Washington, DC’s “textbook example” of value capture


This month on Building Better Communities with Transit, our host Jeff Wood talks with Stan Wall of HR&A Advisors about value capture is and the NoMa–Gallaudet U station in Washington, DC. According to Stan, that station is “the most textbook, beautiful example of the possibilities in creating value and leveraging that to extreme positive benefit for a city.”

Transportation

Intersections: Building an inclusive future through creative placemaking


During Intersections, we’ll hear from the team at Washington DC’s Office of Planning who have been spearheading the District’s biggest and most innovative creative placemaking program to-date. Since 2016, the projects coming from this program have strengthened community bonds and collaboration, activated public spaces, and showcased community culture and heritage.

Complete Streets

A new newsletter about creating great, equitable TOD

Introducing a new weekly newsletter all about the best practices in transit-oriented development.

TODresources.org is home to a trove of information about equitable transit-oriented development projects from across the country. These resources showcase the best, most innovate approaches to TOD nationwide. We want to better highlight those strategies and help more people across the country use them in the year to come.

Uncategorized

Watch the recorded kickoff discussion of “Empty Spaces”

On Tuesday we released Empty Spaces, new research looking at the real parking needed at five transit-oriented developments (TODs). The report, produced in partnership the University of Utah, looks at how much less parking is required at TOD than standard engineering guidelines suggest, and how many fewer vehicle trips are generated than those guidelines estimate.

Transportation

Introducing “Empty Spaces,” new research about parking at five TODs

The land near transit stations is a valuable commodity. Hundreds or thousands of people travel to and through these places each day, and decisions about what to do with this land have implications for local economies, transit ridership, residents’ access to opportunity, and overall quality of life for everyone in a community.

Many communities choose to dedicate at least some of that land for parking. The question is, how much? Standard engineering guidelines are designed for mostly isolated suburban land uses—not walkable, urban places served by transit. But few alternative guidelines for engineers exist.

Empty Spaces: Real parking needs at five TODs, released today, set out to determine how much less parking is required at transit-oriented developments (TODs) and how many fewer vehicle trips are generated than standard industry estimates.

LOCUS Transportation

All aboard for more accessible bus stops in greater Washington, DC

DC WMATA bus credit Elvert Barnes flickr
Photo: Elvert Barnes via Flickr

This post is the seventh in a series of case studies about Complete Streets people, places, and projects. Catch the final one next month!

The Washington, DC region prides itself on robust bus service, and a recent change to bus stop accessibility standards is opening the system to even more people.

Thousands of people in the Washington, DC region take the bus each day, including people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides three basic criteria when defining an “accessible” bus stop. It should 1) have a firm landing surface; 2) be at least five feet wide and eight feet long; and 3) connect to the curb. Because when bus stops are narrow or located in a patch of grass, getting to and waiting at the bus stop isn’t just unpleasant for people with disabilities — it’s a barrier to travel.

Complete Streets