news for houston
Oh, The Places You Can See Wildflowers In Houston
Springtime in Texas brings colorful bursts of wildflowes to roadsides around the state, with many families planning driving trips to enjoy the bluebonnets and other annual blooms. But if you're not able to hit the road to the Hill Country and other popular spots, there are lots of places to view impressive wildflower displays here in Houston.
Mapping Houston's Mega-Commuters
Texas cities, like Houston and Dallas, rank high for super-commuters, or people who travel at least 90 minutes or 50 miles to work. Use the new interactive application to check out average commute times by zip code.
Houston's Most Stolen Vehicles In January
Every month the Houston Police Department releases a list of the top stolen cars in the city. In January, 700 cars were reported as stolen. And there are certain cars that just keep on making the list.
Rail Shuts Down This Weekend, And Drivers Face I-10 E Detours
Metro shuts down the light rail system for construction and maintenance, crews do more work on a damaged bridge on I-10 East Freeway, and Baytown officials are telling residents not to be alarmed by new cameras at intersections.
New Port Chairman Vows Changes; TxDOT Gets Input On TMC Project
The new chairman of the Port of Houston Commission is promising better financial accountability, shippers seek federal morning for port dredging, and TxDOT gathers input on a project designed to relieve traffic congestion in the Texas Medical Center.
Train Collision in Connecticut Injures 70, Worst in Decades
Two Metro-North trains collided near Bridgeport, Connecticut, Friday during the height of the evening rush hour, injuring some 70 passengers, 3 critically. Train service to New Haven is suspended at least through the weekend, and Amtrak is suspending all Northeast Corridor between New York and New Haven indefinitely. At approximately 6:10 pm Friday, the Metro-North train due in New Haven at 6:32, carrying about 300 passengers, derailed and struck a westbound train carrying about 400 passengers, according to a statement from the MTA, which runs Metro-North. Passengers described a chaotic, terrifying scene of crunching metal and flying bodies, the Associated Press said. "All I know was I was in the air, hitting seats, bouncing around, flying down the aisle and finally I came to a stop on one seat," Lola Oliver, 49, of Bridgeport, told The Associated Press. "It happened so fast I had no idea what was going on. All I know is we crashed." The MTA has halted train service to New Haven through at least the weekend, though there will be reduced service from Grand Central Terminal through South Norwalk. According to the MTA, "there are four tracks in this segment of the New Haven Line, but two of those tracks are out of service for a long-term project to replace overhead wires. On the remaining two tracks, there was extensive infrastructure damage as a result of the collision. Both the track and the overhead wire have been damaged. The train cars cannot be removed until the on-scene investigation is complete, and they will need to be removed by crane." Amtrak has suspended service indefinitely between New York and New Haven. Local police have been investigating, and the National Transportation Safety Board is dispatching a team to the scene. The MTA says this is the most serious derailment since 1988, when an engineer was killed. Reduced, hourly service will operate between South Norwalk Station and Grand Central Terminal. Regular service will operate between Stamford and Grand Central Terminal. Regular service will be in effect on the New Canaan and Danbury Branches. Bus service will be in effect between Waterbury and Bridgeport with no train connections. Yankee game service will be in effect between Stamford and Yankee Stadium.
TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web
TN MOVING STORIES is available by email. Signup here. TOP STORIES ON TN: NJ Transit's Hurricane Plan, Revealed, is Sparse (link) No Docking Stations Needed: A 'Smarter' Bike Share (link) A Train Service to the Rockaways To Begin May 30 (link) New York's MTA Takes First Steps Toward Hardening Subway Against Future Storms (link) D.C. Again Takes On Upstart Competitor To Taxicabs (link) LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE: Happy Bike to Work Day! As a pipeline runs through the New Jersey Highlands, the fight over the environmentally protected area has become the centerpiece of why environmentalists complain about Governor Christie. (WNYC) Amtrak has upgraded the Wi-Fi service on its trains. (New York Times) It looks like U.S. airlines are going to have a more profitable summer. (NPR) Boston's MBTA is opening two new stations on the Fairmount Commuter Rail Line to return rapid transit to sections of the city's disadvantaged communities that had been cut off. (Boston Globe; sub. req.) With final environmental approval granted, the $1.3 billion project to lift the Bayonne Bridge will begin within weeks. (Staten Island Live) Beginning today, you won't be riding the Hiawatha Line in Minneapolis -- it's being renamed the Blue Line. (Star Tribune) San Francisco's planning agency voted to increase the number of bike parking required in new residential and commercial construction. (SF Bike Coalition) Bus drivers top a list of obese workers. In fact, transportation workers have a 36 percent obesity rate, the highest rate among 14 occupation groups measured by Gallup. (Life Inc) How one mentally ill (not to mention incredibly nimble) man jumped on the roof of a BART train and snarled commutes for over two hours. (SF Gate)
D.C. Makes Progress on Bike Lanes But Advocates See Room For Improvement
Bike lanes in Washington, D.C. vary from the simple?narrow lanes marked by thin, white lines squeezed between vehicular travel lanes and parked cars'to the advanced: protected cycle tracks lying between parked cars on one side and the sidewalk on the other. On this Bike to Work Day, when more than 14,000 people locally are expected to pedal to their jobs, cycling advocates say Washington has made significant progress in promoting bicycling -- but add infrastructure improvements are needed if the District is to join the world's elite bicycle cities. "The goal is to integrate bicycling as a mode into the overall transportation network," said Shane Farthing, the executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. Bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, L Street downtown, and 15th Street NW are examples of the District's progress, advocates say, although even those facilities still require enhancements. A bumpy ride on 15th Street A two-way cycle track protected by parked cars and the sidewalk, 15th Street is one of the most popular bike lanes in the District. On a typical work day, lines of cyclists form during morning rush hour waiting for the traffic signal?a pedestrian walk signal'to cross intersections. But in the years since it opened the bike lane has degraded, now marked by small potholes and bumps. The lanes were painted without resurfacing what had been the parking lane on 15th Street. "I've heard from people who've had near accidents because they were avoiding potholes. I heard from a father-to-be who wants to take his infant to daycare by bike but he's afraid all the bumpiness would be bad for the baby," said Kishan Putta, a Dupont Circle ANC Commissioner who has lobbied the District Department of Transportation to resurface the 15th Street bike lane. That's exactly what DDOT plans to do. "We plan to resurface 15th Street this year, actually. It was always intended for us to come back and resurface it, but it's taken us a few years," said Sam Zimbabwe, an associate director for policy, planning, and sustainability at DDOT. Bicycle commuters are looking forward to a smoother ride. "I take the bike lane pretty much every day from U Street all the way down past the White House. The areas between S and K Streets are in serious need of repaving. In particular, the south-bound lane is a mess with muddled pothole-like roads so I have to bike in the north-bound lane," said Ward 1 resident Katie Rotramel. According to the D.C. Department of Transportation, there was a 272 percent increase in bicyclist volume along 15th Street after the cycle-track was installed. U-Turns still plague the Pennsylvania Avenue cycle track The world got to see one of Washington's most popular cycle tracks on Inauguration Day, when President Obama made his way down the center of Pennsylvania Avenue NW and over the two-way cycle track, located in the roadway's median. On days when there are no presidential parades, the procession is more mundane: motorists idling at traffic lights, bicycles whirring by?and illegal U-turns. Dozens of bicyclists'through social media posts and in-person interviews'say the Metropolitan Police Department has failed to enforce a new rule banning U-turns over the center cycle track, which have been blamed for a number of car-bike crashes. They say cab drivers eager to snatch up fares are the most frequent offenders. In late January the MPD invited reporters to watch officers issue drivers final warnings against U-turns on Penn. Ave. From that point on, violators would receive a $100 fine. But some cyclists say that enforcement has been spotty at best. "There are still U-turns. There are great potential for hazards," said bike commuter Martin Moulton in an interview outside the Wilson Building. "We need more education and more enforcement." "I use the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes nearly every day. I regularly see U-turns. On average, about one per trip between the Capitol and the White House. I've never witnessed enforcement," said another cyclist who asked not to be identified. "I've never been hit by a U-turning car, but have had close calls. When I bike on Pennsylvania Ave, I constantly look over my right shoulder to see if there are any cars (especially cabs) alongside me that might be about to U-turn," said cyclist Zach Rausnitz. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, since the enforcement announcement in January, police have written 53 tickets and issued approximately 64 warnings for illegal U-turns over the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes. Advocates say plastic bollards installed down the middle of the avenue would immediately stop the U-turns, but the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts opposes the use of plastic posts. According to the D.C. Department of Transportation, there was a 200 percent increase in bicyclist volume along Pennsylvania Avenue after the cycle-track was installed. L Street cycle track protected, somewhat "L Street is one of the most difficult places where we've ever done a bike lane," said Zimbabwe, the DDOT planner. Running eastbound from Georgetown to downtown, the L Street cycle track (about one and a half miles) exemplifies the difficult balance DDOT engineers must strike when carving up existing road space between cars and bicycles. "We removed a lane that was parking at off-peak and travel during rush hours and put in a bike lane. At the corners we had to do special things because of the volume of left hand turns off of L Street, so we have what's called a mixing zone. And it does take some getting used to for everybody," Zimbabwe said. Near intersections, the L Street cycle track narrows at it squeezes between vehicular travel lanes and left turn lanes. Zimbabwe says only one accident involving bicyclists has occurred in the six months since the cycle track opened, but advocates want safety tweaks. "There are some improvements that can be made to make the protection better. We're going to see some of those things implemented in the M Street cycle track going in the other direction that should be coming in later this year," said Farthing, the head of WABA, in an interview at the intersection of L and 15th NW. "But I think there are some retrofits they could make here [on L Street]. There is a car illegally parked in the middle of it right now, so if there were a curb there that couldn't happen." The next step? The lack of curbs and bicycle traffic lights are what separates D.C.'s bike lanes from those in other cities like New York, where 8th and 9th Avenues showcase bike lanes protected from car traffic by heavy infrastructure. In Washington installing curbs is more difficult than it looks, Zimbabwe said. "Funding is not as much as an issue as dealing with some of the trade-offs on any given street, especially in downtown where we've done a lot of the easy bike lanes where there was unused space," he said. "When we talk about protection - separation and buffers from cars - and more permanent improvements, it's more a question of planning and consensus building than resources." Consensus building may be interpreted as keeping cars and bicyclists happy when roads are retrofitted. Bike advocates are trying to steer the debate away from one side wins, one side loses every time a new bike lane is installed. Permanent bike infrastructure should make driving in the district easier, too. "When you put in curbs and integrate them into the way roads are built, it has a sense of permanence and provides an extra level of safety that shows cyclist safety is taken seriously," Farthing said. DDOT is considering installing curbs on some existing bike lanes as a test to see of they'd make more sense on a wider basis. To listen to the radio version of this story, go here. Follow @MartinDiCaro
NJ Transit's Hurricane Plan, Revealed, is Sparse
New Jersey Transit has released its hurricane plan. Even so, portions of the, slim, three-and-a-half page plan remain blacked out, including -- significantly -- information on where trains would be stored during hurricanes. Some $120 million of NJ Transit trains stored in low-lying areas during storm Sandy were flooded. Since then, the agency has been fiercely secretive, going so far as to black out the date that the hurricane plan was drawn up, citing security reasons. But now, following litigation, portions of the plan have been released to The Record newspaper. The plan became an issue during a months long investigation by WNYC/New Jersey Public Radio and The Record into how New Jersey came to make the disastrous decision to store its trains in the Meadows Maintenance Complex in Kearny and in yards in Hoboken. Both those areas are had been identified, prior to the storm, as storm surge areas during Category 1 hurricanes. During the investigation both news organizations requested documents under New Jersey's Open Public Records Act. Many documents were withheld, or, in the case of the hurricane plan, blacked out. Compared to the New York MTA's hurricane plan -- filling five binders, each 3 inches thick -- the New Jersey plan is slim. And its not clear why the plan would have been blacked out under security exemptions. Among the blacked out prose: boilerplate warnings to keep customers, employees and "the citizens of New Jersey safe;" directions on stocking break rooms during storms, and instruction to workers to "remain within their assigned facility until the storm abates." The plan also advises transit personnel to move trains from "flood" prone areas to higher ground, though it is not clear how such areas were identified. New Jersey transit's lawyers had claimed the document was redacted because disclosure "would jeopardize buildings, facilities, or persons therein." New Jersey Transit isn't commenting. NJ Transit Rail Hurricane Plan
California County Details How Transit Cuts Harm Health
The link between transit and health is well-documented. But a new study by the Alameda County Health Department takes it a step further: officials are using the findings to document the detrimental effects of transit cuts. And they hope to influence the future of transportation in the Bay Area. The study's authors surveyed hundreds of transit-dependent riders in Alameda County, and found that more than eight in 10 said they had difficulty getting to jobs, social activities, school or doctor's appointments. One rider put it starkly: "When the buses don't run, neither do we. That means we can't work, play, socialize things like that. And we can't get jobs and keep jobs and and go to doctors appointments and be human." The county health agency released the report now in hopes of influencing the draft Plan Bay Area which will go before the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for a vote in July. The long-term plan helps determine the allocation of $289 billion in regional transportation spending over the next 27 years. Read the whole story over at KQED.
Infrastructure Constraints Loom as Texas Grows
Texas' drought and water-supply problems have captured headlines. But with the state's rapid population growth projected to continue, other infrastructure problems also loom, including clogged roads and a strained power grid.
Would You Pay A Toll to Get To The Beach Quicker?
Starting this weekend, beachgoers can use the Gulf Freeway HOV lane on their trip to Galveston. The lane is also open to single drivers willing to pay a toll.
Texas Sees Drop In Construction-Related Fatalities
Thousands of workers took time out from their jobs for an annual event designed to make things safer on construction sites. Safety briefings were held as a trade organization unveiled new figures showing a big drop in the number of workers killed or hurt on the job in Texas.
Here's Why Parking Signs Are Coming Down In Houston
You'll probably see a lot fewer parking signs in downtown Houston in about a year. Houston Mayor Annise Parker and the Downtown Management District say they'll get rid of a confusing mish-mash of signs and replace them with more streamlined, simplified parking signage.
New Texas Traffic Regulations Start In September
A new law goes into effect this fall that requires drivers to slow down and move over for highway maintenance crews.
What's Wrong With The Latest Survey On How Safe Houstonians Feel?
A new Gallup survey finds Houston is near the top of a list of cities where people do not feel safe walking alone in their neighborhoods at night. Houston is in company with riverside, California, New Orleans, and Memphis — where people feel the least secure. But one local expert in social behavior says surveys like this one usually miss one important point.
Law Enforcement Across Texas Is Saying 'Click It Or Ticket'
The state of Texas has made seat belt safety a major priority, and is one of the most buckled up states in the country. TxDOT launched its 12th annual "Click It or Ticket" campaign to ensure the safety of motorists here in Houston and across the state.
Study Looks At Growing Traffic Congestion In Fort Bend County
As Fort Bend's population continues to grow, officials are looking at safety improvements on one of the county's busiest roadways.
Drivers Near the Galleria Could Face Big Traffic Delays This Weekend
Drivers need to be alert to a road closure this weekend that could cause major slowdowns near the Galleria.
US Transportation Secretary Warns Houstonians of Phony Movers
Secretary Ray LaHood was in Houston reminding people to be on guard when they trust someone to handle their worldly possessions. Houston is one of the top cities with complaints against fraudulent moving companies.
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Gail Delaughter
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