Brewmaster

Absolutely. I had a business trip to DC this past spring and had a few hours to kill one morning. I had a great time just walking around the mall and listening to music.

I walk when the weather is nice. It's about a mile to work, but it goes fast with the iPod and it feels liberating. It's also fun to walk by all of the angry looking commuters. When the weather doesn't cooperate, I drive. This spring we'll probably bite the bullet and become a single car family and I'll start taking the COTA when the weather is bad. I live 1/2 block away from the nearest stop.

I'd agree with that. I have a lot of faith in markets though, especially when they are as well diversified as transportation fuels. That said, market corrections can be pretty painful, and I think we are probably at the beginning of one. There really aren't any new supplies coming to the rescue within the next few years, and it doesn't look like our demand is as responsive to price as many analysts hoped. I'm just glad I drive a fuel efficient car and live within walking distance to work and a grocery store!

That chart is exactly the reason why I'm skeptical about falling off of a "post peak oil cliff". Just look at the relationship between the respective countries' bars. The US has some of the most developed fields in the world and we're still #3. We're using advanced recovery techniques like CO2 floods that Saudi hasn't even needed to think about yet because their huge fields are still fairly young (relative to the US anyway). They've just begun another round of aggressive drilling in new supergiant fields, and continued drilling in thier existing fields. We may see a rough period of 4-6 years ahead as demand rises and output falls from aging fields, but this new oil from the Saudis coupled with oil sands and Jack 2 in the gulf will begin hitting the market around 2010-2012.

It's probably been covered in this thread, but oh well. On my trip home for the holidays, I saw the new "STEELYARD" signs along the Jennings. Even if the development has a bigger parking lot than a suburban mall, I think those signs look great.

Thanks Ms. Sullivan! Now I'm going to have nightmares about "Old Iron Monsters" roaming the streets for days!!!

^ That seems like something that they can do on the cheap since they already have GPS. One thing I have used recently is their real time bus locator. It's basically a google map showing individual routes and where the busses are located on them. Since I only live 1/2 block from the nearest stop, I can do a quick check online before I stand outside waiting for them for 20 minutes. Once I see a bus coming closer, I can head outside in the cold and only wait a minute.

^ HAHAHA! I loved the letter from the Reverend! Good for a laugh. I have a tiny bit more respect for them now that they've run two weeks worth of letters rightly bashing that crap article. Still, thier credibility is in the dumps.

I'm excited about this. Should be a nice boost for downtown. It always sucked trying to navigate traffic up there anyway.

If you guys haven't picked up this week's copy of The Other Paper yet, check it out. There are two good letters to the editor blasting the "Runaway Train" article. I suspect some on this board may know who they're from ;)

Sounds like your plan would put a stanglehold on central ohio's economy. How can we be a world leader in shipping and logistics by choking off access to one of the most frequently traveled cross country highways in the country? There's no way that 670 could handle that traffic load. This was one of the reasons that the city's "grand boulevard" idea was shot down. ODOT couldn't afford to close off the highway while it was built. 670 couldn't handle it. I understand why you're thinking the way that you are, but I think you need to step back and look at the big picture. EDIT: Here's a link to some traffic volumes (1995-2004). http://downtowncolumbus.com/publications/DTTrafficCounts1995-2004.pdf 70/71 - 141,000 670 - 100,000 in it's core, but on the connectors, only 63k and 56k.

Columbusite - I don't get it. Are you recommending doing away with the highway and bringing it to street level?

^ That's correct Noozer. The Dispatch owns Alive. I don't believe they are affiliated with Suburban News Publications (This Week and The Other Paper). Regardless...this article will make me question the accuracy and level of research in every article from The Other Paper from here on. A poor piece at best.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16077694/

1) The streetcar routes all went to German Village because of the density that the neighborhood already has. To leave out our densest, most streetcar-ready neighborhood would be an enormous folly. 2) Leaving out the GV southern loop wouldn't save you much money in the grand scheme of things. As a guess, I'd say somewhere in the $20 million range out of a total of $80-100 (ish). If the caps cost aorund $150 million on top of that, it really isn't buying you much. 3) The extension to OSU was dropped because it was ranked #2. It could very easily be added to the #1 ranked line once it's up and running. I know you're frustrated because they went with the #1 ranked line over the #2 ranked line, but lets focus on getting the first cars running before we get greedy.

^ The Parsons cap needs to be dropped. The purpose of a cap is to connect neighborhoods. If they want that one to serve a purpose, they'll need to extend over the other three interchanges.

I'll be impressed when that 1.7% increase in consumption turns into a 1.7% decrease in consumption. 1.7% to 1.0% is hardly something to be proud of. Also, was anyone else shocked that 53% of our vehicles purchased are "light trucks"? I realize that it's trending in the right direction, but to have over half of your vehicles sold get an average of 17 mpg is pathetic. This peice was particluarly disturbing...Thanks Melloncamp!!!

I think the website looks great. Not much content yet, but the design is nice. www.skybus.com

Pretty fair article. I like this part the best... I actually don't know which addiction american's are more willing to break...Big Mac's or SUV's. Should be an interesting decade ahead.

^ I agree, the one-ways in Columbus are closer to mini-interstates than anything. Also - the other two points that were brought up (reduced capacity and increased congestion) work in favor of adding more efficient forms of public transit. If we keep catering to cars (adding lanes, converting streets to one way, etc...) we only push out the date where good mass transit can be justified.

They've already got those!

Alright COTA...here's your last chance! Don't eff it up!!!

^^ I ask myself those types of questions all the time. Just like, "Why would anyone eat at Friday's or Applebee's?". I think it all comes down to familiarity. It reminds me of those gawd awful Chevy commercials..."From the east coast, to the west coast, down the Dixie Highway back howowwowme...This is ouuuur country!!!". I feel like some camera shots of strip malls and Applebee's restaurants would fit in really well.

I think the city realizes this and recognizes the need for a comprimise. They are converting Front and Gay to two way traffic, while leaving 3rd/4th and Spring/Long as one way mini interstates for traffic flow purposes. I think they also need to look at converting 3rd/Summit/4th to two way north of I-670. I always feel wierd zipping through that residential area. Also, the collector/distributor streets that come from the reworking of the 70/71 split should allow for the conversion of all downtown streets to two way traffic (except for the collector/distributors of course).

Gotta side with the residents here...I've never thought a Save-a-Lot as something that would spur development. I'd place it one tier up from a liquor store or Payday Loans shop.