x115.jpg "Caltrans Driving Us to Freeway Insanity")
Caltrans Driving Us to Freeway Insanity
Posted on January 5, 2014 | 1 CommentCaltrans plans to widen the 91 Freeway [again], spending $1.3 Billion to improve commute speeds 1.5 miles per hour, while further destroying the only wildlife connection between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Puente-Chino Hills. Commuter trains, anyone?
OC Toll Road: Empty, Failing, Better Used as Landing Strip
Posted on December 12, 2013 | No CommentsWhen a pilot instructor and student emergency-landed a small plane in the perpetually-empty northbound lanes of the debt-ridden, failing-business-model 241 toll road in Orange County, California, he exclaimed: "What a waste of perfectly good asphalt."
Toll Roads, Please Take Me Away!
Posted on June 29, 2013 | No CommentsNo matter where they're stuck in OC's sprawling road network: on I-5, the 405, Crown Valley Parkway, or in their own driveway -- a magical toll road miles from their moribund vehicular situation will time-travel them up, to that heavenly place of commuter-bliss, where slowdowns never occur.
Orange County Toll Road to Nowhere Denied Permits
Posted on June 19, 2013 | 3 CommentsOrange County's Toll Road Agency is pushing the first segment of a previously rejected road extension that will have significant and irreversible environmental and economic impacts. According to the Save San Onofre Coalition and the State Attorney General, the project had failed to undertake sufficient environmental studies. As a result, the Regional Water Board in San Diego decided to deny the project a waste discharge permit.
Wildlife Crossings: Animals Survive with Bridges and Tunnels
Posted on May 19, 2013 | 6 CommentsProviding crossing infrastructure at key points along transportation corridors is known to improve safety, reconnect habitats and restore wildlife movement. Throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and North American, wildlife crossing structures have been implemented with demonstrable success.
Stupid Toll Road (STR-241) to Nowhere, Still Nowhere Fast
Posted on March 15, 2013 | 2 CommentsA movement to pave over San Onofre State Beach and Trestles with a toll-road-to-nowhere-for-nobody-but-developers was rejected by the California Coastal Commission and Federal Commerce Department in 2008. Yet, here again the State Water Boards will decide in May whether to grant a permit for the "Stupid Toll Road" to dump contaminated runoff into creeks and the ocean while keeping the dream alive of paving over Trestles.
Trestles Beach: National Treasure or Toll Road Off-Ramp?
Posted on March 12, 2013 | 3 CommentsWorld-renowned San Onofre and Trestles have been synonymous with California surfing since the 1930s. A movement to pave over the park and beach with a toll road was rejected by in 2008. We now have the opportunity to have it recognized for its historical contributions by being listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and stop that toll road project for good.
Sustainable Mobility: Rail~Volution Los Angeles 2012
Posted on October 10, 2012 | 2 CommentsRail~Volution is a network, movement and conference that brings together community advocates, developers, and civic planners energized by a mix of ideas, cultures, and transit projects unique to the greater Los Angeles region, on the 14th to 17th of October 2012.
Vision of Sustainable Mobility? High-Speed Rail Challenges California
Posted on September 17, 2012 | 4 CommentsDespite an eventual pricetag of $68 billion and numerous engineering, environmental and political challenges, the California bullet train offers a promising vision of sustainable mobility, posing less impacts and competitive costs than expanding airports and freeways.
Electric Streetcars: Back to the Urban Future
Posted on August 25, 2012 | 2 CommentsThe movement toward revitalization of downtown areas in the United States with streetcars brings 19th century urbanism together with 21st century sustainability, despite the usual fossil fueled detractors.
Toll Lanes as Congestion Management: Mobility for the Wealthy Few
Posted on July 4, 2012 | No CommentsConverting freeway lanes to tollways in the name of congestion management, without viable transit alternatives, will only reduce mobility for the majority in exchange for wealthy drivers getting to work on time.
Hello Urbanism: Southern California Sprawl Grows Up
Posted on April 18, 2012 | 3 CommentsSouthern California's new Sustainable Communities Strategy plan posits that as a region, we have to grow up, not out. That doesn't mean Hong Kong skyscrapers, but more apartments near light-rail stations and vibrant mixed-use areas like the ones in downtown Pasadena.
Smart Growth: San Diego’s Approach to Sustainable Communities
Posted on March 10, 2012 | 4 CommentsWith "ambitious but achievable" transportation and land use proposals left off the table, California's first climate protection mandated Sustainable Communities Strategy aimed high but did not quite achieve setting the San Diego region on a long-term course toward sustainability.
Suburban Sprawl: Serpentine Sameness from the Skies
Posted on November 18, 2010 | 3 CommentsHelicopter photos by Christoph Gielen reveal the beautifully-designed patterns and shapes of our auto-dependent homes on the range, walking not preferred, neighbors as yet uncontacted, wildlife unwelcome, sustainable future in question.
