Kate Hinds

The Sheridan Expressway, as seen from West Farms Road (photo by Kate Hinds)

The first community meeting since New York City announced it would no longer study the removal of the Sheridan Expressway was a bumpy one.

Community members rally outside a meeting of the Sheridan-Hunts Point Land Use and Transportation Study (photo by Kate Hinds)

Members of the New York City Department of Planning were in the South Bronx Thursday to give an update on the Sheridan-Hunts Point land use study. But some area residents -- including members of the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance, who led a march to the meeting -- wanted answers about why the city dropped the Sheridan takedown option.

(photo by Kate Hinds)

Tawkiyah Jordan, a project manager in the Bronx city planning office, started off the meeting talking about demographic trends in the neighborhood and said the evening's agenda would focus on land use planning west of the Bronx River.

Kellie Terry Sepulveda, executive director of the South Bronx community development group The Point, asked why the meeting didn't include the Bruckner neighborhood -- which lies on the other side of the river. "From a community perspective they're one and the same."

Jordan said "it has so many complicated pieces I felt like we needed to focus on it separately...this is more a presentation about land use and zoning...in just trying to think about how to get through all the information, it felt like Bruckner Boulevard would be a meeting unto itself."

But Sepulveda said the community had spent almost a decade looking at the South Bronx and decided that the best option was to remove the Sheridan. "Our needs weren't being addressed holistically by the state. And now we're here today having these needs being unmet. And we're concerned."

Jordan countered that the Bruckner neighborhood was "of such importance that it really deserves a deeper look, and in a different way, than the areas we're looking at right now." ("I want you to do the same for the removable option," muttered one meeting attendee under her breath.)

(photo by Kate Hinds)

"It seems to me, if you separate Bruckner Boulevard from all the other communities, it feels to me like a sense of divide and conquer," said local resident Elisabeth Ortega.

"It's not!" said Jordan. "But that's how it feels!" said Ortega. "And if not today, when?"

Ortega spoke bluntly of "feeling shafted" by the city's decision to take the Sheridan removal off the table. "Without any conversation! Without any transparency whatsoever! The fact that it's just off the table! How can it be off the table when you've got people here who feel so strongly about it!" She continued: "It just hurts to hear you say 'well, we're just going to deal with the Bruckner at another time.'"

The Sheridan Expressway (photo by Kate Hinds)

"I know that there's extreme dissatisfaction with not just the process but with the way things have been communicated and decided," said Jordan. "And I understand that that conversation is not going to stop today. And that many of the people in this room will probably continue that conversation. That is fine. What we are here to do today --"

Sepulveda interjected. "Will the city continue that conversation with us? That's why we're here. Because if not there's nothing left for us to discuss. Respectfully, Tawkiyah, respectfully."

Jordan said what was important to remember is that "there are actual opportunities to create change, and to make improvements in all of the neighborhoods we're looking at."

"We need to allow them to give their presentation" said another man in the back later identified as a member of Bronx Community Board 3.

After some more back and forth, Jordan got to the point. "If what you want to hear me say is that the removal option is back on the table, I don't have the right or power to say that. But what I do have the right and the power to talk about tonight is what we can do in the neighborhood....that conversation is one that can be had, but that's not one I came here prepared to talk about tonight." She tried gamely to keep moving the meeting forward, but another burst of questions from the back derailed her.

Eventually Nnenna Lynch, a senior policy adviser to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, stood up. "We're happy to meet again to talk about the transportation analysis," she told the room. "As far as what we're going to do..."

"Yes or no, please," said Julien Terrell, a community organizer for Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice. "Yes or no please? Are we going to be able to talk about our recommendations within the context of removing the Sheridan? Because that's the only way getting access to our waterfront is actively going to work."

"We're here tonight to talk about land use," said Lynch. "If you'd like to continue the conversation about the removal option, we're happy to do that -- we just don't think tonight's the proper forum."

And for about three-quarters of attendees, that was the end of the meeting. "Our communities are under attack! What do we do?" yelled Terrell. "Stand up fight back!" shouted meeting attendees. And, chanting, the group walked out.

While the meeting about land use continued inside the building on Intervale Avenue, members of the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance congregated outside.

Cerita Parker (photo by Kate Hinds)

Some were hopeful. "I'm going to write to the president of the United States," said Jimmy Graham, an area resident. "He won that battle over health care."

But Cerita Parker, an activist with the South Bronx advocacy group Mothers on the Move, was disheartened. "I feel insulted by the whole process. For the people who make the decisions to not even be here -- it's an insult and a slap in the face as well," she said. "I just couldn't sit there and hear her talk about 'well, we're going to do the Bruckner at another time.' The Bruckner is a part of the whole deal. And all of that area encompasses the Hunts Point Market. Obviously we are not the big stakeholders in the Hunts Point Market. And I feel that once again the community has been given the shaft."

But remaining inside, according to a spokesperson for the city, were people who held a productive meeting about land use. "This is far more than a study about a transportation artery – it’s about planning for the future of neighborhoods around the Sheridan. We're looking for ways of achieving the objectives in the study that the community identified in previous workshops," said the spokesperson, adding the city is committed to improving issues of waterfront access, pedestrian safety, strengthening retail corridors and providing affordable housing in the South Bronx. "And we're looking for ways to do that collectively with the community."

Top stories on TN:
Fed Transportation Conference Report: Not a Touchdown. More Like A Field Goal (link)
Heath Care Architect Baucus: I Was Focused on Transpo Bill (link)
Court Rules NYC Taxis Need Not Be Wheelchair Accessible (link)
Transportation Bill Conference Report Released (link)

Political metaphor? (photo by Kate Hinds)

A vote on the transportation bill is coming today. (Reuters)

Meanwhile, conservative groups are hastily ramping up opposition. (The Hill)

And transportation advocates aren't happy, either. (Streetsblog)

Who is happy? House T&I committee chair John Mica. (WMFE)

The nation’s first federal safety standards for transit agencies -- the legacy of a 2009 Metro crash -- are included in the transportation bill. (AP via Washington Post)

Don’t think for a moment that congressional supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline are through pushing their cause on Capitol Hill. (Politico)

Non-transpo bill news:
Atlanta police set up a sting operation to increase awareness of pedestrian crosswalk laws. "I knew you were supposed to yield to pedestrians, but I didn't know you couldn't drive through the crosswalk when they were there," complained one ticketed driver. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

How hot is it in DC? Hot enough that Metro is lifting its ban on drinking water on buses and trains. (DCist)

New York State will create exclusive bus lanes on the new Tappan Zee Bridge during rush hour. (Journal News)

Construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge is "likely to adversely affect” two types of endangered Hudson River sturgeon -- but “not likely to jeopardize the continued existence,”says a new report. (Journal News)

Cities are growing at a faster rate than suburbs. (AP via Crain's NY)

Give birth on the J train, get presents from the NY MTA: a woman who gave birth on the subway received a bunch gifts from the city's transit agency, including a MetroCard mobile and a J train onesie. (New York Post)

Who's fare beating on NYC subways and buses? Probably children over 44" tall. "Yeah, you with the pig-tailed, 7-year-old daughter with the Hello Kitty backpack who just oh-so-cutely ducked under the subway turnstile. She's a fare-beater." (Wall Street Journal)

The union representing Detroit's bus drivers has asked the City Council to put pressure on the transit agency to help stop the spread of bedbugs on buses. (Detroit News)

The details of what's in the transportation bill compromise are now available.

The conference report was released Thursday morning. (Read a pdf of the entire report here; a more condensed statement on it can be found here.)

More details later.

Top stories on TN:
Sheridan Expressway: Did the Takedown Get Taken Down? (link)
Caltrain Engineer: Every Time I Go Past The Scene of a Fatality, It Plays Back Like a Video (link)
MTA: Rising Sea Levels Are Damaging The Subway (link)
Seen on the Brooklyn Bridge (link)
Congress Close to Deal on Transportation Bill (link)
Ask the US DOT Secretary Your Transpo Questions! (link)
PHOTO: Dashing Through The…Streets of San Francisco ...on a Reindeer Bike (link)

(photo by wallyg via flickr)

Tweet of the day, from @TRossC: Happy transportation bill/healthcare ruling/Holder contempt vote day!

Congressional Republicans and Democrats reached a tentative agreement on a two-year transportation bill that would provide $8.4 billion each year. (New York Times)

The language was still being worked on late Wednesday night. (AP)

And what's not in the bill: the possibility of a Vehicle Miles Traveled tax system. (The Hill)

In non-transpo bill news:
New York's MTA is exploring restoring some of the bus, subway and commuter train service it cut to close budget gaps two years ago. (New York Daily News)

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is slamming a $30-billion transit plan proposed by the chair of Toronto Transit Commission. (CBC)

Loudoun County's vote on whether to commit to the Dulles Airport Silver Line is just days away. (Washington Post)

The TSA fired eight airport screeners at Newark Liberty for security violations -- including sleeping on the job. (Star-Ledger)

New car prices have dropped $500 on average in the past year, mainly because Japanese automakers have restocked dealers after shortages in 2011. (Detroit Free Press)

Boston's transit agency is phasing out tokens -- meaning they now have 3.4 million of them laying around. An MBTA spokesperson said they'll probably be sold for scrap. (BostInno; h/t Transit Wire)

London's cable car across the Thames is now open to the public. "It can carry 2,500 people per hour in each direction, the equivalent of 30 buses." (The Independent)

Cap'n Transit: Can't tear down the Sheridan? Take down the Bronx River Parkway instead. (link)

New Jersey Transit's new policy about bikes on trains goes into effect Sunday. (Journal News)

How Sydney increased cycling by 82% -- in two years. (The Guardian)

A Texan woman who warned drivers of a speed trap via a homemade sign was arrested. (ABC/KTRK)

Write a song about the G train, win a trip to Sweden. (Brokelyn)

In the future, if everybody drives electric cars, what will traffic sound like? "Less like 'honk' and more like 'eee-beep-boop'" (Atlantic Cities; video below)

New York City was studying a plan to remove the Sheridan Expressway and replace it with affordable housing, commercial space and parks in the South Bronx. But then the city decided, i...

The city rules out a plan to tear down the Sheridan Expressway, saying it would cause too much traffic and cost too many jobs. (Pratt Center rendering)

For such a short highway, the fifty-year old Sheridan Expressway generates a lot of unhappiness.

"I don’t even know if you could call it an expressway," said Elena Conte, an organizer at the Pratt Center for Community Development. "It’s a fragment. It’s a mile and a quarter long."

It was planned by Robert Moses, whose original idea was to continue it through the Bronx Zoo. But local residents – not to mention the zoo and the New York Botanical Garden – opposed an extension and, in the 1970s, those plans were dropped.

But some Bronx residents have never made peace with even an abbreviated expressway. Activists, working together as the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance, have for years been working to tear the highway down. In 2006, WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein went up to Bronx with the Pratt Center’s Joan Byron.

"There are three schools right on the expressway," said Byron. "So by redeveloping this as residential and parkland, those schools would have a green connection right across to the river." (A video of the plan is below.)

One of the supporters of this tear-down is Bronx congressman José Serrano. Two years ago he secured a $1.5 million federal grant to study three different options for the Sheridan: keep it, modify it, or take it down altogether. "The initial agreement we had, the understanding we had, was that they were going to look at everything," he said.

New York City won’t complete the study until next year. But officials recently said the removal scenario had “a fatal flaw” and it would no longer be considered.

"What I’m concerned about, what the community is upset about, what we’re all upset about, is that they immediately took off the table the possibility of full removal of the Sheridan," said Serrano. "We just think that’s totally unfair and improper."

But as much as some wanted the highway gone, others say it's a vital piece of the road transportation network.

"Well, we were completely dead set against that and have been since the dawn of time," said Matthew D’Arrigo. He's co-president of the Hunts Point Market, the massive food distribution center located off the expressway.

"Without the Sheridan," he said, "a thousand trucks a night would have just one way to get to this market."

He says the market hasn’t been shy about making it known that taking down the Sheridan could jeopardize its ability to do business – and the thousands of jobs it brings to the Bronx.

"Everybody. Everybody. Everybody knows our position on that," he said.

Right now, the market is in the middle of negotiations with the city for a long-term lease. After this weekend, if it doesn’t reach a deal with New York, Hunts Point Market can start talking to other places. Like New Jersey.

Privately, officials told WNYC that fear of losing the market prompted the city to drop the removal option.

But recent a press conference in the Bronx, Mayor Bloomberg said the decision was driven by data, not politics. "All of the traffic studies show that it would not be feasible to do that," he said.

Predictions that losing a highway would cause traffic hell have been wrong before. Sam Schwartz – also known as Gridlock Sam – worked for the city DOT in 1973, when part of the then-elevated lower portion of the West Side Highway collapsed. In a 2010 interview with WNYC, he described what happened.

"People panicked," he said. "They thought that was Armageddon. They thought that was the end."

It wasn’t the case. Traffic on some roadways did go up. “We had trouble tracing one-third of the people and it wasn’t that they weren’t coming in," Schwartz said. "When we looked at transit, transit went up. We had the same number of people coming in, but they weren’t coming by car.”

Schwartz wouldn’t comment specifically on the Sheridan, but cities like Milwaukee, San Francisco and Portland all say they’ve seen big economic and environmental benefits when urban highways have been torn down.

New York City DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan called that comparison flawed.

"I think you know the Bloomberg administration has been very innovative when it comes to traffic engineering," she said. "But in this instance this particular option didn’t work -- but that doesn’t mean other options can’t work here and we’re going to continue to explore them."

 

(photo by Andrea Bernstein/WNYC)

The Brooklyn Bridge promenade is getting a fresh coat of paint.

(photo by Andrea Bernstein/WNYC)

Workers were spotted Wednesday morning refreshing the bike and pedestrian markings.

(photo by Andrea Bernstein/WNYC)

The NYC Department of Transportation says work will be finished by the end of the week.

US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is inviting questions from TN readers. Want to know how the nation's transportation priorities are shifting? Wondering about the future of high-speed rail? Or how he decides where to spend the DOT's $70 billion budget? Or do you just want to know if he really does honk at drivers he sees texting behind the wheel?

For the next episode of his Q&A video series called “On the Go," Secretary LaHood is inviting questions from Transportation Nation readers. To ask him a question, you can:

Post questions on the Secretary’s Facebook page

Tweet using the #q4ray hashtag

Leave a comment on the Secretary’s blog, or

Leave a comment on this page

He will choose three or four to respond to. Let him know we sent you – write ‘TN’ at the end of your question.  We’ll post his video when it’s available.

Want to see what "On the Go" is like? Watch Secretary LaHood field questions from TN readers in 2011!

(photo by Caitlyn Kim/WNYC)

The winter holidays are less than six months away, but one San Francisco bicyclist is apparently ready.

Thanks to WNYC's Caitlyn Kim for the picture!

Top stories on TN:
Orlando International Airport Could Link with Private Intercity Rail (link)
Court Upholds EPA’s Emissions Rules (link)
Heads Up, New Yorkers: If You Text and Walk, A New York Knick Will Hurl a Basketball At Your Midsection (link)
Free Wi-Fi Goes Underground as NYC Subway Stations Get Connected (link)

MTA Countdown Clock Photo (Kate Hinds)

Senate majority leader Harry Reid is pegging the chances of the transportation bill at better than 50-50. (The Hill)

NY Governor Cuomo on building a new Tappan Zee Bridge: "I will prevail in the end, but I’m sure it’s going to be a long and difficult journey." (New York Times)

Countdown clocks are coming to some of New York City's lettered-line subways (namely: the N and R trains) in a pilot program. (Capital New York)

California Democrats have a "plan B" for high-speed rail, but it's not clear if it has a real chance of being substituted for the governor's proposal. (Fresno Bee)

Boston's transit agency presented a plan to to begin selling naming rights for 11 subway stations, including Downtown Crossing, Park Street, and Back Bay. "No contracts have been signed yet, but JetBlue and Emerson have expressed interest." (Boston Globe)

Meanwhile, the renaming of a Brooklyn subway stop to include the new Barclays Center arena has inspired a protest shirt. (DNA Info)

Philadelphia's transit agency is retiring its two oldest rail cars this week. One of them, a Silverliner II, was built in 1963. (Mass Transit)

Nearly four in five drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike pay their tolls with E-ZPass. (Star Ledger)

Meanwhile, some Garden State Parkway drivers will see new language as part of a pilot program to speed up the exact change lanes.  In other words: "pay toll go." (Asbury Park Press)

DC is considering privatizing its yet-to-be-opened streetcar system. (Washington Post)

A private company wants to build a 15-mile, $315.2 million magnetic-levitation commuter rail system in Central Florida. (Orlando Business Journal)

A British team is developing a car capable of reaching 1,000 mph. (BBC)

(photo by Josh Koonce via flickr)

A federal appeals court Tuesday said the Environmental Protection Agency was "unambiguously correct" in using existing federal law to limit greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Several industry groups -- as well as the state of Texas -- had argued that the science behind climate change was uncertain, and that the EPA lacked the legal authority to use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from factories, power plants, and automobile tailpipes.

But the court unanimously rejected that view. "This is how science works," the judges wrote in the 82-page decision (pdf). "EPA is not required to re-prove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question."

The opinion cites not only a previous Supreme Court ruling but also Schoolhouse Rock.  (“As a generation of schoolchildren knows, 'by that time, it’s very unlikely that [a bill will] become a law. It’s not easy to become a law.'")

Read the decision here.

To ensure compliance with the rules of the road, the New York City Department of Transportation is mounting a public safety campaign to make sure New Yorkers are displaying situationa...

To ensure compliance with the rules of the road, the New York City Department of Transportation is mounting a public safety campaign to make sure New Yorkers are displaying situational awareness.

Or as Baron Davis puts it in a video released Tuesday: "Hey, heads up! Come on man, pay attention!" before before nailing a phone-hypnotized pedestrian with a basketball.

Also at the receiving end of Davis's scorn: a salmoning biker and a driver who aggressively enters a crosswalk thronged with pedestrians.

Davis is a point guard with the New York Knicks. He's  currently recovering from surgery for a knee injury.

In an emailed statement, DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said the point is to raise awareness. “Whether it’s driving to the hoop or driving down the block, the cardinal rule of the road is to keep your eyes and ears open and your head up."

In addition to the video, the DOT is placing posters like the one below in bus shelters, and has distributed 250,000 coffee cup sleeves for delis and coffee shops around the city.

(image courtesy of NYC DOT)

 

Top stories on TN:
NY MTA Losing $100 Million Annually To Fare Evasion (link)

Traffic in Bangalore (photo by Knetgel via flickr)

A temporary extension may be necessary even if lawmakers reach a deal on the transportation bill, because "you have to write everything up," says Senator Jay Rockefeller. (The Hill)

And yes, the deadline for federal transportation funding is this Saturday. (Marketplace)

What happens if Loudon County drops out of the Silver Line Metro project? (GGW)

Fare increases for four Bay Area transit agencies (Muni, BART, Caltrain and Golden Gate Transit) are going into effect this weekend. (SF Examiner)

Louisiana drivers will soon be able to show proof of insurance electronically on cellphones or other devices if their insurers send the data that way. (Times Picayune)

During the BART shutdown earlier this month -- as thousands of frustrated commuters waited hours for a ride across San Francisco Bay -- 17% of AC Transit buses were in the yard, empty, for "mechanical reasons. (California Watch)

One Vermonter's taxi business model: do away with the meter and let the passenger set the price. (NPR)

Traffic jams in the Indian city of Bangalore are costing jobs and slowing its tech boom. The population has jumped 50% in one year, leading one planner to point out: “You have to create infrastructure ahead of the need.” (Bloomberg)

While building a subway in Greece’s second-largest city, workers uncovered a section of an ancient road built by the Romans that was the city’s main travel artery nearly 2,000 years ago. (Washington Post via AP)

How twitter found one Brooklyn man's stolen bicycle, leading to a "#crowdsourcesleuthing triumph!" (Slate)

A huge chunk of Queens lacks bike lanes. (DNA Info)

How to combat distracted driving: carrot -- or stick? Many states are raising fines, but some say "it's more productive to treat distracted driving as a driver education problem." (USA Today)

Shanghai's subway system tells female riders: if you wear suggestive clothing, "then no wonder you will be sexually harassed!" (Tea Leaf Nation; h/t @e_jaffe)

Fare beaters cost New York City $100 million a year – and it’s worse on buses than on subways, MTA officials say.

NY MTA chairman Joe Lhota, at Monday's committee meetings  (photo by Kate Hinds)

Fare evasion costs New York City $100 million a year. And it's worse on buses than subways.

Putting an exact number on the city's problem is difficult, officials said at Monday's New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority committee meeting. Thomas Prendergast, the president of New York City Transit, said "I believe the number is between $50 and $75 million (annually)."

But later that morning, an MTA official said internal estimates put that number closer to $100 million a year -- with fare evasion on buses alone accounting for over $50 million a year.

MTA head Joe Lhota said he met last month with NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly. The result: police are stepping up enforcement and spot checks on buses -- and the effort involves both uniform and undercover officers.

"This new effort has just started," said Lhota, "and I think we'll see the fruit of this relatively soon."

So far this year (as of 6/24), police have made 1,228 "theft of service" arrests on city buses. That's up 72% compared to the same period last year.

Thomas Prendergast said he found some of the fare evasion numbers surprising. "We have the higher end of the rates in Staten Island," he said, "where there's a lot of school service and a lot of the fare evasion may be students."

So far this year there have been 60 arrests for fare evasion in that borough.

Prendergast said he wanted to produce a thorough report on the problem, "rather than just making anecdotal comments."

One board member asked Prendergast why fare evasion occurs more often on buses. "At the front end of my career," said Prendergast, "I drove a bus for 30 days and qualified as a bus operator in Chicago. And let me tell you, it's one of the most difficult jobs."

He then painted a stark picture of a situation drivers could find themselves in. "If you want to work midnight to eight, by yourself on a bus, and challenge somebody for a fare -- we require people to challenge once for a fare -- versus sitting in a booth and calling someone if someone doesn't pay a fare -- it's a very, very complicated issue."

And not a financially insignificant one. "Every dollar we can save from fare evasion is a dollar we can spend for other things," he said.

To give that $100 million figure some context: in 2010, the MTA cut 38 bus lines -- and reduced service on 76 more -- to save $93 million a year.

Top stories on TN:
Mermaids, Mermen Ride The NYC Subway (link)
US DOT Doles Out $500 Million to Transportation Projects Around U.S. (link)

According to a new study, owners of cars this color can expect extra bird...attention. (photo by SoulRider.222 via flickr)

Bike rental businesses in New York City are retooling to survive the upcoming bike share program -- but they're not that worried, because it's "the tide that lifts all boats." (Crain's NY)

New York Post columnist Nicole Gelinas: Just how is New York State going to come up with the money to pay for the new Tappan Zee Bridge? "The summer surprise could be for Cuomo to do what lots of people do when confronted with the impossible: Find a quick and dirty solution." (Bonus: walk down memory lane to revisit Governor Pataki's MTA capital plan.) (link)

Five towns in the Boston suburbs are outfitting their public transportation vehicles with GPS devices to gather information on routes and riders -- with the goal of using the data to merge services next year. (Boston Globe)

The Chicago Tribune analyses hot spots for transit crimes, and finds that it is "highly concentrated in the downtown area, where dozens of bus routes converge and Loop trains operate, as well as on the entire Red Line." (link)

A container terminal in Bayonne, NJ, received $11 million from the federal government to make it possible to unload cargo directly onto rail, rather than rely on trucks. (WNYC)

Washington Post opinion: Congress should focus on funding the transportation bill, not keeping the rates for student loans extra low. (link)

Cash-strapped cities are selling naming rights and sponsorships to raise money -- and transit agencies are being particularly aggressive. "Straphangers in Philadelphia buy fare cards blazoned with ads for McDonald’s and ride the Broad Street Line to AT&T Station (formerly Pattison Station), where the turnstiles bear the company’s familiar blue and white globe." (New York Times)

NJ Spotlight analysis: if Governor Christie's budget is approved now, New Jersey will face a fiscal crisis next spring.

The TSA is making it easier for kids to clear airport security. (NPR)

Red cars are more likely to be hit by bird droppings than other colors, according to a British study; green cars are the most ignored. (USA Today via Detroit Free Press)

London bus workers will stage further strikes unless there is a deal over bonuses for Olympic working, a union leader has warned. (BBC)

The New York Bicycle Film Festival opens this week, and a documentary about illegal bike messenger races is making waves. (New York Daily News)

Top stories on TN:
Progress? Transportation Bill Shows a Pulse (link)
California High Speed Rail Aiming to Take Its Message Viral (link)
MWAA to Loudoun County: No Extension on Silver Line Deadline (link)
After Double Hit & Run, Commerce Secretary Resigns (link)

(image courtesy NY MTA)

As the number of straphangers hit by subway trains continues to rise, New York's MTA rolled out a campaign warning subway riders to stay away from the tracks. (New York Daily News)

Imperial Oil Ltd formally withdrew a highly contested plan to truck huge loads of equipment over a mountain pass on the Idaho/Montana border -- having already moved them to its Alberta oil sands project via alternative routes. (Reuters, Missoulian)

Neither party liked Governor Christie's bill to raise the borrowing cap for transportation projects, but the New Jersey State Assembly Budget Committee approved it anyway. (Star-Ledger)

And: In the latest effort by NJ lawmakers to crack down on perks at the Port Authority, the Assembly approved a bill to restrict the use of company cars and drivers, overnight travel, housing allowances, personal expense accounts and toll passes for agency officials and employees. (Star-Ledger)

Tesla's new electric sedan: five passengers, 89 MPG, and no engine. (NPR)

How many jobs will California's high-speed rail program bring? Perhaps not as much as originally thought. (LA Weekly)

Britain's traffic jams are the worst in Europe -- and they're particularly bad on Fridays. (Daily Mail)

The helmet law debate is heating up in British Columbia as Vancouver negotiates for a bike share program. (Vancouver Sun)

BART police are trying to reunite riders with stolen bikes. (Mercury News)

JetBlue has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to use a new navigation system to save time and fuel in its New York landings. (Crain's New York Business)

Opinion: Republican-led austerity is pushing public transit into severe fiscal and physical crisis. (Guardian; h/t @MattSeaton)

The Mermaid Parade is tomorrow -- so it's a good time to check out some 2011 MTA-curated photos of straphangers in costume en route to Coney Island.  (h/t @AdamLisberg)

John Bryson (photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Commerce)

Nearly two weeks after a double hit-and-run in California, U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson resigned his post.

Bryson, who was found unconscious after the incident, said a seizure was responsible. He has been on medical leave since then.

In a letter to President Obama, Bryson wrote: "I have concluded that the seizure I suffered on June 9th could be a distraction from my performance as Secretary and that our country would be better served by a change in leadership of the Department."

President Obama accepted his resignation. In a statement, the president said Deputy Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank would continue to serve as Acting Secretary.

 

Top stories on TN:
It’s A Heatwave But Don’t Expect Cooling On NYC Subway Platforms (link)
SF Bicyclist Pleads Not Guilty in Pedestrian Death (link)
State Money Will Widen, Improve One Of Houston’s Most Crowded Freeways (link)
Boston T Exec: I Was Surprised Apple Dropped Transit Directions (link)
40% of Traffic in Williston is Semi-Truck (link)

A 2009 image from one of Newark's "Project Red Light" traffic cameras (photo by City of Newark via flickr)

Gov. Jerry Brown backed away from a fight with environmentalists and abandoned a plan to exempt the $68 billion California bullet train project from environmental laws. (California Watch via Sacramento Bee)

New Jersey has suspended its red-light camera program over questions about the accuracy of the devices; the state DOT says 63 of the 85 red-light cameras in New Jersey — including all 19 in Newark — have not been tested to ensure yellow lights were timed in accordance with the statute that created the pilot program. (Star-Ledger)

And: legislation permitting NYC to use speed cameras looks unlikely to clear the state Assembly. (Streetsblog)

One way to combat speeding, according to a new study: incentivize driving the speed limit. (NPR)

Money to construct the so-called NAFTA Superhighway -- a road that passes through eight states between Canada and Mexico -- is running out. (WFIU via NPR)

Port Authority police have stopped ticketing motorists in New Jersey who pick up pedestrians before crossing the George Washington Bridge into New York City. (AP via Wall Street Journal)

If New York's bike share program is a success, it could spark "a brand-new industry in the U.S.," according to Alta's Alison Cohen. (Fast Company)

New York's MTA may install video cameras on buses to record drivers behind the wheel — but the union vowed to fight such a move. (NY Daily News)

For the first time in his long-running dispute with Houston Metro, Rep. John Culberson (R-Houston) has managed to insert language into a $51.6 billion spending package that could block federal funding to expand the light rail system along Richmond and Post Oak. (Houston Chronicle)

Opinion: stuffy dress codes at federal offices in DC hamper healthy urban commuting choices. "How is anyone supposed to ride a bike to work in a tailored skirt or a starched dress shirt?" (GGW)

Legislators are expected to vote today on a $20.2 billion budget that restores funding for Charlotte’s $1 billion Lynx Blue Line extension to University City. (Charlotte Observer)

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell continue to battle over who represents Virginia on the MWAA board -- the body that oversees area airports and the multibillion-dollar Silver Line Metrorail project. (Washington Post)

The Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board voted to send state funds directly to cities and counties, rather than through the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, a change that local governments had fought. (Washington Post)

Police in Italy discovered 2 million Chinese-made counterfeit train tickets stashed in 28 cardboard boxes at the back of a container meant to be carrying office furniture and postcards. (ABC News)

Happy 7th annual Dump the Pump Day! (APTA)

(image courtesy of the American Public Transport Association)