Kate Hinds

Top stories on TN:
Port Authority Board Gets an Earful from Public Over 9/11 Memorial, Community Relations (link)
New York City’s Taxi of Tomorrow Becomes Taxi of Today (link)
NYC Traffic Deaths Rising (link)
NYC Suggests You Avoid Getting Killed By Looking Up From Your Smartphone (link)
To Give or Not To Give to Subway Panhandlers, That Is the Question (link)
Road Rules: How Do We Learn Them? And When Will People Follow Them? (link)

On 9/20/12, sandhogs working on the East Side Access project broke through the last piece of wall separating the Manhattan tunnel from the Queens tunnel. (Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Jeannie Kwon)

Amtrak's president told a House committee that highways have received more emergency help from U.S. taxpayers in the past four years than the railroad has gotten in its 41-year history. (Bloomberg via SFGate)

But: House Republicans promised to continue scrutinizing Amtrak through the lame-duck session at the end of the year. (The Hill)

A new federal report says electric vehicles will cost $7.5 billion over the next seven years -- but are unlikely to have much effect on gasoline use or greenhouse gas emissions in the near future. (Detroit Free Press)

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: "Angelenos are more excited than anyone to get out of their cars—they’re so ready!" (Grist)

New York's MTA broke down a final concrete wall to create a new Long Island Rail Road tunnel between Grand Central Terminal and Sunnyside, Queens. (DNA Info)

The New Jersey assembly is considering making the state the first in the U.S. to require drivers to restrain pets in their vehicles. (Bloomberg)

Space shuttle Endeavour will fly over various Los Angeles landmarks this morning. (Los Angeles Times)

DC's Capital Bikeshare is turning two years old today. (DCist)

Don't miss the bus: apps (and a workaround) for iOS6. Because: "the moment I tapped the Maps app on my iPhone was the moment I regretted upgrading to iOS 6." (Wired)

DC's Metro system has a new bus map. (PlanItMetro) But don't expect to see SmarTrip card vending machines in every Metro station just yet. (Washington Post)

Dogs underwater. Just because.

In the mood for a picture of MetroCard origami? Or a door with teeth on Manhattan's Lower East Side? Check out our Tumblr page.

Top stories on TN:
Port Authority: We’ve Reformed. Critics: Really? (link)
Court Rules That NY MTA Must Run Anti-Jihad Ad (link)
Streetcar Could Make Virginia’s Community Pike Neighborhood More Walkable (link)
New York Governor Cuomo Names New Design Review Team for Tappan Zee Bridge (link)
Space Shuttle Endeavour Heads West (link)
U.S. DOT Gives $74 Million to Virginia for 11-Mile High-Speed Rail Construction (link)

(photo by SusanNYC via flickr)

It's official: the federal government has approved the first phase of California's high-speed rail line, and construction will start next year in the Central Valley. But: don't expect the opposition to disappear. (Mercury News; AP)

New York's MTA lost a court battle and must now run an anti-Islam ad. WNYC reporter Jim O'Grady talks about it on The World. Read the TN story here.

New Census data says: fewer Americans are commuting alone. (USA Today)

A strike is hitting India's trains: a government decision to cut fuel subsidies and open the country's huge retail market to foreign companies has led to a transpo-disrupting strike. (AP)

The space shuttle Endeavour made it to Houston. Next stop: LA. (AP via KPCC)

Ontario's coroner is calling for a reduction in speed limits to save pedestrian lives. (Toronto Sun)

Mystery solved! Curious City/WBEZ delves into the timing of Chicago's left-turn signals.

Following a jump in the number of felonies, more transit police are riding the subways overnight in New York. (NY1)

MAPPED: NYC subway stations with Wi-Fi. (WNYC)

The backlash has begun: critics are not loving the lack of transit directions in the new version of Apple's iPhone operating system. (New York Times, Forbes, Business Insider, HuffPo)

The New York Post ran a vigorous editorial ("Two-Wheeled Terror") urging the city to crack down on law-flouting cyclists.
This prompted NYC deputy mayor Howard Wolfson to tweet: Insane NYP edit says cyclists = guns. Guns have killed 191 New Yorkers this year. Cyclists? Not a single one.

Coming soon to a party near you (at least if you live in northern Westchester): a traveling pizza oven that looks like a train. (Somers Daily Voice)

Earlier this summer New York Governor Cuomo promised that a "blue ribbon selection committee" would review designs for the new $5.2 billion Tappan Zee Bridge. And on Wednesday morning, he named the members.

Artist Jeff Koons, architect Richard Meier, and Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas Campbell provide star power for "The Bridge Design Aesthetic Team," which is tasked with recommending a final design for the new bridge.

The state is currently reviewing the bids from the three finalists for the project and will select one later this year.

Cuomo had promised to put a design review team in place to address aesthetic concerns about what the final bridge would look like.

But in his announcement today, he wouldn't be pinned down on what the team was looking for. "I think we'll know it when we see it," the governor said. "We want an attractive design that enhances the region." He added that the Tappan Zee, which connects Rockland and Westchester Counties, spans "a magnificent part of the Hudson River" and "design is an important element here."

But the governor's press release makes it clear that the team's job is advisory. "When the review team has made its recommendation," it reads, "a final formal decision will be made by the Thruway Authority, subject to the approval of its Board."

 The full press release is below.

____________________________________

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a selection review team for the new bridge to replace the Tappan Zee. The review team will include internationally renowned artists and architects, under the auspices of the New York State Council of the Arts, who will review proposed bridge designs as well as assist local community leaders and transportation experts in the evaluation process.

The artists and experts who will review the designs include:· Jeffrey Koons, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
· Richard Meier, a Pritzker Prize winning architect and Gold Medal awardee for architecture from the Academy of Arts and Letters
· Thomas P. Campbell, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
· Keith Brownlie, an internationally acclaimed bridge designer"Another day, another big step toward building a new bridge to replace the Tappan Zee which will be stronger, safer, better as well as one which will live up to the beauty and splendor of the Hudson River," Governor Cuomo said. "For this project, we are creating a different kind of review team – it’s a team that combines technical experts, architectural experts, local experts as well as artists to ensure the new bridge is the best choice and fit for the region."

The selection process will evaluate the technical quality of the proposals in conjunction with pricing information, to identify the proposal that offers the best value to New York State. The "best value" approach, made possible by the design-build legislation enacted by Governor Cuomo last year, looks at factors such as design and long-term quality of the project to ensure that the proposal chosen meets the needs of the region, the transportation system and toll payers.

Specifically, the selection review team will be evaluating the best value of each bid based on criteria stated in the RFP, which generally include:· Best price for toll payers
· Bridge structure and design
· Investment in future transit options, including BRT and rail
· Traffic management plan
· Plan for working collaboratively with community and local stakeholders
· Ability to meet strict environmental requirements
· Construction plan
· Bridge lifespan
· Geotechnical for bridge foundations
· History and experience of design-build team
The review team members will undergo rigorous procurement training before beginning the bid evaluation process as required by federal procurement law. Once the evaluation process is complete, the review team has a number of options before it sends a final recommendation to the Governor. The team can:· Recommend one of the three bids submitted in July
· Authorize negotiations with one or more bidders based on its submission
· Authorize a request for a best and final offer from multiple bidders.
When the review team has made its recommendation, a final formal decision will be made by the Thruway Authority, subject to the approval of its Board.

MEMBERS OF BRIDGE DESIGN AESTHETIC TEAM

Jeffrey Koons: Artist
Internationally recognized artist Jeff Koons is widely known for his iconic sculptures Rabbit and Balloon Dog as well as his monumental floral works Puppy and Split-Rocker. His work has been exhibited extensively around the world. Working with everyday objects, his work revolves around themes of self-acceptance and transcendence. Koons has received numerous awards and honors in recognition of his cultural achievements. Most recently, the Royal Academy of Arts presented Koons with the John Singleton Copley Award, Governor Ed Rendell presented Koons with The Governor’s Awards for the Arts - Distinguished Arts Award, and President Jacques Chirac promoted Koons to Officier de la Legion d’Honneur. He has become a fervent advocate for protecting children and has served six years on the board of directors for the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC). With both the International and National Centers for Missing and Exploited Children, Mr. Koons developed the Koons Family International Law and Policy Institute in 2007, with the purpose of combating child abduction and exploitation. Koons lives and works in New York City.

Mr. Koons said, "As an artist I'm honored to participate as a voice to try to help assure an aesthetic Tappan Zee Bridge project. It's a wonderful opportunity for our generation to contribute to a project that will not only enhance everyday life but help define a sense of place for New York."

Richard Meier: Architect
Richard Meier received his architectural training at Cornell University and established his own office in New York City in 1963. Since that time his international practice has encompassed major cultural and civic commissions as well as private residences and corporate and academic facilities. He has received the highest honors in the field including the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, the Gold Medals of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects as well as the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association. He is best known for the Getty Center in Los Angeles; the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art; and the Jubilee Church in Rome. His current work includes the Mitikah Office Tower in Mexico City, Mexico; a condominium complex in Jesolo, Italy; the Rothschild tower in Tel Aviv, Israel; two residential towers in Tokyo, Japan; two hospitality and commercial projects in Mexico; a hotel in South Korea; a condominium tower in Taiwan; the Leblon Offices in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and private residences in Europe, Asia and North America.

Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Since becoming the ninth Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2009, Thomas P. Campbell has pursued an agenda that focuses on scholarship and accessibility. These priorities maintain the Museum’s excellence in its exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and permanent collections, while encouraging new thinking about the visitor experience. Prior to his appointment, Campbell was a curator in the Metropolitan's Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts for 14 years, where he organized two major exhibitions on Renaissance and Baroque tapestry.

Mr. Campbell said, "I was very pleased to be asked by Governor Cuomo to become a member of the artistic design committee for the new bridge. I am well aware—as a former resident of the Hudson Valley and as director of a great museum holding a distinguished collection of Hudson River School paintings, which portray the majestic beauty of the region—of the great significance that the project holds from a practical as well as aesthetic standpoint. It’s a privilege to work on a project so important to New York, one that will serve such an important practical purpose while preserving and honoring the scale and scenery of the area."

Alison Spear AIA, LEED AP : Architect
Alison Spear is a local and LEED certified architect licensed to work in New York as well as other states and is presently a Senior Designer with Ennead Architects, (formerly James Polshek & Partners), in New York City. Spear was formerly the principal of her architectural and design firm, Alison Spear AIA in Wappingers Falls, New York City and Miami, Florida. She has taught at several universities including University of Miami School of Architecture, Parson’s School of Design and a visiting critic Syracuse University School of Architecture and University of Toronto. She has received several awards including the Design Star Award from the Design Center of the Americas and was named the 2005 Interior Architect of the Year by the American Institute of Architects. Spear is a resident of the Hudson Valley.

Keith Brownlie: Bridge Architect
Keith Brownlie is a leading international Bridge Architect specializing in the design of major infrastructure and engineering projects worldwide. He has been responsible for shaping numerous landmark bridge structures including the Gateshead Millennium and Twin Sails Bridges in the United Kingdom, the Metsovitikos Crossing in Greece and the Sutong Yangtze River Bridge in China. He has also directed the architectural design of many significant infrastructure projects including High Speed One rail link in the UK and the 18km Fehmarnbelt Tunnel between Germany and Denmark, as well as super high rise buildings such as the 1450ft Guangzhou International Finance Centre in China. Projects with which he has been involved have received the highest international architecture and engineering awards, including the RIBA Stirling Prize in the United Kingdom, the Arthur G. Hayden Medal in the United States and the Balthasar Neumann Prize in Germany. Brownlie graduated from Brighton School of Architecture and the Mackintosh School of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow University. He is a chartered member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and a member of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineers.

Thomas Wermuth: Director, Hudson River Valley Institute & Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, Marist College
Thomas Wermuth is a published expert on the social and economic history of the Hudson Valley. He is editor of the book series, “The Hudson River Valley: An American Region,” which focuses on the history, culture, literature and tourism of the Valley. He was an associate editor of the Encyclopedia of New York State and author of Rip Van Winkle's Neighbors: The Transformation of Rural Society in the Hudson River Valley and edited America's First River: The Hudson, published by the State University of New York Press. He serves on the Executive Board of the New York Academy of History and is chair of the editorial board of the Hudson River Valley Review. He resides in Harrison, Westchester County.

MEMBERS OF THE SELECTION COMMITTEE

State Representatives
Brandon Sall, Chairman of Selection Committee
Brandon Sall is a member of the Thruway Board of Directors and a partner at Sall & Geist and Gellert & Rodner, located in White Plains. Sall has vast experience with real estate law and knowledge of the process involved with land transactions. He is admitted to the Bar in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida and is a member of the New York State Bar Association. Sall received his B.B.A from the University of Miami and attended the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. He resides in Harrison.

Nuria Fernandez
Nuria Fernandez is Chief Operating Officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). She previously served as Senior Vice President of CH2M Hill, a firm that provides engineering, construction, and operations services for businesses and governments throughout the world. Prior to that, Fernandez served as Commissioner for the Chicago Airport System, where she directed all airport operations, planning, engineering, and management services for O'Hare and Midway International Airports, the second busiest airport system in the world. She has also served in executive positions at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and the Chicago Transit Authority.

Joan McDonald
Joan McDonald is Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation. Commissioner McDonald previously served as commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development for the State of Connecticut, as Senior Vice President of Transportation for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and as the Vice President in charge of New York and New Jersey at Jacobs Engineering. She began her transportation career as Deputy Commissioner for Planning and Traffic Operations for the New York City DOT and as the Director of Capital and Long Range Planning for the MTA Metro-North Railroad.

Karen Rae
Karen Rae is Deputy Secretary for Transportation in the Executive Chamber. Prior to joining the Cuomo Administration, she served as Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration in the Obama Administration, where she managed the federal high speed rail initiative and developed national freight and passenger rail policy. She also served as Director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, including negotiating and executing the multi-billion dollar public-private partnership contract for the Dulles rail project. She was previously General Manager of transit systems in Austin, Texas, Glens Falls and Buffalo. Rae was also Deputy Commissioner of Policy and Planning at the New York State DOT, where she was responsible for finance, planning and policy, and Deputy Secretary of the Pennsylvania DOT, where she led the creation of a streamlined, performance-based funding program for transit.

Community Representatives
Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef
County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has designated County Commissioner of Planning Thomas B. Vanderbeek, P.E., to represent Rockland County on the Selection panel. Vanderbeek has a wealth of experience with respect to facilities and water supply planning, having successfully worked with major governmental agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, as well as Rockland County’s towns and villages. He is a licensed professional engineer specializing in civil and environmental engineering as well as water resources planning. For eight years, he was a member of the Rockland County Planning Board. Vanderbeek also served as Stony Point Town Engineer and was project manager and engineer in the development of sewer systems in western Ramapo, overseeing environmental impact study, survey and design. Vanderbeek has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Princeton University and is a member of the state Fire Prevention and Building Codes Council, the Rockland County Parks Commission and the National Society of Professional Engineers.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino
County Executive Rob Astorino has designated County Department of Planning Commissioner Edward Buroughs to represent Westchester County on the Selection panel. Buroughs’s career has since 1980 focused on municipal planning in Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties, following earlier experience in county and town governments in Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the county staff in 1994, he served as Director of Planning for the towns of Somers and Lewisboro in Westchester and as consulting town planner for the town of Carmel in Putnam County. He earned a Masters of City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University and a
B.A. from the University of Delaware.

Village of South Nyack Mayor Tish Dubow
Mayor Tish Dubow has designated Richard L. Kohlhausen to represent the Village of South Nyack on the Selection panel. Kohlhausen was appointed to the SUNY Rockland Community College Board of Trustees by Governor Pataki and was reappointed by Governor David Paterson. He also serves as President of the Board of Nyack Hospital, and formerly served as President of the Nyack School Board and as a Member of the Board of the Edwin Gould Academy in Ramapo. A West Virginia native, Kohlhausen moved to Rockland more than 30 years ago and currently resides in South Nyack. He has worked as a chemical engineer in the pharmaceutical industry, and now works in the insurance industry for Capitol Risk Management Services, Ltd. in Nanuet. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from New York University and an M.B.A. from Iona College, New York.

Village of Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell
Mayor Drew Fixell has designated David Aukland to represent the Village of Tarrytown on the Selection panel. Aukland is a member of the Village's five-person Planning Board, to which he was appointed in 2006. His work for the Village has included reviews of the implications of various Tappan Zee Bridge replacement proposals with the Mayor and other officials, as well as other activities relating to the future development of the Village. Prior to his formal association with the Village of Tarrytown, Aukland worked for IBM. After early work in the United Kingdom, he spent fifteen years at the company's European headquarters in Paris, France.

Technical Experts
Al Biehler
Al Bielher is a Distinguished Service Professor of Transportation Systems and Policy at the H. John Heinz III College at Carnegie Mellon University, Executive Director of the University Transportation Center, and an adjunct professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in the Engineering College at Carnegie Mellon. He previously served for eight years as Secretary of the Pennsylvania DOT, leading an organization that operated the nation’s fifth largest state highway system and administered one of the country’s largest grant programs for mass transit, rail freight, and aviation. As Secretary, he launched a program known as Smart Transportation to streamline and stabilize Pennsylvania’s transit program. In 2009, Biehler was elected President of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, where he helped to create the State Smart Transportation Initiative to assist state transportation agencies wishing to accelerate sustainable practices. Prior to his post at DOT, he was a Vice President with the international transportation consulting firm DMJM-Harris, where he was project manager for preliminary engineering of the North Shore LRT Connector project in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Director of Planning and Preliminary Engineering for extension of the Tren Urbano rail system in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Earlier, Biehler was Director of Planning, Engineering and Construction at Port Authority of Allegheny County, in charge of the agency’s $500 million capital improvement program. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and a masters-equivalent Certificate in Highway Transportation from Yale University. He is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania.

Gene McGovern
Gene McGovern is widely known and respected as a manager of large construction projects. In 1979, he co-founded Lehrer McGovern Inc., which ultimately became a part of the construction industry leader now known as Bovis Lend Lease. Lehrer McGovern was the construction manager for the mid-1980s restoration of the Statue of Liberty, and worked on other high-profile projects including renovations of Grand Central Station and Ellis Island and the construction of Euro Disney and London’s Canary Wharf business district.

Robert Yaro
Robert Yaro is President of Regional Plan Association (RPA), the nation's oldest independent metropolitan policy, research, and advocacy group. He led development of and co-authored RPA's Third Regional Plan, A Region at Risk, and has authored and co-authored numerous papers and articles on planning and infrastructure for the five boroughs of New York City and the metropolitan region. He founded and co-chairs America 2050, RPA's initiative to create a national development and infrastructure plan. He is co-chair of the Empire State Transportation Alliance, on the board of the Forum for Urban Design, and an honorary member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. Yaro holds a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University and a B.A. in Urban Studies from Wesleyan University. In addition to leading RPA, Yaro is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and has consulted on city and regional planning issues across the United States and in Europe, China, Japan, Turkey, and North Africa.

TECHNICAL ADVISORS

Mark Roche, Senior Technical Advisor
Mark Roche is a Principal of Arup and leads its Highways Business in the Americas. A civil and structural engineer, Mr. Roche has worked in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and the Americas on a wide range of complex multi-disciplinary bridge, rail and highway projects where innovation and constructability have been key issues. His bridge experience includes post-tensioned segmental, arch and cable-stayed plus other more common bridge forms. He has extensive experience with bridges and other structures in high seismic activity zones and areas of high environmental forces. He brings innovation and value to projects with his knowledge of bridge aesthetics, risk and extensive experience on design-build projects.

Robert Brownstein, Procurement Expert
Robert Brownstein is Vice President of AECOM and an internationally-recognized expert with 40 years of experience in infrastructure related industries, with particular expertise in procurement and project development. He has served as a procurement advisor for numerous public agencies throughout the United States and other countries. He is a frequent speaker at conferences throughout the world.

Steven Polan, Counsel to the Selection Committee
Steven Polan is a partner at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips. He represents government agencies and contractors worldwide in the development and construction of significant transportation infrastructure projects. He was general counsel for an international construction and engineering company, and previously served as Commissioner of Sanitation for the City of New York and as General Counsel of the MTA.

Construction
Jay Bayersdorfer
Jay Bayersdorfer is the Chief Estimator for AECOM NYC Metro and has over 29 years of experience in all types of heavy and civil construction. His experience includes planning, costing and implementation of heavy/highway projects, underground utility construction, complex excavations for underground structures, earth support systems, slurry walls, groundwater control, environmental remediation, heating, energy, and ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Donald Phillips
Donald Phillips is a Principal of Arup, a member of the Arup Americas Board and Chair of Arup's Transport Market in the Americas, with a particular focus on major projects in the fields of transport, civil structures, bridges, tunnels and heavy civil engineering. He currently holds senior management and engineering positions on a number of projects that include Lake Mead Intake #3, A30 P3 Highway project in Montreal, and California High Speed Rail Los Angeles to Fresno Segments. He was chairman of the Association of California High Speed Trains. He also acts as a reviewer and provides support and expert advice on major infrastructure projects and has been an expert on several legal cases.

Environmental
Robert Conway
Robert Conway is an environmental engineer with over 30 years of experience in the environmental assessment of complex infrastructure and development projects. He has led the environmental review and permitting processes for a number of major transportation projects in the region including the Long Island Rail Road Eastside Access Project, New York State DOT Route 9A Reconstruction Project, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey World Trade Center Permanent Path Terminal and Bayonne Bridge, the Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak Portal Bridge Project, and New York City DOT Belt Parkway Bridges Program.

Financial
Thomas Kellerman, CFA
Thomas Kellerman, CFA is a senior vice president with Ernst & Young Infrastructure Advisors. He pioneered a methodology to evaluate and optimize project finance deals and developed an analytical tool based on this methodology. He has years of experience in asset valuation, capital markets, simulation modeling, risk analysis and mitigation and financial structuring. He has worked on a wide range of public sector projects including the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Goethals Bridge Replacement Project and Illinois DOT Elgin-O’Hare West Bypass, as well as a range of major projects for the Florida Department of Transportation. He has a B.S. from Virginia Polytechnic University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Jeffrey A. Parker
Jeffrey Parker is a senior managing director of Ernst & Young Infrastructure Advisors. One of the nation’s leading advisors on public-private partnerships and financial planning for transportation projects, he played a key role in helping to bring to fruition projects including the Port of Miami Tunnel and I-595 public-private partnerships and the Miami Intermodal Center, the largest intermodal complex in the U.S. He is currently an advisor on the Georgia Multi-Modal Transportation Project, a mixed-use redevelopment and intermodal complex in downtown Atlanta. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Robert Megna
Robert L. Megna is New York State's Budget Director, where he is responsible for the overall development and management of the State’s fiscal policy, including overseeing the preparation of budget recommendations for all State agencies and programs, economic and revenue forecasting, tax policy, fiscal planning, capital financing and management of the State’s debt portfolio, as well as pensions and employee benefits. Mr. Megna previously served as the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, responsible for overseeing the collection and accounting of more $90 billion in State and local taxes, the administration of State and local taxes, including New York City and City of Yonkers income taxes and the processing of tax returns, registrations and associated documents.

Before joining the Department of Taxation and Finance, Mr. Megna served as head of the Economic and Revenue Unit of the New York State Division of Budget, as Assistant Commissioner for Tax Policy for the Commonwealth of Virginia, as Director of Tax Studies for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, and as Deputy Director of Fiscal Studies for the Ways and Means Committee of the New York State Assembly.

Geotechnical Advisors
Tony Canale
Tony Canale has been involved in managing a wide range of design projects covering transportation, private development, and public structures. He has been responsible for traditional geotechnical studies, such as laboratory testing of undisturbed soil samples, consolidation settlement estimates, slope stability analyses, seepage analyses, and rock bolting design. Canale’s design projects have included foundation recommendations for high-rise structures in Manhattan such as One Bryant Park, the New York Times headquarters and Times Square Tower. He has been involved in projects that required piled foundations and caissons such as the new Mets baseball stadium, Citi Field, and the East River Plaza Retail Center in upper Manhattan. He has also worked on the Tappan Zee Bridge Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) project over the past nine years. During that time, he has supervised several subsurface investigations and the recently completed pile installation demonstration program, and was the primary author of several foundation related reports that were included in the EIS report.

Tony Kiefer
Tony Kiefer is a project manager and project principal for geotechnical and civil engineering projects with AECOM. He is responsible for management and principal review of complex projects, and his experience includes scheduling, design of explorative programs, supervision of support personnel, and writing and reviewing of reports with engineering recommendations.

Hugh Lacy
Hugh Lacy is a partner with Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers (MRCE). He is an expert in underpinning, protecting existing structures during adjacent construction, and ground freezing technology. He was instrumental in developing the frozen soil testing capability for MRCE's in-house soil laboratory as a state-of-the art facility, and the only private lab in the United States that offers these services. He directs numerous high profile projects involving tunnels, subways and shafts, bridge foundations, building foundations and deep basements, wastewater facilities, dams, and the majority of the firm's work in Washington, DC. He specializes in geotechnical investigations, analysis of probable foundation performance, pile foundation performance, pile foundations, design and construction of building and waste water facility foundations, railroad structures and tunnels, associated dewatering and excavation support including ground freezing.

Legal
Peter W. Denton
Peter Denton is an attorney with Nossaman’s Infrastructure Practice Group, advising clients on design-build and other innovative contracts for development of major transportation projects. These projects include the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s intercity passenger rail system, the Virginia DOT Midtown Tunnel project, the North Carolina DOT I-77 HOT Lanes project, the Georgia DOT West by Northwest Managed Lanes Project and the Sonoma-Marin Area Rapid Transit District’s commuter rail project.

Management
Tom Cascino
Tom Cascino is Vice President in charge of AECOM’s upstate New York transportation business practice, covering all design and construction inspection services. He has worked on multiple design-build projects, including the Gauley Bridge in West Virginia, and has a wide breadth of experience with staff throughout the region and with various New York State agencies, including the New York State Thruway Authority and New York State DOT.

Charles Dwyer
Charles Dwyer is a Program Director with AECOM with over 20 years of experience in the procurement and management of design-build projects. His skills include planning, design and construction of highways and bridges, and he formerly worked as the design-build project manager at the South Carolina DOT for the new Ravenel Bridge mega-project in Charleston. His responsibilities included budget, schedule, quality, public relations, partner/dispute resolution, and environmental agency coordination.

David Palmer
David Palmer is a principal consultant to Arup. He has extensive U.S. and international experience in the planning, design and construction of major infrastructure projects in rail transit, highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, ports and harbors. He has recently been principal-in-charge for the design of Second Avenue Subway and Fulton Street Transit Center in New York City and the Tappan Zee Corridor. He provided construction management for New Jersey Transit new Hudson River tunnels, the California High Speed Rail Los Angeles to Fresno segments, and numerous other projects throughout the Americas.

Operations & Security
Jerry Gluck
Jerry Gluck is a senior manager at AECOM with more than 30 years of experience in transportation planning and traffic engineering. His vast experience comes from both the private and governmental sectors and includes highway operations/planning, access management and system analysis. He has directed major studies including the Long Island Expressway Capacity Improvement Project, and has a unique knowledge of access management from his involvement supporting numerous state DOTs.

Procurement
K. Gunalan
Mr. Gunalan is a vice president of global alternative delivery with AECOM with 30 years of engineering and construction experience throughout North America. He has served on both the owner’s and contractor’s sides in many alternative delivery projects, and most recently as the lead for development of technical requirements for the $1 billion Presidio Parkway public-private partnership project in California.

Peter Matusewitch
Peter Matusewitch is an associate engineer with Arup, with expertise in structural design, rehabilitation, planning studies, cost estimates and inspection of fixed and movable bridges. His strength is in the technical leadership of diverse aspects of planning and design of bridges. He served as the technical coordinator for an Airport Taxiway Bridge in Cancun, Mexico and for two major river crossings on a 42km-long design-build-operate project to extend Autoroute 30 around Montreal, Quebec. The coordination included seismic design, foundations, prestressed concrete beam fabrication issues and environmental issues.

Mark Swatta
Mark Swatta is a market segment director for AECOM’s Alterative Delivery Group and a structural engineer with over 39 years of project delivery experience. His diverse background includes structural analysis, design, and construction and project management capabilities, particularly in the transportation industry. He was recently a project director on Florida’s $1 billion Port of Miami Tunnel public-private partnership project.

Public Outreach
Dr. Arnold Bloch
Dr. Arnold Bloch is the principal in charge of the New York Office of Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates (HSH), and has more than 36 years of experience in the private, public, and academic sectors. At HSH, he has overseen hundreds of public involvement projects, including many projects for state DOTs, and most recently he has been in charge of HSH’s efforts on the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Environmental Review and the Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing Project.

Jennie Granger
Jennie Granger serves as a project manager and planning market segment leader for AECOM. Her focus includes project coordination of major fast-paced National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) projects with extensive public involvement programs. She also specializes in preparation and review of various forms and documentation for NEPA and natural, cultural, and socio-economic resources; coordination of instruction efforts; and preparation and compilation of administrative records for litigation.

Roadway Design Advisors
Philip Cremin
Philip Cremin is currently Assistant Chief Civil Engineer at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. He has over 30 years of experience in civil engineering design at the Port Authority. He has held his current position for the past seven years, overseeing approximately forty staff members. Cremin has worked on the Goethals Bridge and Bayonne Bridge replacement programs and is currently overseeing the civil design for the LaGuardia Redevelopment Program and the Newark Liberty International Airport Terminal A Program. He was on the Port Authority committee responsible for the development of sustainable design guidelines for infrastructure-type projects. In addition, he directs the agency’s pavement management program.

Structural Design Advisors
Jamey Barbas
Jamey Barbas is a design manager for major design build and public-private partnership projects for Hardesty & Hanover. Her 28 years of experience in bridge design, construction and inspection have a special emphasis on complex and long-span suspension bridges. She has worked on many award-winning alternative delivery projects, including acting as the bridge design manager for the major bridges across Autoroute 30 in Montreal, one of the largest public-private partnership bridges in North America.

George Christian
George Christian is currently a transportation quality control engineer with AECOM. He is a structural technical advisor on bridge projects and for design build proposal development, which includes developing design concepts for complex bridges. Before joining AECOM, he had over 38 years of engineering management experience in varied bridge planning, design, construction and evaluation activities in the New York State DOT Office of Structures.

Angus Low
Angus Low is a consultant with Arup with over 30 years of experience with long-span bridges over shipping channels, in a variety of roles as designer, checker, assessor, tender assessor or technical advisor. His extensive experience covers many countries and includes many design build and alternative delivery bridge projects, such as the Hangzhou Bay Bridge in China and the Second Severn Crossing in England and Wales.

Ken Wheeler
Ken Wheeler is a transportation industry director with AECOM with over 35 years of experience in bridge engineering, particularly for major bridge projects. His experience includes particular emphasis on design build projects and encompasses concrete and composite steel cable-stayed, pre-stressed concrete box girder, composite steel box girder and composite steel truss bridges.

Top stories on TN:
PHOTO TOUR: Presidential Campaign Vehicles Over The Years (link)
Federal Money Could Stave Off Dulles Toll Road Toll Hike — If the Loan Comes Through (link)
Transportation and Tech Intersect as UN General Assembly Gridlock Hits NYC (link)
PHOTOS: Space Shuttle Endeavour Prepares for Final Flight to Los Angeles (link)

Streetcar tracks are being installed in Tucson (photo courtesy of Downtown Tucsonan's FB page)

Pedestrian deaths are up 84% in the Las Vegas valley area. (KLAS)

The Endeavour is en route to Los Angeles (NPR). Pre-launch pictures here; more later today.

On Thursday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold its third hearing into Amtrak, entitled "Examining 41 Years of Taxpayer Subsidies." (link)

Tucson's streetcar system is under construction, and the city's bicyclists are involved with its planning and implementation. (KVOA)

Tens of thousands of California schoolchildren ride aging school buses that emit harmful pollutants, an analysis of state data shows. (California Watch)

Chicago's BRT service will premiere in November, and it has a name: the Jeffery Jump. (Chicago Sun Times)

Residents of a Baltimore neighborhood of Patterson Park are fighting a city plan to add a paved road and 100 parking spaces inside the park. (Baltimore Sun)

So-called "subway grinders" may be labeled a sex offenders in New York. (CBS New York)

Oil prices plunged earlier this week -- the question is why. (Marketplace)

These are the days of forgiveness for people who park on New York City's streets. (New York Times)

Speaking of Rosh Hashanah: DC Metro's plans for a fare card giveaway conflicted with the Jewish New Year and will be rescheduled. (DCist)

On TN's Tumblr: two New Yorkers prepare to join in holy matrimony -- and commemorate the event with a poster inspired by the MTA's subway service change signage.

Top stories on TN:
Gentrification and Transportation in Washington: Part II of a Special Report (link)
Could San Francisco Become the Next Manhattan? (link)
Korean Gangnam Rap Vid — NYC Subway Remix Style (link)

A new elevator under wraps at NYC's Broadway-Lafayette subway station (photo by Kate Hinds)

For the first time in more than a decade, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency released a report on the on-time arrival rate of its buses and trains without inflating the numbers. (Bay Citizen)

Potential bike share vendors showed off their wares in San Diego, where they are competing for that city's bike share contract.  (NBC San Diego)

CAPS LOCK, sports, and subways: the epic tweets of NY MTA chief Joe Lhota. (New York Times)   Sample tweet: INEED SPELL CHECK SUBAY=SUBWAY RT

The Canadian Auto Workers union reached a deal with Ford, averting a strike. (Wall Street Journal)

They don't buy 'em like that anymore: the share of new cars purchased by those aged 18-34 dropped 30% in the last five years. (CNNMoney)

Flight delays soared in July: during the height of the summer travel season, the number of long delays involving planes stuck on airport tarmacs was more than the previous eight months combined. One cause: severe thunderstorms near Chicago O'Hare. (AP via Crain's NY)

The New York State DOT is planning more safety upgrades for Long Island's Hempstead Turnpike, named the NYC region's most deadly road for pedestrians by a local advocacy group. (TSTC)

Ingredients for Los Angeles's burgeoning transit greatness: a ballot initiative, a pro-transit mayor, and a desire for growth. (Slate)

A former engineer with the New Jersey state DOT admitted to taking bribes from contractors. (The Record)

Massachusetts is preparing to take over 45 miles of the rail lines between Worcester and Boston next month to allow a major increase in commuter rail service. (Telegram)

Peer-to-peer bikeshare, via online marketplace Spinlister, is being tested in San Francisco and New York. (Good)

How will the five-story tall space shuttle Endeavour navigate the streets of Los Angeles? Very, very slowly. As in 'one-mile-per-hour' slowly. (NPR)

On our Tumblr page: yes, that is the Pony Dance you're seeing on the #1 train. Video here.

How to know you're a transit nut: your first impression upon seeing the video for the Korean pop song/brain worm known as "Gangnam Style" is "wow, the Seoul subway sure looks clean."

The song -- by the rapper known as PSY -- was highlighted this weekend on both NPR and Saturday Night Live. It has become the first Korean pop song to top the U.S. iTunes chart, in no small part because of the absurdly lavish dance scenes scattered around city settings, including a love scene in the sparklingly clean Seoul subway system. But now it has really arrived: a parody of the video, partially set in the New York City subway, is making the internet rounds.

But back to first impressions: what do you think? We haven't ridden the subway in Seoul -- although we watch with great interest its creative ad campaigns. In this comparison of New York's 1 train and a Seoul subway car, we don't think the #1 fares too badly.

Guess which subway car belongs to NYC.

Side note: we feel confident predicting that the original "Gangnam Style" video will spawn the hot Halloween costume this year. You heard it here first.

That, or the Danish "cool bus driver" from the most heroic public transit ad ever.

Top stories on TN:
NYC’s Disabled Can Now Call A Cab Without Wave Or Whistle (link)
U.S. DOT Gives $60 Million to Clean Energy Transit Projects (link)
Just Try to Find a More Heroic Ad for Public Transport than This (link)

(image by brianc via flickr)

Planners are busy remapping many of the biggest bus routes in Fairfax County as the Silver Line looms. (Washington Post)

The U.S. Treasury Department is resisting a push by General Motors to sell the government's entire stake in the auto maker. (Wall Street Journal)

The U.S. will file a W.T.O. case against China over cars. (New York Times)

Now it can be told: New York City's long-awaited subway transfer between the Broadway-Lafayette IND and the uptown 6 at Bleecker Street will open later this month. (2nd Ave Sagas)

Meanwhile, fare hikes will likely come to NYC next year, and here's what they could look like. (NY Daily News)

More bicyclists on Philadelphia streets means fewer accidents, which could create momentum. "If more biking means safer biking, safer biking is likely to produce more biking." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

How much should it cost to charge an electric car? The market is wrestling with that question, but one thing is clear: "free is just not a sustainable model." (Wall Street Journal)

India will begin constructing the country's first high-speed rail line next year. (Hindustani Times)

Car sharing is taking off in San Francisco, but there are a few bumps in the road. (San Francisco Chronicle)

A Holocaust survivor was killed by a parking car in Brooklyn. (NY1)

Pedestrian and motorcycle fatalities are on the rise in Nebraska and Iowa. (Omaha.com)

New York Daily News op-ed: before the city's bike share opens, "bike paths need to flow like bloodstreams: We need networks, not snippets." Author: Norman Steisel, who is suing the city over a Brooklyn bike lane.

A Glasgow subway station is getting a new mural. (BBC)

She's a supermodel! She's pregnant! She's married to an NFL star! And she bikes! (Daily Mail)

On our Tumblr page: it's pedestrian vs. pedestrian in a video game of Streetpong -- played while waiting for the light to change. Video here.

Top stories on TN:
PICS: Proposed Lowline Underground Park Debuts “Solar Harvesters” for Subterranean Photosynthesis (link)
Back Story: How San Francisco’s Market Place Came to Be (link)
DC “Pioneer” in Walkable, Transit-Friendly Neighborhoods (link)

Yes, this once roamed San Francisco. (Image courtesy of Curbed SF)

Major fossil fuel companies are financing an ad campaign to defeat President Obama, while his former allies in promoting wind and solar power are sitting this one out.  (New York Times)

Atlanta's transit agency is being criticized for being secretive about the process for choosing the next MARTA head. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

A woolly mammoth tooth and jaw were uncovered during construction of San Francisco's Transbay Terminal. Age: approximately 10,000 years old. (Bay Citizen)

Transpo wishlist items for Rockland County (NY) residents: mass transit across a new Tappan Zee Bridge, resurrect the West Shore Line, and more bike lanes. (Journal News)

Blasting on NYC's Second Avenue Subway construction site resumes today after last month's incident. (WNYC)

British Columbia's helmet law could hamper use of Vancouver's planned bike share program. (Globe and Mail)

High schools across the country are requiring safety classes for students who want to park at the school. "Every day, I've got the largest group of at-risk drivers in this county in my parking lot," said one principal. "I'd like to think that they've been taught at least once what to do and not do behind the wheel." (USA Today)

Democrats and Republicans pedaled "bike buses" to both conventions. "The love of self-propulsion crosses all party lines." (FastCoExist)

The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia for denying a KKK group’s application to adopt a one-mile stretch of road as part of the Adopt-a-Highway program. (WXIA)

Career advice: don't get drunk at a Fashion Week party and speak in a vulgar fashion to women, especially those who write for Gawker, because you will be fired from your job at the Port Authority. (Wall Street Journal)

Could London get elevated (and tolled) bike lanes? (FastCoExist; video)

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Top stories on TN:
NYC Straphangers Could Lose Last Bit Of Bonus On A Multi-Ride Metrocard (link)
Interview: Space Elevators Inch Closer to Reality (link)
The Transportation System Chicago Never Got (link)
Deal on 9/11 Museum Reduces — But Doesn’t Eliminate — Port Authority’s Financial Exposure (link)
Lawsuit Says DC Airports Authority Can’t Raise Tolls To Pay for Rail (link)
HUD Secretary Highlights Central Florida Commuter Line as Sprawl Fighter — and Economic Driver (link)

Planes at Newark Airport (photo by George Wesley and Bonita Dannells via flickr)

The NextGen air traffic control system is behind schedule and over budget -- making airlines wary about paying their share of the costs. (Washington Post)

And: half of the nation's airport delays can be traced to the New York-New Jersey-Philadelphia airspace. (Star Ledger)

Vancouver's proposed public bike-share program will start with 125 stations and 1,500 bikes. (Vancouver Sun)

Survey says: Americans want more public transit -- they just don't want to pay for it through taxes. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Thursday protest alert: activists say Los Angeles County Metro is pushing out working class people and small business owners as the transportation agency develops land. (KPCC)

Ten more retired Long Island Rail Road workers have been charged with falsely claiming to be disabled so they could obtain federal disability pensions. (New York Times)

Should bicyclists have to pay to get on a Key Biscayne causeway? One politician says yes; others are not so sure. (NBC Miami)

Chicago's transit board approved a "de-crowding" plan, despite howls of protests over service cuts. (Chicago Tribune)

Canadian auto workers are preparing to go on strike. (Detroit Free Press)

Photos: the space shuttle Endeavour is preparing for its final journey to the West Coast. (Los Angeles Times)

China will start selling rail tickets via smartphone. (Xinhua)

More than 50 Lukoil gas stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania jacked up prices to more than $8 a gallon as part of a protest. (AP via NY Daily News)

A guide to turning subway crushes into your "street sweetheart." Tip: those sound-leaking headphones can work to your advantage! (NYU Local)

Singapore is ramping up bus service -- and many new lines will run parallel to rail. (Channel News Asia)

Get a jump on your holiday shopping: Neiman Marcus will be selling a special edition John Varvatos Chrysler 300C. (Marketplace)

Neon colors are back in style: it's Fashion Week on TN's Tumblr page.

Proposed Wells Street Subway

WBEZ has taken a deep dive into Chicago's transportation history and uncovered some items that were once on the city's wish list.

• in the 1950s, the city considered tearing down the Loop "L" because it was thought the  "iron girdle" was retarding the expansion of the central business district

• a grade-level rail line (Ravenswood) was going to be lowered into an open "cut" in the ground

• the west leg of the Red Line -- which now terminates at 95th Street -- was supposed to go to 119th Street

More pictures -- and the story -- can be found here: Part I; Part II; Part III

Want to see more transit what-ifs? Check out New York's lost subways.

Top stories on TN:
Rethinking San Francisco’s Main Drag (link)
Maryland County Debates Joining DC’s Bike Share Program (link)
This is What Air Pollution Sounds Like (link)
PHOTOS: Waiting for a Train, Montana-Style (link)

(photo by Kate Hinds)

House Republicans at hearing: Amtrak should privatize more and "needs to get out of the commuter rail business." (The Hill)

Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Corrine Brown says holding an Amtrak-bashing hearing on 9/11 was "insulting." (Politico)

Georgia's Cobb County unveiled a plan for high-capacity bus service into Atlanta. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

For two decades, one of the most commonly used type of rail tanker has been allowed to haul hazardous liquids even though transportation officials were aware of a dangerous design flaw "that almost guarantees the car will tear open in an accident, potentially spilling cargo that could catch fire, explode or contaminate the environment." (AP via Bloomberg)

Gallery: eleven Seattle intersections that are dangerous for pedestrians. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Four of the five members of the Massachusetts state transportation board dismissed by Governor Deval Patrick last month have been appointed to a new, larger board charged with overseeing state highways and public transportation. (Boston Globe)

Bike sharing comes to Philadelphia. Kind of. If you squint and look at it sideways. (Philadelphia Daily News)

Traffic noise can take a toll on health. (NPR)

From wedding dresses to ruby slippers: a peek inside Long Island Rail Road's lost and found. "A Spider-Man backpack sat near a Louis Vuitton handbag, not far from a pink razor scooter, a hookah pipe and an oversized salad bowl." (DNA Info)

Passengers love New York's East River Ferry, but doubts remain about its long-term viability. (New York Times)

You can't tip this: check out the world’s first gyroscopically stabilized, two-wheeled all-electric motorcycle-esque vehicle. (TechCrunch)

Those were 25 tough miles: the man who used a Capital Bikeshare bike to compete in a DC triathlon tells all. "If I said it was a breeze, I'd be a liar. Whoever said that trail was flat, should try riding it on a Bikeshare." (DCist)

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Oil pump near Taft, California (photo by Anna Conti via flickr)

Researchers in California have translated air pollution into futuristic soundscapes.

The website Atlantic Cities reports that scientists at University of California-Berkeley collected air samples from different locations across the state, then assigned tones to the different chemicals they found.

The authors write: "You can actually hear the difference between the toxic air of a truck tunnel (clogged with diesel hydrocarbons and carcinogenic particulate matter) and the fragrant air of the High Sierras."

Give it a listen.

According to the researchers, Bakersfield -- a town situated in California's Central Valley -- sounds a lot like Oakland's Caldecott Tunnel.  This is "the result of fresh hydrocarbons from a main trucking highway and oil and gas fields surrounding the sampling site."

Despite decades of progress, Southern Californians are among those at highest risk of death due to air pollution. The American Lung Association gives failing grades to more than half of California's counties.

Read more over at Atlantic Cities.

Top stories on TN:
Special Report: How Transit Is Shaping the Gentrification of D.C., Part 1 (link)
Bidding “Irregularities” Delay D.C. Taxi Upgrade (link)
Amtrak On Track for All-Time Ridership Record (link)

Constructing the WTC transportation hub (photo by Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

Photos of the transformation of the World Trade Center site. (WNYC)

Warning to Amtrak from Mitt Romney and Republicans: You're on your own. (AP)

Meanwhile, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing today on "the high cost of Amtrak's monopoly mentality." (link)

New York Times: reckless drivers who hit people face few penalties in New York. (link)  Read TN's investigation "Killed While Cycling: Why So Few Fatal Bike Crashes Lead to Arrest in NYC" here.

Toll cheats in Maryland have cost the state millions in lost revenue, but the state isn't going after them. (Washington Post)

Traffic congestion and bad driving continues to plague Cairo. One root cause: "Egyptians learn to drive from friends or family...and licenses are generally awarded without a road test." (New York Times)

Bicycling in China: not for the fainthearted. "Cars are not scared of you, they don't care about the traffic lights. Those riding the electronic bikes too. Almost every day I see a traffic accident. It is also difficult to find a place to park a bike because it is easy for it to be stolen," said one Shanghai resident. (Guardian)

Bay Area bus company AC Transit said it invalidated a $13 million contract after acknowledging the company had financial ties to two members of its board of directors. (The Bay Citizen)

Ridership is up on Detroit buses since a private company took over, but lateness still plagues the system. (Detroit Free Press)

Southern California's commuter rail, Metrolink, is previewing the country's first $200 million crash prevention system known as "positive train control technology." (Los Angeles Times)

A longshoreman strike could cost the New York-New Jersey region $136 million a week in personal income and another $110 million in economic output. (Star Ledger)

A local politician wants to name one of the Staten Island ferries after former NYC mayor Rudolph Giuliani. (DNA Info)

(photo by Aaron Hockley via flickr)

Amtrak had its single best month ever this July, and the railroad says when it closes the books on September, it will have set ridership records for each of the last 12 months.

Joe Boardman, Amtrak's CEO, said in a statement Monday that "the demand to travel by Amtrak is strong, growing and undeniable" and that the railroad is experiencing "improved management and financial health.”

The railroad says it's on track to break last year's record of 30.2 million passengers.

Read Amtrak's press release here.

Northeast Corridor passenger? New York commuter?  Read TN's tips on how to get the most out of Penn Station here.

Top stories on TN:
In Texas It Will Soon Be Legal to Drive at the Wind Speed of a Category 1 Hurricane (link)
Pink Fire Trucks Stop In Montana (link)
Proposed Silver Line Toll Hike Vexes Virginians (link)

New York vs. Chicago (image courtesy of Chicago Tribune)

Bench vs. bucket? Chicago's new trains have scoop seats -- but according to New York's MTA, passengers prefer bench, because scoop seats force "people to squeeze or leave an empty seat." (Chicago Tribune)

New York State has requested a $2.9 billion loan from the federal government to construct the new Tappan Zee Bridge. (Journal News)

Over the past 18 months, city of Rochester employees have committed at least 119 red light violations while driving city vehicles -- but they won't have to pay. (Democrat and Chronicle)

Pedestrian fatalities are rising sharply in Minnesota. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Car wash workers in Queens voted to unionize. (New York Times)
To learn more about the conditions car wash workers say they work in, read TN's story here.

Cars that run on natural gas will get a leg up in meeting new fuel economy standards. (Politico)

An Upper East Side resident fought for years to get a traffic signal on his block -- not just a pedestrian crossing sign that has "one of those nice pictures that means ‘floor it.’” (New York Times)

Maryland commuters turn their train rides into a "high-speed happy hour." (Washington Post)

How Portland (OR) became bike paradise: "The city is so bike-friendly that when auto club AAA sought suggestions from Portlanders, roadside service for bicycles was one of the biggest requests." (USA Today)

Cycling in Toronto: "how I broke my teeth and how it could all be different." (Toronto Star)

The Los Angeles Auto Show is holding a competition to design the police car of the future. (Detroit Free Press)

Happy 40th birthday, BART. (Mercury News)

Top stories on TN:
New York City Council Debates How to Rein in Rogue Commercial Cyclists (link)
Rail Hauls One Million of Barrels of Oil A Day From North Dakota’s Oil Fields (link)
The Bailout: By The Actual Numbers (link)

No, you can't use Uber to hail this. (photo by Caitlyn Kim/WNYC)

New York City says taxi hailing apps aren't allowed -- for now. (New York Times)

You can drive 85: a 41-mile stretch of a toll road in Texas will soon have the fastest speed limit in the country. (Houston Chronicle)

In New Jersey, there's been no progress to end a dispute over a plan to issue federally compliant driver’s licenses, and a court hearing on the matter is looming. (Asbury Park Press)

A plan to implement bus rapid transit in Nashville is facing delays. (The Tennessean)

The TSA has 18 new Twitter accounts. (Security Management)

The head of Boston's transit system will fly to Seoul this weekend to grill executives of a South Korean company that has fallen two years behind on contract to build commuter rail coaches for the T. (Boston Globe)

Ford is moving ahead on a plan to introduce more models into Europe -- including the iconic Mustang. (Marketplace)

An electric truck assembly plant in the Bronx will begin producing vehicles by the end of the year. (Crain's New York)

Politico opinion: want to understand the difference between Obama and Romney? Check out their differing views on fuel efficiency standards.

A group of New Haven residents crowdsourced a bench so they'd have a place to sit while waiting for the bus. (New Haven Independent)

French automaker Renault donated two electric cars to Pope Benedict XVI. (Washington Post)

Portland's bike rental shops are fretting about the financial impact of bike share. (Oregonlive.com)

Florida's energy regulators are trying to get a handle on electric cars. (WFSU)

Check out these photos of the New York City subway system from the 1980s. (Daily Beast)

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm brought the DNC to its feet with her defense of the auto bailout -- and the use of a lot of car metaphors. Hashtag of the day: #granholming. (TPM)

A NYC DOT staffer handing out examples of educational material to members of the New York City Council (photo by Kate Hinds)

Businesses should be financially liable if their delivery people disobey cycling rules.

That's a goal of a package of four bills under discussion in the New York City Council. The legislation aims to educate commercial cyclists, as well and put teeth into rules that are already on the books. One of the bills would give the Department of Transportation the authority to issue civil fines to employers who don't post signs in the workplace about traffic laws, or fail to provide lights, helmets, bells and vests to their delivery people.

Jimmy Vacca, who chairs the council's transportation committee, said one of the main goals of the legislation is to take some of the burden off of the NYPD. "The New York City Police Department has been asked to do more with less for long enough," he said, "and commercial cycling enforcement in that agency has not been a priority."

The legislation piggybacks on a campaign currently underway in the DOT. This summer, the agency created a six-person unit tasked with educating businesses about commercial cycling rules. "This unit has already gone door-to-door to over 1,350 businesses," said Kate Slevin, an assistant commissioner for the NYC DOT, at a City Council hearing on Thursday. Its efforts are focused on Manhattan's restaurant-heavy West Side right now; it will expand to the East Side, as well as Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood, by the end of this year.

Enforcement starts in January, when the unit's inspectors will begin issuing $100 tickets to businesses that aren't in compliance.

But whether a six-person unit can ensure that thousands of businesses are obeying the law is a big concern of the council -- not to mention the fact that moving violations are still under the purview of the NYPD.

"The extent of the problem that I see is tremendous," Vacca said, citing complaints about delivery people riding on sidewalks or against traffic. "I want to make sure that this unit has enough people in it to make everyone understand that the days of yesterday are gone."

He said he agreed with an idea that Council Member Peter Koo had floated earlier in the hearing about using the city's traffic agents to help enforce the rules. "What are they trained to do, just give summonses to people? ... It's an extension of their existing responsibility."

Sue Petito, a lawyer for the NYPD, tried to put the kibosh on that line of thinking. "It's a different body of laws and regulations," she said, "completely different from what their current mandate is."

Meanwhile, Robert Bookman of the New York City Hospitality Group said he wanted the council to cut restaurant owners some slack. "I just can't understand the logic of why an employer should get a summons for an employee who is provided with a helmet who chooses not to wear it," he said.

A spokesperson for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said her office was reviewing the legislation and the findings from today's hearing.

(Minutes from the meeting can be found here. Read the legislation on the City Council's website.)

Top stories on  TN:
NASA’s Historic Giant Crawler Gets a Tune Up for Modern Times (link)
NY Legislature Considers 45% Toll Hike for Trucks (link)
Hacker Charity Helps Detroit Buses Take Tech Leap: Real Time Arrival Info by Text (link)
Will This DC Bridge Become a Park? (link)

Charlotte's light rail system (photo courtesy of The Brian Lehrer Show/WNYC)

China has approved 25 urban subway and rail projects. "Forty Chinese cities will have subway systems by 2020, bringing the total track length to 7,000 km, 4.3 times the current length." (Xinhua)

As the economy rebounds, so does traffic in the Bay Area. (Silicon Valley Mercury News)

Chicago's pedestrian safety plan -- which aims to end all pedestrian deaths over the next decade -- is now officially in effect. (Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun)

Big changes are afoot for Seattle's bus system, and the biggest one is the end of its 40 year downtown "ride free" zone. (Seattle PI)

Connected vehicles could triple highway capacity, says a new study. (NBC News)

Nelson Mandela's daughter is fronting a new United Nations campaign to highlight the problems of road safety. "We lose 1,000 children a day in road deaths, and the highest killer of children above the age of 10, worldwide, is road accidents,” said Zenani Zindzi. (AP via Washington Post)

Charlotte's light rail system is helping convention goers avoid the bus woes that plagued Tampa. (Tampa Bay  Times)

California's bullet train is better for the environment than cars or flying, says a UCB study. (East Bay Express)

Don't look for US DOT head Ray LaHood at the Democratic National Convention. (The Hill)

Hoboken is mulling over two very different plans to develop NJ Transit's 52-acre space downtown. (Jersey Journal)

Letter to the editor from a baseball fan: if the Orioles want more people to attend games, they need better public transportation. (Baltimore Sun)

An illustration for a park proposed for Washington's old 11th Street Bridge. If realized, the park would span the Anacostia River, linking the Capitol Hill neighborhood with lower-income Anacostia. (Ed Estes/Courtesy of D.C. Office of Planning)

A plan to turn DC's old 11th Street Bridge into a pedestrian park is gaining traction. "What we're proposing to do is to transform this old freeway into a place of active recreation," says one supporter. The city of D.C. and some locals are on board with the idea, but worries about gentrification -- and how to pay for the project -- are hurdles that must be dealt with.

Read more -- and hear the story -- at NPR.

Top stories on TN:
Big Three Automakers Post Double-Digit Sales Gains (link)
Arlington Schools Not Backing Down On New Busing Rules (link)

Hoboken Terminal (photo by JJ Hall via flickr)

Los Angeles is chopping down 400 trees to make way for the space shuttle Endeavour's final journey. The California Science Center says it will replant double what it's cutting down. (Los Angeles Times)

Taxi-hailing app Uber is coming to New York City -- but it may not be legal. (New York Times)  And other cities have the same issue --read Transpo Nation's earlier coverage of DC's Uber battle here.

Meanwhile, two other taxi hailing apps are vexing cab companies in San Francisco. (Bay Citizen)

Moving crude oil through the U.S. often involves aging pipelines -- a particularly pertinent issue in Texas. (State Impact)

Wisconsin's DOT was in violation of federal civil rights rules for years. Not only did the agency not have a plan for complying with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but it has also been ignoring requirements to gather data about the impact of their actions on minorities. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) Want to learn more about civil rights and transit? Give a listen to the Transpo Nation documentary "Back of the Bus: Mass Transit, Race and Inequality."

GM is doing better -- but so is its competition. So is 'better' good enough? (NPR)

Real-time bus arrival information is now available in Detroit. (Detroit Free Press)

Are falling oil prices being fairly passed on to consumers in the U.K.? England's Office of Fair Trading is launching an investigation to see if competition is being curtailed. (BBC)

NJ Transit's plan for developing Hoboken Terminal will be presented to that city's council tonight. "Proposed for the Hoboken Terminal’s surroundings is a commercial office building that would fund the reconstruction of NJ Transit’s antiquated bus terminal, create new open spaces and a marketplace, improve pedestrian access and provide new bicycle pathways and storage." (Star Ledger)

Boston's subway system is testing new biologic agent detectors. (AP via Boston.com)

Is the country's largest food distribution center going to be poached by New Jersey? The deadline for exclusive negotiations between New York City and the Hunts Point market has passed. (Crain's New York)

Growing numbers of Orlando employers are telling workers to stop texting while driving, even though the Florida Legislature has failed to outlaw the practice. (Orlando Sentinel)

Detroit, c'est nous: new film “Detropia” chronicles the frustration of the city and how what is happening in Detroit is a reflection of the rest of the United States. (Marketplace; trailer here.)

The Staten Island Advance is skeptical about the borough's new rapid bus service and wonders if the express buses will get stuck behind local ones.

The New York Daily News frets about bicycles on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Would no one miss Penn Station if it disappeared? (New York Times) But until that day comes, here are some Transpo Nation tips for surviving it.

GRAPHIC: how do driverless cars actually work? Short, non-visual answer: GPS, tachometers, altimeters, gyroscopes, and something called LIDAR. (Economist)

Political reporters, stop complaining about covering the presidential race. You could be assigned to the transportation beat. (Washington Post; opinion)