Two Years of TransitCon Presentations
Itinerant Urbanist
by sajohnston
2y ago
So, several months later, I realized that I never posted my presentation from this year’s TransitCon. The talk’s about the (false dichotomy of) improving rail in the US incrementally or in big leaps, and more precisely how the risk of overspending and underdelivering that plagues our project delivery accrues to incremental projects as much as huge ones. You can find the slides here. And when I went to post that video, I realized I never posted last year’s, either! That talk was about railroad electrification. You can find the slides here. I should emphasize that in both cases I was speaking ..read more
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Conservative Procurement is a Strategic Threat to American Passenger Railroading
Itinerant Urbanist
by sajohnston
2y ago
Jim Cameron, a Connecticut commuter rail advocate generally tight with Connecticut DOT and Metro-North, has an interview with CTDOT Commissioner Joe Giulietti (a former president of Metro-North) in the CT Mirror this week. Most of it isn’t super interesting, per the generally restore-the-status-quo orientation that both men seem to share, but Giulietti did drop one interesting nugget: Rail and signal enhancements on the diesel-only Waterbury branch line will mean expanded service but not new cars, at least not yet.  The CDOT request to the tiny rail car industry for new cars proposals br ..read more
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Some Updates
Itinerant Urbanist
by sajohnston
2y ago
Well, it’s been a long time! I haven’t had much time or motivation to write, but hopefully that will begin to change some time soon. Famous last words. Alert observers who for some reason follow me extremely closely may have noticed that my employer has a job listed that covers my major responsibilities–namely, managing the Boston MPO’s federally required budget plan. That doesn’t mean that I’m leaving Boston or MPO work, though! I’ve been at CTPS for almost five years, and I’m taking on some new responsibilities that I’m very excited about, and that I’ll get to in a moment. But first, apply f ..read more
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The Mohawk Valley and Freight Sprawl
Itinerant Urbanist
by sajohnston
4y ago
A new bulletin from my old haunts in Upstate New York got me thinking about how the overlapping dysfunctions in several relatively obscure subfields of public policy and planning combine to produce overall outcomes that are far from optimal. Earlier this month, Union Pacific announced that it was shutting down its Cold Connect service, which moved refrigerated produce from California and Washington to a massive, and recently constructed, warehouse in Rotterdam, NY, next to Schenectady on CSX’ former New York Central Water Level Route. UP’s statement on the closure claimed that Since acquiring ..read more
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Outreach and Gatekeeping
Itinerant Urbanist
by sajohnston
4y ago
(my first blog post in over a year! Amazing!)   Last night LivableStreets Alliance, one of the Boston area’s leading transportation advocacy groups, hosted one of their ongoing series of Virtual StreetTalk events. While I wasn’t able to make the event, I did follow it a little bit through Twitter. One of the resources they shared is a document on Principles for Equitable Public Outreach & Engagement During COVID-19 and Beyond compiled by Naomi Doerner and Yanisa Techagumthorn of Nelson/Nygaard. I think it’s a really excellent document and set of principles that I expect to engage deep ..read more
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