Image by brunoboris.

$8 billion, high-speed

The Obama administration awarded $8 billion for high speed rail, primarily to California, Tampa-Orlando, and the Midwest.

The Washington region got some smaller grants, like $75 million for a third track in Prince William and Stafford Counties and various small projects on the Northeast Corridor. (The Transport Politic, Fredericksburg.com, Scott, Gavin Baker, mcs)  (Tip: Scott)  

9.6% of trips, 1.2% of money

The Alliance for Biking and Walking released a report on bicycle and pedestrian spending, saying that only 1.2% of federal transportation dollars go to these modes which comprise 9.6% of trips. (Streetsblog Capitol Hill) … Virginia has the lowest per-capita rate of bike-ped funding in the nation, Maryland 45th. DC had the fourth-highest among cities. (The highest: Atlanta.) WashCycle extracts more details.  

Money for less free parking

The California Senate approved financial incentives for cities to reduce free parking and reduce minimum parking requirements. (LA Times, Ben)  (Tip: Ben)  

Indian freeway turns town square into barrier

India put a 4-lane freeway (with camel lanes) in place of a crowded 2-lane rural road that had also functioned somewhat like a town square. Now people can get to other cities faster and it triggered a new engineering college nearby, but designers didn’t accommodate crossing pedestrians, and people cross all the time, leading to many more deaths.  

Challenge BikeArlington

If you commute to or from Arlington by car, foot, or transit, BikeArlington wants to try to bike it faster for the “Bike Vs.” challenge. Send them your commute details and see how their time stacks up against yours. (CommuterPageBlog)  

3-foot passing closer to passing

It lost the Careless Driving misdemeanor and a rule against passing too closely, but the bill expanding the bicycle passing distance to 3 feet made it out of committee and is heading to the Senate floor. (VA Bicycling Federation)  

Urbanist Republican(s) for Planning Board

Montgomery County has narrowed the field to five for the open Republican seat on the Planning Board. Friends of White Flint want Ken Hurdle, who has a strong commitment to New Urbanism. (Post, FLOG)