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This is one of those things that still boggles a little bit. I know that American government has, as a rule, always been pretty hands-off about this kind of thing, but there must've been some documentation about it somewhere, even if in a musty old filing cabinet in some defunct agency's...

So if I'm seeing this correctly, the hotel would be demolished for even more parking?? I haven't lived in Manch for a couple years now, and never spent much time in this area besides going to the theater (when it was there) and the Hannaford's when I did, but I never remember this parking crater...

I think we all here know that the financial objections over commuter rail to NH is a red herring. "Trains are socialist"; "we don't want the countryside subsidizing a city train"; etc., etc., on and on. NH conservatives/libertarians/whateveryouwanttocallthems are so far up their own behinds...

I dunno, there's a good chance they (meaning anti-transit people) will seize the high cost of Caltrain's electrification as a reason not to do it, rather than a lesson on how to do it better. Why learn to do the project right when you can try to persuade people not to do it at all? That was...

^^Can't ever stop imagining a fantasy land where not everyone's forced into a car outside 128, they spent decades building housing to meet demand, and Greater Boston's actually kept its population growing as it probably wanted to (so to speak), rather than forcing people to totally different...

^^Really wish New Hampshire--and all of New England--would lean much more heavily into this kind of urbanization. A. It's what people half-way expect of (and the other half-way, want from) the region, and B. it's a great way to remind people that more density--more people--is how you eventually...

I imagine that, particularly in the U.S. where overhead wired trains very nearly don't exist, the most familiar electrification paradigm is battery electric cars; it's an understandable kind of confusion, and not technically wrong. Only shame is it obfuscates the dramatic difference in materials...

Boston's higher ed industry has enough international renown that I don't know how much a domestic decline in young people will impact it, assuming it continues to be a fairly welcoming environment for immigrants. It's definitely something the region should be worried about, but inasmuch because...

Are regular EMUs cheaper than BEMUs, OCS investment aside? I'd think so, what with batteries being so expensive and EMUs being a very mature technology.

Yes, this, too. There is a truly gross amount of bad faith argument over things like sidewalks/bike lanes which would take away car space in the name of friendliness to the disabled. As if ensuring the nearly-mandated costs of car ownership ALSO apply to people with disabilities is any kind of...

^^"Of course that sounds horrible because it threatens individual autonomy, the very principle held as sacrosanct in the West—and especially America—that is also the core "value" that prevents any sensible or rational policy that benefits the community over the individual." Unless you, as an...

100%. I'd never seen these until I moved to the PNW (Metro Portland, OR, specifically.). They do not work. All you're doing is creating another merge point, which is...always a challenge for people, but especially out here, where people do not pay attention while driving, traffic slows...

Wouldn't this require signalling upgrades? I know that's a project, but I agree that ultimately it'd be well worth doing.

NH needs to get real about its future. The boom times of the 70's-90's are probably never coming back, as most of the cheap, easy-to-develop areas are already gone, and the whole state is obviously still very dependent on Mass for a lot of its economic activity. If cheap housing isn't a draw...

1. I shouldn't have to tell you that it's not that simple; "what people want" is not a value that exists in a vacuum, nor is "profitable to build". 2. Yeah, but there really, really wasn't. Post the '08 financial crisis, housing construction dropped precipitously, and has still not reached that...

^^Don't forget, too, that the last-mile issue has 2 very cheap and efficient solutions that can be provided for very, very cheaply: walking and rolling (bike, wheelchair, etc.). Maximizing people's comfort with those mixed mode trips--with better infrastructure, and as often, frequent and...

I'm always, always, always going to contest this, mostly because the counterfactual--that people don't like SFH and are essentially forced into it--is as untestable as the initial claim. There are almost too many factors to count: 1. It's not a secret to anyone here, I'd think, that in the vast...

^^At this stage, most Americans aren't used to being able to expect their government to do things for them...at least in ways they're conscious and conscientious of. The truth of it, too, is that NSRL is probably in a real sense logistically and publically easier than Regional Rail-ification...

I ought to have been more specific. The “importation” I’d like to do is as much Euro/East Asian ideas about transit/urban planning as much as foreign experts themselves, though of course the latter would be welcome, too, if they’d not (fairly enough) consider it a downgrade. It’s part of the...

All true, but it’s not right to pretend that Mass’ government spends its money wisely and well. Inefficient use of public funds is the norm across the entire country, especially regarding infrastructure spending. We have a lot to learn from other developed countries; only our stupid and...