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Reagan National Airport, Washington, DC (photo by MoHotta18 via Flickr)

(Washington, DC -- Jim Hilgen, WAMU) In the days after the 9/11 attacks, one of the more eerie aspects of life across the country was the lack of airplanes roaring overhead. Most airports were shut down for two days. But Reagan National Airport, serving Washington, D.C. was closed for more than three weeks.

Where were you on the morning of September 11^th, 2001? For Chris Brown the answer is easy. He was at work, in the midst of a routine day as manager of Reagan National Airport. Brown recalls thinking the weather in New York must have been pretty bad when he was told a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Shortly afterward he saw things in a different light.

“When I saw the video my conclusion was that this was a crime, and I told my assistant, “We’re in this.” recalls Brown.

While his work as airport manager didn’t allow him much time for personal reflection, he and his staff knew they were working through a day to remember.

After Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, Brown went about the work of securing the airport…a task complicated by the sight of burning paper from the smoke plume out of the Pentagon landing on the airport, and what he refers to as “self-evacuation” which resulted in vehicles being abandoned with motors running, shops left with full cash registers and restaurant ovens still on.

Most airports across the country were back in business by week’s end, but Reagan remained idle for 23 days. Brown attributes that lengthy closure to federal officials’ fears that the airport’s proximity to the nation’s capital posed a continuing threat. In his efforts to get Reagan up and running he relied, in part on his military experience as a former Navy pilot.

“There are things you can do,” Brown recalls saying, “ so we began to illustrate those in terms of how can we get commercial aircraft to behave in a way that authenticates and confirms who they are, and what they’re doing in a way that complies with all the safety requirements.”

Among the many security measures established since 9/11, Brown believes the installation of hardened cockpit doors has been most effective tool in keeping air travelers safe.

On the concourse at Reagan these days, as with any airport, people pass the time by reading, checking their e-mail, shopping, or eating. Craig Southworth is waiting for a flight to take him home to Utah. Even with the anniversary of the terror attacks approaching, he feels secure taking to the skies. As for the need to arrive early to clear security hurdles, Southworth takes that in stride.

Not so, says Wilson Goodwin of Las Vegas. He believes randomly singling out unlikely suspects is a waste of time, energy and money.

“I think some of the methods they’re going to are too extreme,” said Goodwin, “Unfortunately, I would say profiling would be better than what they are doing.”

But Chris Brown, who now manages Dulles Airport, says current security measures aren’t going anywhere., adding that he’s satisfied those measures are sufficient to ward off future threats.

“Is it enough?” asks Brown. He answers that,,” it’s certainly enough for my family. I continue to fly, and is it anything guaranteed? No!”

On Sunday, September 11, 2011, Brown will be at work marking the moment when, 10 years ago, American travel changed forever.

This satellite image shows how the Walter Reed Campus will be divided between the District of Columbia (purple) and the State Department (yellow). The District's 67-acre portion includes both the old and new hospital buildings. (Image courtesy of DC Planning and Economic Development Office)

(Sabri Ben-Achour, Washington, DC - WAMU) The Walter Reed Army Medical Center has a storied past. It has been the country's leading Army hospital for more than 100 years, sitting on a complex that includes a Civil War battlefield. There was a time when 16,000 patients a year sought treatment for wounds of war or illness.

By the end of August, all of the patients and doctors will have left, moved to Bethesda and Fort Belvoir as the Army consolidates its bases. And as one era closes, another opens: Washington, D.C., may be left with nearly 70 acres of prime real estate. Says one official:  "There's a chance now to revive a Main Street, which is Georgia Avenue, which has for years been suffering from decay." All eyes are on this space, to see whether the disappearance of a 100-year-old place of healing will usher in an urban rebirth — or leave a scar.

Listen to the story at NPR.

(Colby Hamilton -- New York, NY - The Empire) Jay Walder’s resignation as head of the NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority last month caught city and state officials totally by surprise. The man that had guided the transit agency through the fiscal crisis fallout by implementing harsh but largely unavoidable cutbacks—fare hikes, and budget gouging—was leaving. He’s taking a gig in Hong Kong that pays three times as much, running a system that is posting sizable profits.

A few days later, Walder and the rest of the MTA board dropped the latest budget numbers on riders. The agency’s five-year capital program—the money pool that pays for big projects like the 2nd Avenue subway line and the 7 train extension, as well as overall maintenance—was underfunded by $9 billion for the final three years. The agency is adding a fare hike in 2015, on top of the scheduled fare increase next year. It also wants to borrow $6.9 billion to help cover these costs.

This is a sorry song that New York straphangers have been listening to for years now. The public response was less of an outrage than an exhausted sigh. Given the perennial state of crises the MTA finds itself in, and the continued financial burdens being passed along to riders, it’s worth remembering the immortal words of David Byrne: “You may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’”

How DID we get here?

There are many factors that have led to the abysmal fiscal situation of the MTA. Tax receipts vanishing in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis didn’t help. Neither does Albany legislators’ stealing funds from the agency to pay for other things. The agency’s debt obligations alone take 20 cents from every dollar it pulls in.

Likewise, many people could—and should—be held responsible, from elected officials to appointed board members, unions to business leaders. But out of this pool of transit tragedy one person bears a disproportionate responsibility for the current mess the nation’s largest public transit system is in.

That person is former Governor George Pataki.

Understanding how the Pataki administration is culpable for today’s problems requires heading back to the beginning of 1980. To be fair to the Pataki people, the former governor was in many ways just following the trail blazed by his predecessors. For the 20 years prior, the MTA had borrowed to finance its upkeep and improvement, a decision that saved the system. But what started as a fiscal pill to quiet the immediate pain of a system nearing collapse turned into a budget addiction that has torn the agency apart.

For more, go to this story on WNYC's Empire blog and continue reading after subhead, "An Initial Rescue."

Gridlock traffic backing up in downtown DC after Tuesday's earthquake (photo by Elliott Francis)

(Diane Hodges and Markette Smith, Washington, DC - WAMU) Tuesday's earthquake triggered some of the worst traffic jams since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the massive traffic problems have prompted questions about the way District officials handled the situation.

Many commuters sat in their cars for hours, trying to get home after the earthquake ended. Others crowded in train and Metro stations, after some lines were temporarily shut down while crews inspected lines.

John Townsend of AAA Mid-Atlantic said the panicked reactions only made the mess worse. "Although people had been assured that their buildings were safe and sound," he said, "most peopled decided to head for the exits at 3 o'clock."

He faulted D.C. officials for not anticipating the reaction and giving workers more direction -- more quickly.

"They didn't plan for a public panic and that's exactly what happened," he said. "There should have been greater communication."

Townsend said the District Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security have set up 25 evacuation routes out of the city, but many people don't know where they are. Commuters should find the one nearest to their offices, so they'll be ready for the next emergency. There are "E-route" signs placed around the city.

One important fact: during an emergency evacuation, Pennsylvania Avenue divides the city between North and South and no vehicles are allowed to cross any part of the road.

You can listen to this story on WAMU.

2nd Avenue subway tunnel (photo by Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

(Ilya Marritz, New York, NY -- WNYC) On the East Side of Manhattan, the Second Avenue Subway is generating huge volumes of ground up rock. There’s a market for this rubble, but moving and selling it can be a financially risky business.

Since last spring, a giant drill bit has been pushing south from 96th Street, chewing through solid bedrock. Project manager Alaeden Jlelaty said this rock, called Manhattan schist, is twice as hard as concrete.

“Yet you can see how the machine carves it like a piece of cake,” Jlelaty said, touching the wall of the new southbound tunnel.

Well, where there is cake, there are crumbs. And these stone crumbs pile up fast. The contractor, Skanska, signed an agreement with the MTA to take ownership of the rock, and move it off site. So every day, trucks line up on Second Avenue, and remove 200 loads flaky gray rock. Many of these trucks dump the rock in a lot in Newark, New Jersey, near the airport.

Second Avenue subway tunnel rocks (images by Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

At Armored Recycling, George Coyne turns "mole rock" into something builders want. He does this by running it through a machine with a fearsome name: the jaw crusher. A conveyor belt lifts rubble into the crusher, which grinds and then sifts the rock, spitting it out into three piles: ½ inch, 3/4 inch, and 3-inch plus.

Coyne, a retired New York City police officer, is a big promoter of mole rock as building material. A particular selling point is the fact that the rock is uncontaminated. In fact, humans have never laid eyes on it before. “It's proven. It's versatile. It's inexpensive. It's beneficial. So there's a lot of pluses to using this,” Coyne said.

Coyne has sold 70,000 tons of mole rock to St. Peter’s College, a Jersey City school that’s building new dormitories. Another big customer is a contractor doing brownfields cleanup around northern New Jersey. Because this material doesn’t have far to travel, it’s cheap.

“This product sells for about $11 a ton. That same material from a quarry would probably cost $26 a ton,” Coyne said.

Unfortunately for Coyne, the excavation of the new subway line coincides with a bad moment for the construction industry. While Second Avenue is producing 5,000 tons of rock a day, Coyne only has enough demand to take 1,000 to 2,000 tons daily.

But the middleman who really feels the squeeze is Richard Bassi, the subcontractor responsible for trucking the mole rock offsite.

“It’s relentless the way the material comes out nonstop,” Bassi said. “There’s days that I lost money trucking it, but as a contractor I just felt, I can’t stop and shut them down”

For Bassi, every day is a calculated bet – a bet he’ll spend less money disposing of the mole rock than he is paid for hauling it off site. It’s not a given. Depending on the day, the only buyers might be far away, which means higher costs in time and fuel. He might even have to go to a landfill.

When Bassi took on this challenge, he was hopeful that a major client would be EnCap, a company developing landfills in the Meadowlands into a golf course. But the start date on that project kept being postponed.

Then, in May, Bassi an unusual offer came in: a golf course in the Bronx being built by the Parks Department wanted the rock. The catch: they had no money to pay for it.

“It didn’t sound good to me because obviously we need to be paid for the material,” Bassi said.

But on reflection, Bassi realized delivering to the Ferry Point Golf Course could eliminate the uncertainty about finding a disposal site. And because it’s only an 11-mile drive from Second Avenue, it would also reduce trucking costs.

“Instead of doing three loads to New Jersey to a spot I may be getting paid for trying to be profitable, if I could take five loads to Ferry Point, I could pay the trucks and still make something for myself,” Bassi said. Plus, he'd be helping the city with a worthwhile project.

Bassi is now delivering fully half of the Second Avenue mole rock to the Ferry Point Golf Course. When it’s built, the course will boast design by Jack Nicklaus, views of the New York skyline and pure Manhattan schist below the fairways and bunkers.

Excavations on Second Avenue continue through November of this year.

For more on this story -- including a slideshow of the Second Avenue subway construction -- go to WNYC. You can listen to the story below.

(New York, NY -- Mark Ovenden)  Standing outside the Penn Station of today is a somewhat depressing experience for a train geek.  Sure there’s some functional enough Amtrak awnings -- but they protrude from the corners of the somewhat drab, utilitarian 1960’s slab that replaced one of the architectural gems of the railway world - so it’s no great surprise I feel a little gutted looking up at the Madison Square Garden complex lamenting what once stood here.

[To listen to Ovenden's and Andrea Bernstein's tour of Penn Station, a related article, and to see a slide show of maps click here]

The station name comes from the almost mythic old American company, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the main competitor of the New York Central.  Grand Central (1871 - rebuilt: 1913) was the NYC’s answer to a terminal in Manhattan and the Penn had ambitions to bring their trains onto the island for years and outdo their rivals.

It was always going to be a tough call due to the almost insurmountable barrier of the mighty Hudson River between the mainland in New Jersey and the island of Manhattan,  But slowly technology for the tunneling and using electric trains began to emerge. Plans were announced as early as 1901 to take the PRR under the Hudson to a new grand terminus near to 34th Street.

Station architects McKim, Mead, and White conceived of a monumental construction covering two entire city blocks between 7th and 8th Avenues and 31st-33rd Streets. It was to be built in their favored fashion - the French/Belgian influenced Beaux-Arts style (think Paris Garnier - Opera House) with the platforms and tracks at a sunken lower level.

Building the two single track tunnels from Exchange Place in Jersey City began in June 1903, while four single-track tunnels were bored under the East River to link the PRR directly the Long Island Rail Road, via Queens.  The work beneath the rivers required the most advanced construction techniques of the day and was completed between1906 (Hudson tunnels) and 1908 (East River tunnels).

Work on the vast 8 acre site of Pennsylvania Station itself was begun in May 1904. Many of the architectural concepts were modeled on classic European landmarks; Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate inspired the two sheds of the Long Island and Pennsylvania lines. The gargantuan waiting room is said to have evoked Roman baths. The exterior was faced in a colonnade of Greek style Doric columns of pink granite. The mammoth glazed steel sheds allowed light to pour onto the concourses from above. The effect of the building upon approach was of power, grace and grandeur. From inside the feeling of standing in the largest covered space in the city was simply breathtaking.

The connection from the LIRR to the PRR via the magnificent Penn Station was opened in 1910 and became a crucial link in America’s inter-city network. But at a cost of $2.7 billion (at today’s prices) it came arguably a little too late to take full advantage of the boom in railway patronage.

For the research into my book “Railway Maps of the World” (published this summer), I acknowledge that the peak year for the US network was 1918 when track mileages reached 254,000 - forming easily the biggest rail network in the world. But despite having its busiest throughput during the years of the Second World War, rail use was in decline thanks to the increased use of the private car and the growth of the highways plus the speed and ease of air travel after the invention of the jet engine.

Penn Station was used less and less frequently.  At times of the day, it was almost empty.

By the 1950s rail was in serious free fall and the PRR sold “air-rights” for the space above its potentially lucrative real estate in midtown Manhattan.  A plan was announced in 1962 for a so called “Penn Plaza” and Madison Square Garden complex right over the tracks, which would require the complete demolition of the elegant terminal building (or “head-house”) plus the exquisite train sheds.  The entire lot was torn down from October 1963 and the massive “Pennsylvania Plaza complex” which includes the Madison Square Garden sports arena and a ‘modernized’ air-conditioned fully enclosed concourse opened in 1968 with the original tracks beneath.

The loss of the world class building at street-level of course caused local outrage and even an international outcry. The New York Times called it a “monumental act of vandalism against one of the largest and finest landmarks of its age” Incidentally, having clearly not learnt a single lesson from it’s wanton act of greedy decimation, the parent company of Grand Central, Penn Central, even sought to knock down that stunning building too! Luckily the courts rejected this barbaric act in 1978.

But all was not lost; a number of the angel and eagle statues from the original Penn Station plus some of the clocks were salvaged and dispersed to rail museums and public buildings around the world. And if you want a glimpse of what it might have felt like being in those imposing walls, you would do no better than take a trip to the Union Station in Ottawa (by rail of course), as this wonderful building, opened just a year after Penn, was also partially modeled on the Roman Baths of Caracalla.

For a companion article: "To the list of things not to like about Penn Station — the too-low ceilings, the lack of natural light, the unmemorable food — add this: no display map of Amtrak train routes.  From Penn Station, you can take the train to Montreal or Miami or Montana. But if you stand under the departure board, according to Railway Maps of the World author Mark Ovenden, “You can't see a map for love nor money..."

Click here the rest]

 

* Mark Ovenden is a freelance travel writer, broadcaster and author of books about railway design, architecture and cartography. His books include “Transit Maps of the World,” “Paris Underground: the maps, stations and design of the Metro” and . “Railway Maps of the World.”

photo by sciascia via Flickr

(Markette Smith -- Washington DC, WAMU) Members of Capital Bikeshare who don't have helmets could soon be getting them for free.

The District Department of Transportation plans to give away 500 helmets his fall. There are more than 1,000 bikes for rent in the D.C. area through the program, but riders who rent their wheels may not own a helmet. DC does not have a helmet law for cyclists over 16.

DDOT officials say they're doing the giveaway to encourage these riders to bike safely. Previously, members were offered a 10 percent discount on helmets at bike shops that partner with DDOT.

Cyclist Benjamin Crane thinks it's a good idea. "I'm a member. I wear a helmet. But a lot of them don't," he says. "Maybe it messes up your hair, maybe you don't own a bike so you haven't bought a helmet. I didn't buy a membership until I bought a helmet, because I know there's a lot of risk of brain injury, and I like my brain."

DDOT has said that they won't stop at 500 helmets for the giveaway, and that when they run out, they'll give away more.

You can listen to WAMU's story here.

(Photo: Beth Fertig)

Street Controversy

But any attempt to change the way the streets are used can be controversial, as the Department of Transportation already discovered with bike lanes and pedestrian plazas.

Six businesses applied to build pop-up cafes in SoHo and Greenwich Village this year, including Housing Works on Crosby Street. All but the one at Local were rejected by the community board, largely because neighbors thought the city was trying to bend the rules prohibiting sidewalk cafes on narrow streets.

"If you have a sidewalk café and move it two feet into the gutter, that’s still a sidewalk café – or else it’s a gutter café," said Sean Sweeney, executive director of the SoHo Alliance and a member of Community Board 2.

He said the neighborhood is already overwhelmed with tourists and sidewalk cafes on the commercial streets.

"Just anyone gathering for a few drinks after a dinner you get kind of loud," he said. "There’s no smoking any more, but just basically the noise, the garbage, the congestion. When you come out of your home do you really want to see a bunch of people hanging out there? That’s not what the average New Yorker wants in a residential neighborhood."

Similar complaints were heard in Turtle Bay, where another pop-up café opened on East 44th Street. There's also one in Cobble Hill, and another in the Financial District, where the first pop-up café opened last year.

A fifth pop-up was set to open outside O'Casey's in Midtown, but manager Hugh Ward said some Con Ed equipment is in the way. He said he's still hoping to open the cafe but "at the moment we're kind of on hold."

Community Support

Pop-up cafes have taken off in San Francisco in recent years. The city’s Department of Transportation allowed local businesses to submit proposals this past winter. It gave local community boards the power to reject them (unlike traditional sidewalk cafes, which merely get board oversight). Businesses must pay the full cost, which it says is averaging about $8,000 for supplies, construction and insurance.

Ian Dutton, a member of the transportation committee of Community Board 2, said the new Sullivan Street pop-up cafe is good for the neighborhood.

"I met dozens of neighbors I had never met before," he said. "And many of them are interested in getting more civically involved and never really knew where to turn. And it’s that sort of community activity that then leads to stronger, safer communities."

He said the only complaint he heard was from a woman who lost her regular parking spot.

The owners of Local said it's too soon to know if their pop-up has brought in more foot traffic since opening in mid-July. After all, they are hoping for more customers. But Craig Walker believes the city can sacrifice a few parking spots.

"If you look at it, in a half an hour, 15 people can sit here," he said. "Otherwise it would be one car sitting there for the whole day, a couple of days."

For the radio version of this story, and where to find pop-up cafes, click here.

(Kathleen Horan, WNYC -- New York) The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission’s recent monthly meeting was well attended at their new offices on Beaver Street in Lower Manhattan.Yellow cab drivers and others affiliated with the drivers’ group, the Taxi Worker’s Alliance, stood along the back wall of the hearing room closely monitoring the Commission’s discussion about possible rule changes regarding rooftop ads that can be seen affixed to the top of more than 8,000 yellow cabs.

Others in the industry were also accounted for: fleet owners, taxi leasing agents, livery base owners and others whose livelihoods are affected in one way or the other by the TLC.

Various stakeholders had received invites to stick around after the meeting for a reception celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the agency whose initials don’t actually abbreviate the words tender loving care.

Rather than a festive birthday party atmosphere, the meeting felt palpably tense. It was the first since the Bloomberg administration won support in Albany for legislation that would legalize street hails for specially permitted livery cars in the outer boroughs.Some in the room had vigorously fought the bill. Arms were tightly folded in many of the chairs as the commissioners went through the day’s agenda.

As the meeting adjourned, various factions of the industry clustered in different areas of the floor like cliques in a high school quad.

The TLC’s longtime press secretary Alan Fromberg asked that people stick around -- that sandwiches were on the way.

When Commissioner David Yassky was asked about the meaning of 40^th birthday of the agency that’s responsible for licensing and regulating the city’s cabs and other for-hire vehicles -- he said a lot has changed since 1971 and plenty has stayed the same.

“If you look back over the very first year of the TLC existence they were dealing with two big issues: one was taxis that refused service to Brooklyn and Queens -- still with us -- and the fact that people can’t hail a cab in Brooklyn and Queens and the Bronx, Staten Island. That’s also still with us although I believe we are on the verge of solving that one.”

Yassky said he thinks the great triumph of the TLC has been the establishment and maintenance of the brand: the yellow taxi. The mandate that all NYC metered cabs be uniform yellow predates the TLC by a year -- taxis have been officially yellow since January 1^st, 1970 -- but 40 years of brand management leaves Yassky proud.

“It’s been known world wide,  respected, admired and desired... The value of the medallion is the proof of it.The value of the medallion has gone up four times the rate of the stock market! So that tells you the TLC does something right."

Sporting his TLC 40th anniversary commemorative lapel pin (left), Yassky boasted, "600,000 people a day get into cabs. That’s not a bubble that’s real.That revenue is going to keep coming in."

David Pollock who represents a group of medallion owners and taxi leasing agents, agreed that the city did a great thing when they created a medallion system.But he criticized the way the TLC was currently being run, on his way to the elevator.

He added, “we have a commission who want to destroy the same medallion system that had worked so well for 75 years who the whole world looks at and models their own transportation systems after.”

Pollock and others believe the new outer borough street hail rule will devalue yellow medallions who have had the exclusive right to street hails since the 1930’s.

Twenty minutes after the commission meeting adjourned, the sandwiches and drinks hadn’t arrived and the last few taxi driver’s left to go grab lunch before shift change.

US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood (on right). Photo courtesy of US DOT

(Ray LaHood, Secretary, US Department of Transportation -- Washington DC) TN Readers Prove America is a Transportation Nation

First things first: Thank you, Transportation Nation, for submitting such great questions for this month's edition of "On the Go." I'm so encouraged by the number of Americans who pay close attention to transportation issues because I know you'll be there to support us when we get things right, and I know you'll hold our feet to the fire if we don't.

Thank you, also, for allowing me the opportunity here to answer a few more of your terrific questions.

(Editors Note: To see our previous post, and the video, of LaHood answering questions on his monthly "On The Go" video chat session, click here.)

The first question comes from Tom Roberts on Facebook, who asks: "When will there be a TIGER III?"

Tom, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that the third round of TIGER grant opportunities is already in the works, and we begin accepting pre-applications on August 22. TIGER supports innovative transportation projects that will create jobs and have a significant impact on the nation, a region or a metropolitan area. The competitive awards empower communities to build the transportation networks they need. The first two rounds of TIGER have been very successful, and I'm proud of the 126 projects--in all 50 states and the District of Columbia--that we've recognized with $2.1 billion in TIGER grants. In this third round, Congress has made available $527 million.

The bad news? We're not calling it TIGER III. Because it has been so successful, TIGER might be around for a while; with more rounds to come, we're ready to leave the numbering behind us.

ParkingInMotion asked on Twitter: "What are your early opinions of San Francisco's SFpark program, and what it will do for the future of smart parking in cities?"

SFpark is an exciting new pilot program operated by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, using a $19.4 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration. The system provides users real-time information on parking availability before they get into their cars and helps San Francisco drivers spend less time searching for parking. It also helps reduce congestion and emissions from idling cars because drivers will know exactly where to find parking spaces. And, the system can efficiently distribute parking space availability by raising or lowering meter rates block-by-block based on the number of spaces available nearby.

In a recent survey by our Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 89 percent of the people who responded said that adequate parking was an important factor in a community's livability. So, I think an innovative system that can save drivers time, fuel and frustration is an important development. But, I want to make sure everyone knows to use this technology only when their car is safely off the road.

Finally, asquit4 asks on Twitter: "How will DOT incentivize infrastructure maintenance and preservation for states to do more with less?"

Amy, deciding which projects take priority, whether new construction, repair, or maintenance, is a state decision. But promoting innovative technologies that deliver long-lasting infrastructure faster and do more with less is at the core of what the Federal Highway Administration does. And if you read my Fast Lane blog post from Wednesday about the Fast 14 project , you'll see what I mean. FHWA also recently launched an improved bridge oversight initiative that will allow us to more easily identify problem issues in each state.

Well, you can see that I wasn't kidding about getting good questions this month. Please keep those questions coming. And, please, keep yourself engaged in these issues--as Transportation Nation followers know, transportation is about a lot more than just getting from one place to another.

(Photo: Jack Williams, KUHF)

(Jack Williams, KUHF—Houston) Houston’s fledgling light rail system is growing up a little bit. Workers are ready to lay new track along a brand new, six-mile extension that will be the first branch off the original line built a few years ago from downtown to Houston’s medical complex.

The existing Red Line is popular, but only services a seven-mile stretch. The new Southeast Line, along with several other routes currently under construction,  will be the first new line in a system that hasn’t grown at all over the past eight years.

This moment “marks another milestone in the expansion of Houston’s light rail system,” said David Couch, Metro’s senior vice president for capital programs. He spoke standing just a few feet away from welder’s sparks as workers pieced together 80-foot lengths of rail. “This is something that changes it from a character that had principally appeared as a road project or a utility project into something that actually turns it into a rail system.”

(Photo: Jack Williams)

The Southeast extension will link an underserved area of the city to the main downtown line, snaking across the major freeway and past several universities. Although  it won’t be a solution for a majority of commuters who live in Houston’s suburbs, it will build on Metro’s efforts to connect key areas of the city to the original line.

“What we see right now is just the first expansion part and somewhere down in the future, you’re going to see expansions that kind of feed off of this,” said Jose Enriquez, Metro’s Program Manager for the Southeast Line. “You’re going to have commuter rail and all these other things that you hear about and that will tie-in to some of the systems that we’re putting in today,” he said.

Metro hopes to have at least two other extensions up and running by early 2014. For a city that has found it hard to put away the car keys and embrace public transit, the ambitious light rail extensions are a big deal. The only other light rail system in Texas is in Dallas, where DART has flourished over the past decade. “This will then give us a true light rail system that will operate in two directions and be able to bring individuals into the inner city,” says Couch, who is overseeing the construction of the extensions.

Houston is still a long way from true commuter rail from the suburbs, But the transit authority would like to have nearly 40 miles of light rail service complete within three years.

You can hear the sounds of track being welded in the radio version of this story at KUHF.

(photo by Kate Hinds)

(Kathleen Horan, WNYC)  New York's five-borough taxi plan legislation that would legalize outer borough street hails for livery cars has to take some final steps before it becomes law.

The state senate voted to approve the bill on June 24th, the last night of the legislative session. Lawmakers voted 40 to 21 to pass the bill, but made some changes--including requiring that the new livery vehicles add the 50-cent MTA surcharge on each trip, like yellow cabs now do, and delaying the sale of up to 30,000 street hail permits until January 15, 2012.

The assembly has agreed to approve the surcharge amendment and add it to the already-approved bill, but must wait until the legislature reconvenes in the fall.

Then the bill will hit Governor Cuomo's desk, and he'll have ten days to sign. Cuomo hasn't indicated if he plans to support the bill, which still has powerful opponents -- including some in the livery industry and the yellow taxi lobby.

NYC taxi drivers pause on their way to Albany to protest (photo by Michael Woloz)

(New York, NY -- Kathleen Horan, WNYC) The city's taxi plan legislation is one step closer to being passed.

The New York State Assembly approved the bill that would legalize street hails for livery cars in upper Manhattan and the outer boroughs.

Mayor Bloomberg released a written statement following the vote saying in addition to providing better transportation options, "the legislation would help 40,000 livery drivers earn a better, safer living without encroaching on the livelihood of yellow cab drivers"

Hundreds of cabbies and fleet owners rolled into Albany in a yellow taxi caravan in a last minute protest this morning. They said that giving livery vehicles the right to accept street hails undermines their exclusive rights and will hurt their livelihoods and decrease the value of their costly medallions.

The bill's fate awaits a vote by the Senate, which could come as early as tonight.

The New York CIty Highline Park (Photo: Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

(New York, NY -- Ilya Marritz, WNYC)

As Mayor Michael Bloomberg is set to cut the ribbon on a 10-block extension of the popular elevated public park on Manhattan's West Side Tuesday, businesses are already clamoring to be near to the new section of the converted freight rail line, which runs from 20th to 30th streets near Tenth Avenue.

If that wasn’t so obvious a decade ago to what extent the High Line itself would become a business. Today, it’s a public park run by a nonprofit, Friends of the High Line. Major donors range from Estee Lauder to Levi's to property developers, and the board is a who's who of arts, real estate and high finance in New York.

Read the full story here.

Riders on the doomed B51, in Brooklyn, a year ago. (Photo: Andrea Bernstein)

(Transportation Nation) Did you miss the WNYC /Transportation Nation's story last spring on the B-51's Last Week?  TN's Andrea Bernstein boarded the 6:30 am bus from Brooklyn, and her tape shows what the MTA numbers couldn't -- how buses form family-like social units that aren't easily supplanted, even when tough times push bureaucrats to cut routes with the fewest riders.   And now it's been recognized with the New York State Broadcasters Association award for "General Excellence in Use of Medium."   Make sure you listen (don't read!) here.

Seth Pinsky, announcing the new East River ferry service (photo by Brian Zumhagen/WNYC)

(Brian Zumhagen, WNYC) A new, year-round commuter ferry is coming to New York's East River this month. It will leave from East 34th Street and Pier 11 in Manhattan and make stops in Long Island City, Williamsburg and Dumbo.

The New York Waterway ferries will run every 20 minutes during rush hour and, in the summer, will stop at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, as well as Governors Island.

"It will spur economic development on both sides of the river," said New York City Economic Development Corporation president Seth Pinsky, who announced details of the plans on Wednesday, "with literally thousands of residents within walking distance of the neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan being able to reap the benefits of this new service.”

The launch is scheduled for June 13 and rides will be free for the first 12 days. After that, a one-way ticket will cost $4.

The Lost and Wandering Blues Band (Marlon Bishop/WNYC)

(New York, NY -- Marlon Bishop, WNYC) Coming soon to NYC underground:  a Japanese mandolin player playing Italian classics, Baroque harp music, and a full blown Afro-jazz group. They're just some of the 19 individuals and groups chosen by the MTA's Music Under New York (MUNY) program to join the roster of musicians officially sanctioned to perform underground.

Last week, 68 groups tried out for the program in front of a panel of judges culled from New York's cultural scene in an alcove of Grand Central Terminal. The new acts will join about 350 sanctioned groups already in the program. Although anybody can play in the subway legally, MUNY artists can display official banners, use amplification, and have dibs on some of the best and busiest spots underground.

To listen to one of the winners, click here.

The Lost and Wandering Blues Band (Marlon Bishop/WNYC)

A new poll finds the honeymoon continues for Governor Andrew Cuomo, and that voters agree with the governor’s crusade for a property tax cap and ethics reform.

Steve Greenberg, with Siena College, says Cuomo is still enjoying near record high popularity, with a 71 -22 percent favorable rating. He says voters support the governor’s focus in getting a property tax cap and ethics reform passed in the legislature.

“The honeymoon between Andrew Cuomo and the voters of this state continues,” said Greenberg. “Down a little bit from last month, but only a little bit.”

In April, 73 percent viewed the governor favorably, 18 percent held a negative view.

The only risk for Cuomo, says Greenberg, is that lawmakers don’t adopt his programs by the end of the session next month. Cuomo’s other top priority is allowing gay marriage, that came in fourth for those surveyed, after reforming New york City’s rent laws.

-Karen DeWitt, WXXI.org