Featured Report
Putting Transit to Work in Main Street America
Reconnecting America and the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) examine how smaller communities and rural regions are using transit and other mobility investments to revitalize their economies and connect residents to local and regional opportunities.
Enhancing Economic Opportunity through Transit: Lessons Learned from Denver’s Southeast Light Rail Line
April 17, 2013
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Introduction
The Denver region is currently embarking on one of the most ambitious and extensive investments in new rail and bus service in the United States. In less than a decade, the $7.8 billion FasTracks transportation infrastructure project will connect much of the Denver Metro region with 122 miles of new commuter and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit, 70 new transit stations and a variety of other expanded multimodal options.1 This investment has the potential to expand the reach of opportunity for many people, providing better connections between housing, jobs and other essential destinations. New transit service will provide more transportation options to major job centers and educational institutions that provide career ladders and workforce training for people of all incomes and skill levels. Other regions are watching closely to see how the network is built out and if transit can spur new development and redevelopment of existing assets in station areas, as well…
Midsize Cities On The Move: A Look At The Next Generation Of Rapid Bus, Bus Rapid Transit, And Streetcar Projects In The United States
December 6, 2012
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Introduction
Public transportation investments have helped to shape many of America’s cities. The largest metropolises typically have extensive rail and bus systems that provide mobility for commuters, residents, and visitors and serve as the backbone of the regional economy. The recent shutdown of the New York subway system as a result of Hurricane Sandy, and the crippling gridlock that resulted, demonstrates the extent to which such cities depend on their transit systems. The benefits of such systems are well documented; New York’s subway, the DC Metro, Chicago’s “L” trains, and other large systems have been the subject of numerous studies of their economic and environmental impact.
At the other end of the spectrum, transit systems in small towns and rural areas have also been the subject of recent research, including “Exploring the Role of Regional Transportation Projects as Rural Economic Drivers” by the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) and…
Reconnecting America Releases “Are We There Yet? Creating Complete Communities for 21st Century America”
October 1, 2012
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Reconnecting America today released Are We There Yet? Creating Complete Communities for 21st Century America, an ambitious report that tracks progress in America’s regions toward a vision of complete communities.
Transit-Oriented Development Is Good Community Development
September 18, 2012
The steady dispersion of people and jobs across core cities, suburbs, and exurbs has contributed to more fragmented lifestyles, with people often living in one neighborhood, working in another, and shopping and recreating in another. There are myriad reasons for this fragmentation of land use. They include the initial drivers of suburbanization, such as the GI Bill, which made mortgages cheaper in the suburbs (at least for those who weren’t redlined out), the separation of land uses in response to contamination by industry in the mid-20th century, the expansion of the highway system and the attendant white flight to the suburbs, and the relative ease of building on greenfields versus more complicated infill development in existing urbanized areas. Today, the quality of people’s lives is increasingly influenced by the time and resources it takes to get where they need to go throughout the day and their ability to access the jobs, educational opportunities, and other life…
Policy Brief -- Locating Aff ordable Housing Near Transit: A Strategic Economic Decision
September 4, 2012
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Reconnecting America has written an eight-page policy brief that makes the economic case for locating affordable housing near transit.
Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit Sustainable Corridor Implementation Plan
July 29, 2012
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Introduction
In spring of 2011, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), in partnership with the City of Los Angeles, was awarded a grant from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) to prepare the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit Sustainable Corridor Implementation Plan (Orange Line BRT Sustainable CIP). Metro, the City of Los Angeles, and SCAG retained Raimi + Associates and its consultant team of The Center for Transit-Oriented Development and Nelson\Nygaard to assist with the planning effort.
The Orange Line BRT Sustainable CIP identifies a range of improvements to the Orange Line and the fourteen station areas on its original alignment – such as land use changes, catalyst projects, streetscape improvements, and transit connections – that will increase transit use for commuters and discretionary riders, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and advance Metro’s sustainable development principles. The four main goals of the Orange…
TOD 205 Guidebook Explains Value Of Incorporating Families Into TOD Planning
June 21, 2012
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The Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) and the Center for Cities & Schools (CC&S) at the University of California, Berkeley, today released "TOD 205 - Families and Transit-Oriented Development: Creating Complete Communities for All," the seventh in the Federal Transit Administration-sponsored series of reports explaining the best practices of transit-oriented development. This guidebook illustrates why planning for transit-oriented development that serves families is important for creating truly "complete" communities and how such planning can be achieved in conjunction with school stakeholders.
Putting Transit to Work in Main Street America: How Smaller Cities and Rural Places Are Using Transit and Mobility Investments to Strengthen Their Economies and Communities
May 24, 2012
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Introduction
Public transportation plays a critical and expanding role in rural America. Just as it does in urban environments, public transportation in small towns and rural areas provides mobility choices and promotes sustainable economies. Across the country, small towns and rural communities are developing partnerships to build intermodal transit centers, creating circulator buses to catalyze private investments in their downtowns, and improving connections between people and jobs. Small towns are using public transportation investments to help address the challenges of limited resources, populations both shrinking and growing older, industrial decline, and the loss of farmland. Through strong partnerships and creative funding mechanisms, rural America is creating stronger and healthier communities through transit1 investments. Connie Garber, a passionate advocate of rural services and transportation director at York County Community Action Corporation in Maine, sums…
Preservation in Transit-Oriented Districts: A Study on the Need, Priorities, and Tools in Protecting Assisted and Unassisted Housing in the City of Los Angeles
May 21, 2012
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Executive Summary
Los Angeles is transforming our future by investing in the largest transit expansion in the United States. By the end of 2012, the City alone will have 71 operating light rail or bus rapid transit stations, with dozens more in nearby communities throughout the county. Planned Measure R investments will add another 42 stations to the City, for a total of 113 stations in 30 years. These plans could happen instead within a quick, ten year time frame if the federal government approves America Fast Forward, bringing thousands of new transit construction and operations jobs to the City and connecting over 1.2 million existing jobs to high quality, fixed-guideway transit rich areas.
Ensuring that all of our families and workers are able to continue to live and work in our most transit rich neighborhoods is a key priority of the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD). One way to achieve this goal is to preserve existing affordable and rent stabilization…
The Denver Regional Equity Atlas: Mapping Opportunity At The Regional Scale
April 10, 2012
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The Denver Regional Equity Atlas was written by Reconnecting America and the Piton Foundation on behalf of Mile High Connects to inform the development of strategies to ensure that existing and expanding transit systems in the Metro Denver region provide greater access from affordable housing to jobs, good schools, health care and other essential services.
- The Denver Regional Equity Atlas (PDF, 5.6 MB)
- Executive Summary (PDF, 2.6 MB)
- Executive Summary and Demographics Chapter (PDF, 2.8 MB)
- Executive Summary and Housing Chapter (PDF, 3.4 MB)
- Executive Summary and Health Chapter (PDF, 3.1 MB)
- Executive Summary and Education Chapter (PDF, 2.8 MB)
- Executive Summary and Jobs and Economic Development Chapter (PDF, 3.3 MB)
