TraderJake

I am a bit surprised by the presence of a single street light in the center of the roundabout. Although I understand that design guidance states that the center island should be devoid of prominent features, I have never seen this sort of lighting application, and I am a traffic engineer in roundabout-happy Maryland. I am a bit surprised there are no low profile landscaping features around the roundabout. It looks sort of naked, for being a gateway into the city. That said, I love these updates. All major construction projects should do something like this. This park is shaping up quite nicely.

Kasich's threat disgusts me. I hope Cincy sues and can claim some sort of damages. Kasich, moving young Ohioans out of Ohio by reverting time to 1990.

This could be great news for the Baltimore / Washington Region... I'd happy pay more for the Purple Line and I'd happily pay more taxes for a Separated Metro Blue Line. Md. bill would create sales tax on gasoline Democratic leaders in the Maryland Senate are proposing a new sales tax on gasoline -- roughly equal to $2.16 per tank -- with a bill that would steer one-quarter of the revenues from Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties to the jurisdictions' billion-dollar light rail projects. Maryland currently charges drivers a fixed 23.5-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline. Tacking on a sales tax would not affect the state's per-gallon rate, but instead would tie any tax increases to the cost of gas. Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/maryland/2011/02/bill-would-create-sales-tax-gasoline#ixzz1Dh2OwZ2o

I wouldn't jump ship from SMF. They seem to have gotten their stuff back in order, and maybe will get a production schedule that is good for webmasters. VBulletin costs money, and SMF with the right modifications can do the same stuff VBulletin can. Hell, with the SSI functions, you can do pretty much anything. It's amazing what global variables are at your use if you simply include SSI.php. Personally, I would like to see an integration between the forum and the site. Right now they seem disconnected from each other.

Don't worry, God will get his/her retribution through (sadly) land subsidence. I hope they did their Geotechnical Homework! I don't know if they did as the access road appeared to have slid quite a bit while it was the only thing on site for several years.

Here is the update video: TAKE A GOOD LOOK! Cincinnati Riverfront Park Summer/Fall Construction Update It's pretty exciting seeing their progress. May 2011 is less than a year away!

I live in Maryland these days, but the Cold Stone across the street from Arundel Mills appears to be doing just fine. Mind you, Arundel Mills is 3 miles away from Ft Meade, the largest employment center in Maryland, and there are tons of Ft Meade ancillary uses around Arundel Mills, but yeah, Arundel Mills is hopping.

To me the tiara looks like value engineering to the extreme.

I agree, that "tiara" sadly looks tacky and nothing becoming of a princess.

The county may have been in shock regarding the city's eastern corridor position, but as many people have said the eastern corridor project is just a front for pushing a freeway through the corridor. The capacity for trains to be added is just like the capacity for trains to be added to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, something real, but will never be realized. I applaud the city's efforts to fight a freeway in its jurisdiction. This isn't commuter rail versus streetcar, this is streetcar versus roadway. We don't need massive new roads, we need to optimize the roads we have and invest in alternatives to roads.

I'd believe it. Radio personalities are all characters to push the channel agenda. I bet Cunningham is much much smarter than the channel agenda.

This news is incredibly exciting! It's a great day for Cincinnati! I can't wait to come home in the fall and see the project under construction! It's a great day for the city and a great day for the region!

This project makes you wonder if they are actually telling the truth regarding the reliability of the bridge. Also, shouldn't these bridges be three lanes in both directions to anticipate future growth? This project feels rushed...

I'd just like to point out that it's not really Glenway if they are on Harrison Ave near Wesselman Rd. Perhaps a name change is in order.

Rural counties need to keep in mind that they have paratransit... also that most rural counties get significantly more money back than they put in. A dedicated source for rural paratransit would not be bad, would it?

Yes, but those aren't streetcar systems. Rails impact utilities. Full depth reconstruction to accommodate the concrete around the rails impacts utilities. My experiences also suggest that restriping projects can also be complicated. Having the right crew makes all the difference in the world. As someone who works for a government agency, I can assure you that simple restriping projects can be anything but simple.

Utility relocations make everything horrifically more difficult. Modifying neglected signal timing to allow coordination for the streetcar is complicated. ADA compliance makes everything more complicated. The list can go on and on. This project is not just rails in the ground. It is a very complicated project. Nothing is truly easy.

Oddly enough, Rogoff's statement about painting buses a different color and calling it something else is actually true... The ridership on the DC and Charm City Circulators is pretty solid and there are a lot of people that you wouldn't necessarily think would ride a regular bus. It's rather weird that the bias constant for a different color bus with a different name is lower than that of a regular old fleet bus. However, it is also worth noting that at least with the DC Circulator they tend to follow future streetcar routes. Rogoff must also take into mind that busways do not have the development benefits that fixed rail systems do. That's not to say that fixed rail systems necessarily cause development (See Baltimore's Light Rail System), but cheap busways do not give the same permanent feeling that a fixed rail system can. It's much cheaper to remove that busway and revert it back to cars than it is to shut down a rail operation. Rail costs are rail costs. People in cities that have rail love rail. While Maryland is massively cutting back road spending, it anted up the Metro funding it threatened to withhold after massive protest. When the public wants something, the government will find a way to provide. That includes the finding the additional costs of a fixed rail system. Besides, are roads really that cheap? Maybe you'd see ton of deferred road maintenance if the gas tax didn't subsidize... oh wait! The gas taxes DON'T subsidize fully the costs of roads! Thank God for the new era of deferred road maintenance even with a dedicated tax that many transit systems do not have!

It would have blown my mind if Gray successfully cut the DC streetcars from the budget. It's already under construction! I see the Benning Rd line every time I ride the Orange Line in from New Carrollton for kickball or broomball or other fun events! It blew my mind that they'd axe something well under construction, and I am glad that the masses in DC spoke up and brought fire and brimstone to Gray's proposal! Also, yeah, the Circulator's design is quite nice. I hope Cincinnatians can pull off the same thing in the event someone tries to pull 11th hour chicanery like Gray in DC tried. Even better, may nothing similar to what occurred today in DC happen to this project.

^They want to charge you for that one extra day.... 1.50 or so is a lot in the newspaper business these days.

Yeah, if that is the poll that they used... it is the most misleading poll out there. To me, it seems like anyone can vote on the poll. To me, residents of Cincinnati are City of Cincinnati Citizens. This poll implies that everyone is voting on it. That's crap. I hear the arguments left and right saying the entire region should have a say in a city project, but if that was the case then I should have a say in derailing the wasteful Bypass 4 widening, or installing a CFI at Beechmont and Five Mile. I paid my taxes that subsidized those projects, and I must accept that I don't really have a control over where those taxes go. The same should hold true for workers of Cincinnati that live outside of the city. If they truly want to have a say in how the city moves forward, here's a novel idea - Move to the City. If I want to have a say in how the city of Hamilton moves forward, I'll move to Hamilton. Until that time, they can use the accumulated taxes that they got from me how they wish, and I won't have a say in how they do it. City issues need to be left to city residents. Otherwise, you get BS polls like this one that have residents of Indian Hill or Liberty Township having a say in something that they really aren't an expert on. They just want their large lots, cul de sacs, and wide roads. City residents need and often want something different.

Bilbao Stop. Got to love it.

Federal funding shift could aid D.C. area transit projects (Yes, I know it's DC, but a great article) By Ashley Halsey III Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 14, 2010 The Obama administration announced a major shift in transportation policy Wednesday that would steer more money to transit projects designed to spur economic development and help the environment. That's incredibly big news, now that they are considering Livability and Raw Number of People moved in transit projects rather than which projects moved the most number of people for the least amount of money. I am sure Fairfax County in VA is pretty saddened this didn't happen earlier for their Silver Line, but for Cincinnati it should be great news!

That's interesting. I'll have to look into this with some of my sources at the DOTE and see what they say. The current leadership there has been pursuing "road diets" where they reduce the size of roadways and look to implement things like bike lanes and traffic calming measures. Central Parkway would seem to be a perfect candidate. I don't see a need for Central Parkway to be 3 lanes in both directions... perhaps a narrower footprint or a truly complete street is in order! Put that road on an ultra road diet!

Not necessarily corrupt, but you can't base a conviction on something that shaky. There is no concrete data to something as vague as "the car sounded like it was going over 35" versus "I clocked the vehicle on my radar gun driving 45MPH in a 35 MPH zone, and oh, here is proof of my radar gun operator training, which is valid until XX date." Also, in Ohio, there are things such as prima facie speed limits. You'd need to have some technical background to be able to convince a judge that the speed you were driving was a prima facie speed.