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If you have not been on Wadsworth Blvd at night recently, come and check out "The Clouds" at the Lakewood-Wadsworth Station getting ready for it's opening day on April 26, 2013
The stairs on both sides of Wadsworth Blvd are open for pedestrians to cross the Blvd safely.
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THE BACK FENCE NEWSLETTER
The Newsletter Featuring Livable Community Items That Readers Value and Highlights of Happenings Along the West Corridor on the RTD West Rail Line Serving Golden, Lakewood & Denver. |
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The "W" Line Opens in:
127 Days.
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Hi Everyone! This is Bill Spriggs and I have found several news articles, links and blogs that I wanted to share along THE BACK FENCE & beyond in this Weekly Edition, December 20, 2012. |
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West Corridor, Denver & Region
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RTD Announces 6th Avenue Bridge Lighting Ceremony
On January 23, 2013,
RTD will host a ceremonial lighting of the 6th Avenue Bridge. Join them for this exciting event as the switch is pulled and the bridge is illuminated for the first time. Stay tuned for details as for time and location; in the meantime, mark your calendars.
TheDenverPost
RTD Approves Funding Plan for Denver's FasTracks
By Monte Whaley, Dec 19 2012
A plan to produce more than $277 million in new revenue to help complete a portion of the FasTracks mass-transit project in the northern suburbs was called "adventurous" Tuesday night.
READ MORE...
TheDenverPost
RTD's North Corridor Should Display Rail Cars, Thornton Official Says
By Monte Whaley. Dec 19 2012
A move by the Regional Transportation District to buy six new commuter rail cars for the first segment of the planned North Metro Corridor is a good one, says a local official.
READ MORE...
East Rail Line Progress - Stapleton
Posted by Ryan Mulligan, Dec 14 2012
By Robert Wilson
After leaving Colorado Station the East Rail Line parallels the soon-to-be relocated Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) tracks and Smith road to the south. After the alignment passes to the east of Quebec Street, the corridor widens, allowing for more space between the trains and less need for relocation activities.
READ MORE...
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Blog.OregonLive
Earl Blumenauer Pushes National VMT fee for Drivers as Federal Gas-Tax Revenue Evaporates
By Jerald Rose, Dec 13 2012
U.S. Rep Earl Blumenauer wants to take Oregon's experiment with a tax on vehicles-miles traveled on the road nationally.
READ MORE...
Transportation.NationJournal
The Fiscal Cliff & Transportation
By Fawn Johnson, Dec 17 2012
Cliff metaphors abound these days, thanks to our members of Congress. In my travels, I've run across the deportation cliff, the human cliff, and yes, the transportation cliff. (Thank you, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.). To be clear, there are two cliffs in the transportation world. There is the "fiscal cliff," which would result in an overall cut of about 8 percent in federal funds...Then there is the approaching 2014 sunset of the surface transportation law...
READ MORE...
Money.msn
Train Travel Makes a Comeback
By Bruce Kennedy, Dec 17 2012
Despite some political and economic hurdles, more communities are reviving intercity rail links or making plans for new ones.
READ MORE...
FastCoDesign
Study: Transit Apps Make Us Happier Commuters
By Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan,
December 2012
We know that we tend to be happiest when we're communicating with and helping those around us. But could the same principle apply to commuting in cities?
READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities
The Mystery of Our Declining Mobility
By Eric Jaffe, Dec 17 2012
Historically Americans are an extremely mobile people, but if they keep moving like they did the past five years, they may not keep that reputation for long. This month the U.S. Census released the latest migration data from the Current Population Survey, which measures whether or not a person has moved within the past five years... The 2010 national five-year mobility rate was about 35 percent - the lowest since the Census began to collect data on the question.
READ MORE...
DC.StreetsBlog
New Black Box Rule Isn't Enough to Hold Drivers Accountable For Ped Crashes
By Tanya Snyder and S. Miller, Dec 17 2012
Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a new rule requiring automakers to install event data recorders, known as EDRs or black boxes, in all light passenger vehicles.
READ MORE...
CitiWire
Beyond Density: The Art & Science of Walkable Neighborhoods
Anthony Flint, Dec 14 2012
The business of place-making - part science, part art - has had a long evolution, but American cities have never needed good urban design more urgently than at this moment. Changing demographics, energy savings and environmental concerns all mandate getting great urban neighborhoods just right.
READ MORE...
Brookings.edu
Census Projects New "Majority Minority" Tipping Points
By William Frey, Dec 13 2012
Based on new Census data, the U.S. Census Bureau recently released its first set of U.S. population projections for 2012-2060; the data reveals projections of the nation's population by age, race and Hispanic origin for the next 50 years. William Frey further discusses these projections and how they will reverberate through U.S. politics, education system, and labor force.
READ MORE...
HousingPerspecitives.BlogSpot More Working Americans Struggling to Afford Housing
By Eric Belsky, Dec 13 2012 With growth in incomes lagging growth in housing and utility costs, the share of Americans spending large sums of their income on housing has climbed nearly uninterrupted for decades. But the Great Recession has taken an especially heavy toll, as millions of families have slipped down the income scale due to job loss or curtailment of hours.
READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities
Regardless How They're Counted, Incentives Do Nothing for Economic Development
By Richard Florida, Dec 13 2012
Last Friday, I wrote on the "uselessness of economic development." Using The New York Time's new database on state and local economic development incentives, I found no association between these incentives and key measures of economic performance and found virtually no association for the fifty states.
READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities
How to Make Privately Owned Public Spaces Truly Open to the Public
Emily Badger, Dec 17 2012
Some of the best privately owned public open spaces in downtown San Francisco are, by nature, a little hard to find. They're on upper-floor terraces with fantastic views of the city, or in interior plazas of office towers that look from the sidewalk like places where you don't belong.
READ MORE...
Blog.TSTC.0rg
When Bicyclist and Pedestrian Fatalities Increase, Shouldn't Investment Follow?
By Nadine Lemmon. Dec 14 2012
Bicyclists and pedestrian fatalities were up nationally in 2011, according to newly released data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) 2011 annual report on traffic fatalities. This increase in fatalities comes as cycling and walking modes have increased over the past decade, but also as investments in safe street infrastructure haven't kept up with these changing travel habits.
READ MORE...
Wired/Autopia
Indianapolis to Swap All City Vehicles for EVs and Hybrids
By Alexander George, Dec 17 2012
You read that right. The first U.S. city to outfit itself entirely with electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids is Indianapolis, Indiana. Time to up your game, San Francisco and Austin.
READ MORE...
PikeResearch
Wireless Charging Systems for Electric Vehicles
During the past few years, wireless charging for electric vehicles (EVs) has appeared to be mainly a promising technology with no viable market. In the last 6 to 12 months, however, these factors have begun to shift. Nearly all of the major EV manufacturers have announced partnerships to develop wireless charging systems and there are signs that such systems, installed at the factory or added at the dealership, could become a market differentiator for EV models.
READ MORE...
DC.StreetsBlog.org
Walk Score Ranks the Bikeability of Every Address in 36 Cities
By Tanya Snyder
Walk Score came out with its bikeability rankings in the spring, but they were only at the citywide level. If you wanted to plug in your address and come up with a custom rating for your own address, like you can with Walk Score, the system wasn't quite ready. That all changes today. Using an algorithm that takes into account factors including bike infrastructure, topography, and the number of cyclists on the streets, Walk Score has released "Bike Scores" for addresses in 25 American cities and 11 Canadian cities. READ MORE...
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International (when available)
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How Britain Is Helping Its Citizens Buy Bikes
By Sarah Goodyear, Dec 18 2012
Imagine your commute could save your life. That's what a 33-year-old man United Kingdom man named Toby Field says his ride to work - on a bicycle purchased through a government tax incentive plan - has done.
READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities
Mass Transit Improvement of the Day: 24 New Tram Stations in Paris
By Henry Grabar, Dec 17 2012
Can you imagine an American city completing capital improvements to three different mass transit lines in one month? That's what's just happened in Paris, after a breakneck month of opening extensions on the T1, T2 and T3 tramway lines.
READ MORE...
BBC
Sustainability in the New Urban Age
By Gaia Vince, Dec 17 2012
We are living in a uniquely urban time in Earth's history. In 1800, and for a thousand years before, just 2% of the world's people lived in urban areas. Within the past five years, we have reached the point where more people are living in cities than in rural areas. By 2050, around three-quarters of the estimated 10 billion people on Earth will live in cities. It's by far the biggest migration in human history, and it's well underway.
READ MORE...
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Wednesday's Film (when available)
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Things you need to know along the West Corridor
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[Note to below: I'm enclosing the full text of one section from a Friday Report from the City of Lakewood because it involves an important built environment connectivity change along the West Corridor adjacent to the West Rail Line.]
Preparing for a roundabout
The City received funding, including a $1 million grant from the state, to build a roundabout at the intersection of Lamar Street and West 14th Avenue and to add a section of sidewalk and bicycle lanes. The work will improve safety at the intersection and provide better access for pedestrians and bicyclists to the upcoming Lamar Station for the West Rail Line. This intersection has an unusually high rate of accidents, and they are some of the most dangerous kind, which are collisions at a right angle. The roundabout will eliminate these kinds of accidents and slow vehicles in the intersection. Properly designing the improvements to match the surrounding area will require collecting land survey information along 14th for 400 feet east and west of Lamar and along Lamar for 400 feet north of 14th to south of West 13th Avenue. The City needs residents' help by allowing surveyors to collect information on their property. Residents with concerns can contact Ken Nyhoff, Lakewood's engineer for the project, at (303) 987-7939/kennyh@lakewood.orgAdded Information. See the short video below
How to use a roundabout Michagan DOT Aug 10 2011  | |
How to use a roundabout
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Denver Union Station
Construction Cam
Wish You Could Find an Apartment/Condo near a Light Rail Station? As part of TBF's continuing efforts to bring TOD's to the West Corridor & elsewhere, this link from Walk Score.com will now be a permanent feature. Thanks.
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Commercial Real Estate Assemblages, Land or Buildings Available on The West Corridor
Please note: TBF does not
own or sell any real property.
Prices displayed may not be correct.
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>4917 West 11th Ave Assemblage [sold]
Sold, See Press Release
>10th Avenue Light Rail Assemblage
>1010 Sheridan Blvd TOD Site
>5310 West 10th Ave TOD opportunity
>13th Ave & Newland, Ideal TOD property
>5830 West Colfax Ave
>1025 Ammons Complex
>6990 West Colfax Ave Pad Site
THE BACK FENCE supports a corridor wide, regional vision, with individual nodes of unique "places" within that corridor. We hope that the listing of commercial properties available will help to speed this vision to fruition sooner. Learn more about this vision below from the Center for Transit-Oriented Development.
West Corridor Vision
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Residential Real Estate Agents
who get the "big picture" of
transit-oriented living of
walkable, sustainable
neighborhoods.
JIM SMITH REALTOR, GOLDEN
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Things You Need to Know Around the Region
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| The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of William A. Spriggs and no one else. |
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