Fwd: Trains go electric

In Europe, train infrastructure is being adapted to high speed train traffic. Meanwhile here in North America we are still plodding along with an outdated and much slower diesel counterpart. Our tracks are an outdated, a vestage of a bygone era of slow freight traffic. Our rail needs to update or we risk being left behind. I think we know this, but lobby groups (auto/truck/other) have too much power directing our transportation decisions.

Shared Space: mixed-use transportation?

I really like the concept of shared space. Maybe we've dumbed down our streets too much. Delineation creates less organic movement of people, bikes, and cars. I think it's strange that the more we separate uses, the more stagnant we make spaces and interactions. Look at the segregate planning examples. The example below is an intersection in Drachten Germany.

Dundas St.: Toronto to Mississauga

I don't understand why we seek to redefine urban or residential space. We should plan spaces that have succeeded in the past, where people want to live. We can simply look at where the highest property values and community vibrancy? This does not happen at Eglington and East Mall. So why do we still seem to cling to these outdated design principles. Unfortunately planning (and developers) have an antiquated design standard for the past 50 years. These two images show the comparison of older planning as compared to post war planning. Is modern planning beneficial to urban development?

I'm not convinced.

Road traffic in the new Transit City?

Why widen traffic corridors to allow for the proposed 7m LRT ROW? Just adapt the existing road condition.

It seems that Transit City seems to confuse transit construction with the accommodation (or increase) for road capacity. This seems to defeat the purpose of the whole process. Creating a ROW that is 36m wide to accommodate traffic flow with transit does not create a liveable community centre public realm. However, it does follow the suburban model of smooth traffic flow, wide corridors, large turning radius, and bleak spaces.

Unfortunately the new concepts and approaches seem to doom suburban models of built form - to be just that, a relic of a traffic engineered route. If we want to condone the use of transit we should at least think outside our North American concern for car accommodation and create innovative approaches to transit use and construction.

Widening roads is not the answer.