"Light Rail Without Wires: A Dream Come True?" a 2004 article by John D. Swanson of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.

Transit Cooperative Research Program Report 153, "Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations," has been added to the Research Center best practices database. The report offers guidelines for providing access to rapid transit stations, describes a station access planning process, and provides a high-level station access planning tool.

The Wall Street Journal’s April 30 opinion piece, “The New Earmarkers: Cost Analysis for Transit Projects Gives Way to ‘Social Equity’”, demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Federal Transit Administration evaluates proposed transit projects under its New Starts grant program.  The piece implies that proposed rules issued earlier this year would “do away with … comparative cost analysis” and would instead give more weight in the evaluation process to “social equity and environmental considerations.”  This assertion is wrong on both counts.

The Urban Land Institute San Francisco report "10 Strategies for Attracting Investment Near Transit" has been added to the Resource Center best practices database. The 2011 report compiles five years experience from the ULI San Francisco TOD MarketPlace program.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas is located in the very southernmost region of the continental U.S.  This area is composed of three counties with 3,643 square miles which contains a population of over 1.2 million inhabitants.1 This land area is larger in square miles than two states (DE and RI), and has a population larger than eight states (WY, VT, ND, AK, SD, DE, MT, RI). If the distances weren’t enough of a problem for transit providers, there is the dispersion of the population over those 3,600 square miles. Dispersion occurs as a result of small, very poor housing communities called colonias.

CNU 20 Hot Topics: Doing Well By Doing Good - Since 1982 Through bust and boom, New Urbanist projects outperformed their neighbors and through the recession they have held their value better. Building the New Urbanism means having a flexible, diversified portfolio that can weather the storms of the market without missing the peaks. At CNU 20, you will expand your ability to survive and thrive in the marketplace by appealing to different generations of buyers and catching up with the major trends in real estate. Designing Place Collaboratively - Since 1993 The coming decades of planning will require responses to a myriad of concerns including economic, environment, fiscal, and social challenges. These challenges will require a long-term, coordinated response with solutions that cross disciplinary boundaries. For over 20 years, New Urbanists have been fighting alongside fellow planners and architects for holistic, interdisciplinary solutions to our most pressing problems. The annual…

Four documents related to pedestrians and walkability have been added to the Resource Center best practices database.

Sacramento Regional Transit's draft TransitRenewal 2012-2017 Sevice Implementation for TransitAction has been added to the Research Center best practices database. The document aims to position the transit district's network to sustainably meet future transit demand within its service area.