I’d appreciate feedback from West Chatham residents about how things go on day one of school on Monday, August 27.
The new westside Savannah high school: how will it impact traffic?
Category: Urban Form
A few final thoughts on T-SPLOST
Do Savannah area voters who soundly rejected T-SPLOST realize just how little state money we’re likely to get in coming years for new road construction, modifications for safety and efficiency, transit, and various other categories of transportation spending?
AJC: Transportation in Atlanta vs. Portland
“he dominant reason, according to one narrative prevalent among city planners, is that young folks gravitate to high-energy, walkable, eclectic neighborhoods where they don’t need cars — and that projects like Portland’s streetcar help create those neighborhoods.”
Ellis Square in Savannah: an appreciation
Why I’m voting for T-SPLOST
Desperate for safer bridges on the road to Tybee? Desperate to get out of the train-induced gridlock over on 21? Desperate to see some forward movement on Project DeRenne? You might quite literally have to wait a generation to see those projects completed without the T-SPLOST.
“Stadium vs. Arena” increasingly hot topic in Savannah
Putting an arena and a stadium next to each other is a terrible idea for Savannah. Putting a covered arena on valuable, scenic riverfront property is an even worse idea.
Boring but important: Unified Zoning Ordinance (UZO) for Savannah and unincorporated Chatham County
We have 126 zoning districts, far more than much larger cities. Some current development requirements do not work for urban settings, which results in an inordinate number of appeals for variances. And too many property and business owners simply can’t find their way easily through the complex documentation and bureaucracy.
Housing bust + Changing lifestyles = Boon for cities?
“One reason for the shift back to urban areas may be improvements in quality-of-life factors, such as safety, that traditionally drove residents to the suburbs. In the past decade, cities have become considerably more livable. Crime rates have fallen in some urban centers; downtown areas that once were dotted with closed businesses now feature new cultural amenities such as museums and baseball stadiums.”
Americans still driving less — but will the trend hold with lower gas prices?
“Travel on all roads and streets changed by -0.4% (-1.0 billion vehicle miles) for April 2012 as compared with April 2011. Travel for the month is estimated to be 247.2 billion vehicle miles.”
Georgia’s first diverging diamond apparently working as intended
Highway conversion in New Haven as a model for I-16 flyover removal
I’m firmly with the urban planners who think that removal of the I-16 flyover, which would get a small share of the TSPLOST revenues, makes sense from every angle: traffic flow, economic development, the push for “complete streets”, tax revenue, residential development, and on and on. But I didn’t know of a project of similar scale in New Haven until I saw a tweet from Streetsblog this morning about it.
More thoughts on Savannah’s use of public space
A link to today’s City Talk column plus the intriguing possibility of an amphitheater at Trustees Garden.
AJC looks at likely effectiveness of proposed transportation sales tax
“If some spots edge toward transformation, that’s a bonus. Regionwide, metro drivers in 2025 would waste 128,000 fewer hours in traffic each day than they would if the referendum doesn’t pass, the ARC found.
But they’d still waste 1.8 million hours a day.”
Home builders adjust as buyers reject sprawling suburbs
In the days of increased gas prices, long commutes on increasingly congested roads, more single person households, a new emphasis on sustainability, and a growing desire to live in places that are walkable and bikeable, homebuyers and renters are making different choices than they were a decade ago.