December 27, 200816 yr Big Canoe is nice, but Peachtree City is... well a city, not a neighborhood. There are over 35,000 people in Peachtree City... here's a litte post I made a few months back... Peachtree City is considered metro Atlanta... I work in Buckhead. Most Atlantans have no clue where PTC is. The pluses to PTC are - Only 20 minutes from Hartsfield Jackson with no traffic. - Doesn't compete with the northsides rediculous traffic and higher priced homes. - Is on a major rail line, with a Chinese coporation "sany" bringing 500-1000 future jobs - Tons of airline employees - Best public schools in georgia - No freeway access which equals very low crime. PTC has refused Marta public transit rail line for this reason - The Weather is great... - Money magazine, etc "Best Places to live" - Meticulous ZONING. Nothing sticks out. You can drive past a 500,000 square foot shopping center and never see it. Lighting is zoned. Business signs... everything. The town has 3 Krogers, 2 Publix a Walmart, Home Depot, Kmart, and Target. Plus a higher end spot with William Sonoma, Banana Republic, Talbot, Black/White market etc etc. Nice restaurants to mom and pop establishments. There is a killer BMX track, dog park, nature preserve with boardwalk, 2500 seat amphitheater with national acts, Indoor/outdoor aquatics center, indoor roller hocky rink, tennis center with hard/clay and indoor courts, 4 private golf clubs, tons of soccer and baseball fields.. even some with that new turf crap since it's headquartered here... houses from $100k to $4 million... Plus two large lakes with a third on the way... and a village set aside JUST for industrial... they did it right... Currently, the old guard in town are constantly battling city councel. They are still trying to bring MORE retail to town. They've shot down over a million square feet of retail over the last year... thank goodness. The people in town are really concerned with over building. A high end shopping center is just getting completed with an even larger one on the table right next to it. The zoning is fantastic... much like Hilton Head or Charleston...most sightlines from the street are protected by a line of trees... you could drive right past it if you're not a local. ALL is connected by cart paths, bridges and tunnels. I'll post some pictures come spring...
February 5, 200916 yr Any word on whether Hamilton made any headway on these rubber sidewalks? Several sections are installed and look pretty good:
February 5, 200916 yr Can't say I fancy the shape of the tiles. I would rather see them the size of four tiles (more like a traditional sidewalk). Is there a reason why the tiles are so small?
February 5, 200916 yr That's part of the reason why I'd favor 4x larger tiles. These rubber tiles are supposed to be more aesthetic and safe. Three tiles in a row or one. Two doesn't look right.
February 5, 200916 yr Why does it even have to be in "tile" form? Why not develop it in a "roll" format that can be laid out in strips and even molded to look like a brick or concrete surface?
February 5, 200916 yr Maybe they're not bendable enough. The tiles have to be somewhat thick and heavy.
February 5, 200916 yr If I were a construction worker I'd love the hell out of roll-out rubber sidewalks. Especially if I was union. Just roll it out like carpet...ahh - long day's work, now it's time for a turkey sandwich and a nap. :angel:
February 5, 200916 yr I would think a "rolled" sidewalk could be done with some kind of mild heat application to soften the rubber and make it more felxible for rolling out. As it would cool and cure, it would harden in place.
March 5, 200916 yr 8664 released new renderings of a removed Interstate 64 from Louisville's waterfront. It is a novel idea, considering that once the East End Bridge for Interstate 265 is constructed, through traffic can bypass Louisville with a high-speed connection. Striking Visions Of Louisville’s Future Within Our Grasp And today: UGH
March 14, 200916 yr The EfficientGovNow program, presented by the Fund for Our Economic Future, is offering as much as $300,000 to fund as many as three government collaboration and efficiency projects, which will help advance Northeast Ohio. http://www.efficientgovnow.org/ I am working on a proposal to allow NE Ohio governments utilize a service that helps our region better coordinate transportation and roadway infrastructure projects. http://www.Envista.com For less than $300K, we could have our entire region, including utilities, state, and federal agencies sharing project information and optimizing funding and timing so as to maximize taxpayer dollars and minimize traffic congestion and excessive auto emissions caused by lack of coordination. Imagine the positive public relations this could bring to our region in terms of leveraging the stimulus fund. Please help me generate awareness by recommending “movers and shakers” in local government who would be excited about the opportunity to make their operations more efficient. Winning this grant would allow them to have the program practically paid for in full. I’m happy to do all the leg work and grant writing, I just need visionaries in government to write the proposal for. If you have a person I should talk to or any questions, please contact me through this forum.
March 18, 200916 yr thx to curbed blog! :-o http://curbed.com/archives/2009/03/18/google_maps_the_way_robert_moses_intended_.php#more
March 18, 200916 yr These would have effectively turned Manhattan into New Jersey. Don't you mean "upper" Staten Island? Ick!
March 18, 200916 yr just as awful -- here's the san francisco version to chew on. :-o 1947 1955 thankfully sf'ers staged a freeway revolt in 1959. can you imagine? also, they later removed highway after the 1989 earthquake. more on sf: http://www.cahighways.org/maps-sf-fwy.html
March 18, 200916 yr If you haven't read The Power Broker, you really should. It wasn't that Moses was crazy; rather, he was masterful at manipulating the regulatory process, was appalled by the wartime and post-war condition of NY (which was vastly different from what you see today), and was utterly single-minded in the strategies that he used. Fella had the biggest hammer anybody has ever wielded to shape cities, and he used that hammer to nail highways, enormous public parks (mainly swimming pools) and anything big and concrete that he could build all over NYC, Long Island, and parts of upstate.
March 18, 200916 yr Is this the guy Jane Jacobs advocated against? Amazing to think what Manhattan would be like today...
March 18, 200916 yr If you haven't read The Power Broker, you really should. It wasn't that Moses was crazy; rather, he was masterful at manipulating the regulatory process, was appalled by the wartime and post-war condition of NY (which was vastly different from what you see today), and was utterly single-minded in the strategies that he used. Fella had the biggest hammer anybody has ever wielded to shape cities, and he used that hammer to nail highways, enormous public parks (mainly swimming pools) and anything big and concrete that he could build all over NYC, Long Island, and parts of upstate. I know, just look at all those damn PJs by my house!
March 18, 200916 yr He arguably did more to make the city what it is today than anyone. He often gets chastised for the Manhattan Expressways, but people quickly forget his accomplishments. There's a lot to learn from what he accomplished, both positive and negative. I'd also like to add that my two favorite lunch joints would be pavement if the midtown expressway had been built!
March 18, 200916 yr Moses also proposed an elevated I-310 running along the Mississippi River through New Orleans including the French Quarter. Picture Canal Street terminating at the freeway, or Jackson Square fronting on an expressway right in front of St. Louis Cathedral. The routing of I-310 was to be part of the Riverfront Expressway, a proposed downtown elevated highway. Starting at the Pontchartrain Expwy. (right at the foot of the Miss. River bridge), the highway would have followed the riverbank north from there, cutting through the CBD and the French Quarter, then turning inland at Elysian Fields and following its median (like I-10 does on Claiborne) to a junction with I-10 at the present Elysian Fields exit (one reason why it's so large). The Riverfront Expressway would also have continued upriver (but not I-310) from the Pontchartrain Expwy. to connect with a proposed Miss. River bridge uptown and with the Earhart Expwy. The highway was killed mainly because it would have ruined the Quarter (can you imagine an elevated expressway in front of Jackson Square NOT ruining the Quarter?). One piece of the highway was actually built, but you can't see it - a tunnel under what is now Harrah's casino - that Harrah's uses now for a valet parking garage. For in-depth information, read "The Second Battle of New Orleans" by Borah and Baumbuch, all about the expressway controversy - a must read." http://www.southeastroads.com/new_orleans.html
March 18, 200916 yr He arguably did more to make the city what it is today than anyone. He often gets chastised for the Manhattan Expressways, but people quickly forget his accomplishments. There's a lot to learn from what he accomplished, both positive and negative. [*]um...like trying to take away playgrounds in Central park for tavern on the green? [*]or...tearing down homes, to build "concentrated" housing project. [*]maybe...giving us a bad name with his "deceitful" fair [*]Segregating Riverside park. Ever notice why it stops near Columbia then picks up again above Washington Hts. [*]Fought against LIRR expansion and purposely planned parkways with low rises to prevent buses to pass. and who does that affect, low income - i mean...people of color. The dude was bad news.
March 18, 200916 yr He arguably did more to make the city what it is today than anyone. He often gets chastised for the Manhattan Expressways, but people quickly forget his accomplishments. There's a lot to learn from what he accomplished, both positive and negative. Oh, absolutely. You can certainly point to the proliferation of hydro-power, the state park system, and recreational facilities all over the city as being part of his positive legacy. Heck, you could look at the design of the parkways (though Long Island) and have to be impressed.* Do you think that the Caro biography was a fair one? *[EDIT: However, there is credible evidence to prove that the low clearances beneath bridges along the parkway were specifically designed to prevent buses from connecting the urban poor (read: minorities) to the state parks and beaches.] [EDIT to the EDIT: I think that MTS slipped in his last comment right as I was editing my own. Either that, or my special "IGNORE MTS" killfilter finally kicked in.]
March 18, 200916 yr moses is absolutely a mixed bag, for example the city pools and the beaches, like orchard in the bronx and jones on long island, are his babies too and are well-loved by millions. thankfully, people wised up to all the power he had after the cross-bronx debacle, because those plans make clear he was definately wrecking his way south.
March 18, 200916 yr moses is absolutely a mixed bag, for example the city pools and the beaches, like orchard in the bronx and jones on long island, are his babies too and are well-loved by millions. thankfully, people wised up to all the power he had after the cross-bronx debacle, because those plans make clear he was definately wrecking his way south. Well the pools and beaches were pet projects because he was a swimming fan boy.
March 18, 200916 yr He arguably did more to make the city what it is today than anyone. He often gets chastised for the Manhattan Expressways, but people quickly forget his accomplishments. There's a lot to learn from what he accomplished, both positive and negative. [*]um...like trying to take away playgrounds in Central park for tavern on the green? [*]or...tearing down homes, to build "concentrated" housing project. [*]maybe...giving us a bad name with his "deceitful" fair [*]Segregating Riverside park. Ever notice why it stops near Columbia then picks up again above Washington Hts. [*]Fought against LIRR expansion and purposely planned parkways with low rises to prevent buses to pass. and who does that affect, low income - i mean...people of color. The dude was bad news. I was thinking: Triborough Bridge The public authority he set up to run the toll system Battery Tunnel (he wanted a bridge for practical reasons, but settled for the tunnel) Pretty much every other major interstate bridge in the city Overall, he made the city accessible by automobile. All of the parkways, bridges, and tunnels he's responsible for are filled almost every hour of every day. Some of your other points are really just opinion that your entitled to. I never said the guy was a saint, I just think he had accomplishments that contributed more to the city than he ever hurt it. It's just opinion though. If you think the city could be what it is today without his freeway and parkway contributions than you'll disagree with me.
March 18, 200916 yr um...like trying to take away playgrounds in Central park for tavern on the green? or...tearing down homes, to build "concentrated" housing project. maybe...giving us a bad name with his "deceitful" fair Segregating Riverside park. Ever notice why it stops near Columbia then picks up again above Washington Hts. Fought against LIRR expansion and purposely planned parkways with low rises to prevent buses to pass. and who does that affect, low income - i mean...people of color. The dude was bad news. I was thinking: Triborough Bridge The public authority he set up to run the toll system Battery Tunnel (he wanted a bridge for practical reasons, but settled for the tunnel) Pretty much every other major interstate bridge in the city Overall, he made the city accessible by automobile. All of the parkways, bridges, and tunnels he's responsible for are filled almost every hour of every day. Some of your other points are really just opinion that your entitled to. I don't really think that MTS's points (except perhaps for 3, because I don't recall his work with the World's Fair) can be considered opinion at this point. Moses did try to take away Central Park playgrounds, he did concentrate the poor in projects with the intent to promote segregation, Riverside Park was designed to make it more accessible to the affluent than the poor, and Caro documented how the Long Island parkways were designed by Moses with the expressed purpose of keeping out minorities. It's not really arguable at this point, even by folks who are re-examining Moses's positive attributes.
March 18, 200916 yr I don't really think that MTS's points (except perhaps for 3, because I don't recall his work with the World's Fair) can be considered opinion at this point. Moses did try to take away Central Park playgrounds, he did concentrate the poor in projects with the intent to promote segregation, Riverside Park was designed to make it more accessible to the affluent than the poor, and Caro documented how the Long Island parkways were designed by Moses with the expressed purpose of keeping out minorities. It's not really arguable at this point, even by folks who are re-examining Moses's positive attributes. I can't find it now, but we did a story on the Fair and it listed how he Moses went against the World Governing Body and they asked member nations to stay away and once investigated, it was found out that account numbers had been "fudged" and that those who did participate were charged to do so. I'm hard headed, but this dude was an arrogant one man "my way or now way" show!
March 18, 200916 yr He arguably did more to make the city what it is today than anyone. He often gets chastised for the Manhattan Expressways, but people quickly forget his accomplishments. There's a lot to learn from what he accomplished, both positive and negative. [*]um...like trying to take away playgrounds in Central park for tavern on the green? [*]or...tearing down homes, to build "concentrated" housing project. [*]maybe...giving us a bad name with his "deceitful" fair [*]Segregating Riverside park. Ever notice why it stops near Columbia then picks up again above Washington Hts. [*]Fought against LIRR expansion and purposely planned parkways with low rises to prevent buses to pass. and who does that affect, low income - i mean...people of color. The dude was bad news. I was thinking: Triborough Bridge The public authority he set up to run the toll system Battery Tunnel (he wanted a bridge for practical reasons, but settled for the tunnel) Pretty much every other major interstate bridge in the city Overall, he made the city accessible by automobile. All of the parkways, bridges, and tunnels he's responsible for are filled almost every hour of every day. Some of your other points are really just opinion that your entitled to. I never said the guy was a saint, I just think he had accomplishments that contributed more to the city than he ever hurt it. It's just opinion though. If you think the city could be what it is today without his freeway and parkway contributions than you'll disagree with me. Having direct interstate access to urban cores is not a good thing, and there's a lot of scholary evidence to support this. Even Eisenhower was horrified how misguided the highway program became since the original conception of interstates was to be from edge to edge of urban areas. Boroughs never needed easy vehicular access. It merely induced demand and spatially changed the places where people lived, now that they were provided options. This may seem like a good thing, but there are always trade offs. We all know what they are.....Congestion, environmental impacts, degradation of urban cityscapes, environmental impacts etc. So it may be nice and convenient with the provision of limited access roads or interstates into the heart of CBD's, but the truth is they were never needed. Due to our current spatial construct of urbanized environments, they are now almost essential to the survival of downtowns. It's pretty easy to hate Moses for what he did, or almost did, but planning during that time contained misguided practices and ideas just like any other field. Really, he thought that these systems would help Manhattan become a better city and improve lifestyles for its citizens. Unfortunately these ideas have really hurt cities more than helped. I get kind of geeked on the subject since my background is in urban and regional transportation.
March 19, 200916 yr I haven't heard of this guy before today, but it sounds possible that he did a lot of this for the wrong reasons. His idea of improved lifestyle maybe wasn't inclusive. So is he to be reviled for the mark he left? He seems to get off easy.
March 19, 200916 yr You have to read the comments on the original link at Curbed.com straight up Manhattan versus Jersey smack talking.
April 3, 200916 yr I just watched the documentary "The World That Moses Built" in my Urban Environments class. It was an interesting look at many of Moses projects in NY. The man was clearly power hungry. The fact that he managed to maintain ownership and control of the tri-borough bridge authority and all monies made was a serious issue that NY finally corrected in the late 70s-80s. All of his projects we very autocentric. The public beach he built on Long Island probably had just as many acres of parking as it did beach.. not to mention the highways/parkways he built to get to them.
June 29, 200915 yr Louisville: The Case for 8664 http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/2009/06/louisville-case-for-8664.html (...) Better and cheaper. What's not to love? Of course, not everybody likes better and cheaper. Highway construction and engineering companies sure don't. And they carry a lot of political weight. But Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was already wealthy before taking office, doesn't need anyone's money, and isn't angling to do anything but serve out his last term as governor and continue pushing for change. He's brought a keen fiscal eye to the Hoosier State, and 8664 would save Hoosiers a bundle by not having to pay for 50% of a downtown bridge plus 100% of the approach work on the Indiana side. With projects like I-69 running over budget, this could be a great place to save money. Plus, the Major Moves funds allocated to the bridges project are not sufficient to pay Indiana's $1.2 billion share of the project, period. And 8664 preserves the East End bridge that Indiana cares about and which is a no-brainer. (Continued at original URL.)
July 22, 200915 yr Peeling Back Pavement to Expose Watery Havens By ANDREW C. REVKIN, New York Times, July 16, 2009 SEOUL, South Korea — For half a century, a dark tunnel of crumbling concrete encased more than three miles of a placid stream bisecting this bustling city. The waterway had been a centerpiece of Seoul since a king of the Choson Dynasty selected the new capital 600 years ago, enticed by the graceful meandering of the stream and its 23 tributaries. But in the industrial era after the Korean War, the stream, by then a rank open sewer, was entombed by pavement and forgotten beneath a lacework of elevated expressways as the city’s population swelled toward 10 million. Today, after a $384 million recovery project, the stream, called Cheonggyecheon, is liberated from its dank sheath and burbles between reedy banks. Picnickers cool their bare feet in its filtered water, and carp swim in its tranquil pools.
August 28, 200915 yr There's a new book out about the rise of Jane Jacobs in opposition to Robert Moses called "Wrestling With Moses." Here's an excerpt from the NY Times: August 5, 2009 Excerpt ‘Wrestling With Moses’ By ANTHONY FLINT Chapter One: The Girl from Scranton As the rattling subway train slowed to a stop, Jane Butzner looked up to see the name of the station, its colorful lettering standing out against the white-tile station walls as it flashed by again and again, finally readable: Christopher Street/Sheridan Square. As the doors opened, she watched as a crowd poured out, moving past pretty mosaics to the exit. She had moved to New York from her hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and had joined her sister, Betty, in a small apartment in Brooklyn a few months before. She was hunting for a job, but the morning's interview had concluded swiftly, so she'd decided to explore her new city. She darted out before the doors slid shut and made her way through the turnstile and up a set of stairs to the street. Without knowing it, Jane had alighted in the heart of Greenwich Village, the place she would call home for decades to come. ...continued... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/books/excerpt-wrestling-with-moses.html
September 3, 200915 yr I am working on a Spreadsheet to calculate how long it takes for a highway expansion to pay for itself from motor fuel taxes. All you need to enter is daily traffic volumes, cost and length of the expansion. Thoughts? http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Arg36rHGhn3zdHB2cGx4YXdFUGRRYlRNSWowemJqZ0E&hl=en It is probably best to download the spreadsheet rather than trying to work in googledocs.
September 3, 200915 yr Author Highways don't pay for themselves.... http://www.cnu.org/node/2329 The salient excerpt is this from the Texas DOT: Another way of describing this is to do a “tax gap” analysis, which shows how much the state fuel tax would have to be on that given corridor for the ratio for revenues to match costs. Applying this methodology, revealed that no road pays for itself in gas taxes and fees. For example, in Houston, the 15 miles of SH 99 from I-10 to US 290 will cost $1 billion to build and maintain over its lifetime, while only generating $162 million in gas taxes. That gives a tax gap ratio of .16, which means that the real gas tax rate people would need to pay on this segment of road to completely pay for it would be $2.22 per gallon. This is just one example, but there is not one road in Texas that pays for itself based on the tax system of today. Some roads pay for about half their true cost, but most roads we have analyzed pay for considerably less. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
September 4, 200915 yr I really like where you are going with this. In the expenses end, you could add lines for yearly maintenance, asphalt overlays, lighting, policing etc. I would think that someone has already done spreadsheets like this, but maybe they are just not publicly available.
September 4, 200915 yr Author The data is available from ODOT. They list cost centers like lighting, snowplowing, etc. I remember finding it on the Web, but the balance sheet was a couple years old. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
September 5, 200915 yr Author bump "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
September 5, 200915 yr watching hgtv right now. A couple who lives in DT Chicago said their one parking spot that came with their condo cost an additional $27,000. They said that was cheap! That is one expensive parking spot.
September 5, 200915 yr But what about the addition revenues that is gained from development along the highway or within 5 miles of it. Is that counted?
September 5, 200915 yr The basic costs and revenue items would be easy to calculate, provided that you have the data. The difficultly is in deciding WHAT to calculate. Obviously you would want the capital cost for construction, and the operations and maintenace cost. You could compare that to the tax collected based on traffic counts and some estimate of gallons of gasoline consumed per mile. Where is gets more complicated is how you deal with development and property tax. The typical reasoning by governments is that highway construction will bring development, adding more property tax and income tax to the public revenue. Of course, development also adds school costs, fire protection costs, law enforcement costs, and so on. Some of the public uses of the highway such as police cars use public money to buy gasoline, which may or may not be taxed, so to do it correctly you should adjust your traffic counts to allow for users of the highway that are not paying the gas tax. My issue is this: According to Wendell Cox and associates, mass transit does not pay it's own way; it must be subsidized. At least highways are funded by the users through fuel tax. Ok, fine. But according to the transit advocates, highways are ALSO subsidized because the fuel tax covers only a portion of the true highway cost. In fact, there is NO transportation mode that isn't subsidized in one way or another. So, if ALL modes are subsidized, who is paying for them? The answer is that they are being paid for in a round about way. Fuel tax, property tax, and income tax are all used to pay for roads in one way or another. And just about everyone uses roads, either directly or indirectly. The "True cost" of highways is an elusive number.
September 5, 200915 yr Consider, too, that when new expressways/interstates are built, the old, local roads usually don't go away because they provide necessary access to farms, homes, and businesses. I'll use Indiana for an example, because I know about it. I think it's a safe assumption that other states have similar statutes. Indiana has a statutory cap on the number of lane-miles the state can maintain, and the state is maxed out under that statute. The state bears the responsibility for maintenance of interstate highways within its boundaries. When a new interstate or expressway is built, the state has to relinquish maintenance responsibility for an equivalent number of lane-miles of former state highways to local county governmental agencies. Say a 30-mile stretch of four-lane interstate bypass is built. That means that 120 lane-miles, or sixty miles of two-lane state highways become the permanent, ongoing responsibility of counties, most likely the ones served by the new road. Not only are the counties saddled with the cost of maintaining the roads given up by the state, but they have lost the property tax revenue formerly generated by the land taken for right-of-way for the new expressway and its interchanges. It's a double whammy, and the prospects of property tax revenue recovery face another paradox. Maximizing the number of interchanges with existing local roads opens up more land for development, but more interchanges mean more congestion, more traffic hazards, and more environmental degradation that must be dealt with by the local communities, either up front or in the future with mitigation efforts.
September 6, 200915 yr You can put it this way. Our clothes that we wear don't bring any revenue but it is needed.
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