Streetcar's tend to be less than half the cost of Light Rail, faster to implement, and work more easily in an urban environment. The OCTA hopes to combine modern and historic streetcar service that will one day connect to major transportation hubs in Downtown Dallas.
Oak Cliff Delegation Visits Portland
Written by Jason Roberts
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
A delegation of Oak Cliff representatives, co-sponsored by OCTA, the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, and the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group, recently returned from visiting Portland, Oregon to meet with heads of that city's Streetcar operations. While there, the team explored the various corridors, and studied how they have successfully meshed mixed-use developments into the residential neighborhoods, and how the streets have been made to accomodate pedestrians. Pictures from the trip can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29949452@N08/
The Oak Cliff Viaduct made for Streetcars!
Written by Jason Roberts
Thursday, 24 July 2008
About a year ago, I dug around some old papers in the Preservation Dallas house on Swiss, and came across the original 1909 call-for-bids sheet sent out by the city which outlined the requirements for building the Dallas-Oak Cliff Viaduct. In it, one line stood out...the bridge must be made to allow for a trolley in its future.
Fast forward to today, Luis and I head over the city vault on Jefferson Blvd, where all of the public works blueprints exist. Our hope was to find some evidence that the bridge was built for the advent of rail, what we found was incredible.
First of all, the old scrolls were completely falling apart since they're 100 years old. We slowly unraveled them and found that, not only was the mid-section reinforced for a double track trolley line, but they even built columns in preparation for the trolley poles. This is INCREDIBLE news! Also, it appears they went ahead and added the rails, and just covered them with asphalt, to dig up at a later time. Luis took a metal detector out later in the day, and picked up a very positive signal in the same location as the rails notation on the blueprints.
This is a major find because it means that connecting Downtown Dallas/Union Station and the future Convention Center hotel to North Oak Cliff is partially done, and a giant chunk of the expense is knocked out because the rail is waiting to be uncovered and used, plus the bridge is structurally prepared. It's also a big deal because the viaduct is on the state's historic register.
Here's an image of one of the trolley pole columns:
Small streetcar shops on Dallas' most-endangered list
Written by Jason Roberts
Sunday, 06 July 2008
The Dallas Morning News wrote a great article on our old streetcar shops that are falling on the city's endangered list. You can read the story here.
IBM releases "Commuter Pain" survey...Dallas ranks in top 5
The following film clip, from the amazing documentary Contested Streets, outlines how Copenhagen took on the challenge of introducing multi-modal transit options into their downtown. It's particularly interesting to see entire streets that were once filled with parked cars being transformed into pedestrian only markets. Also, take note of how the people and business community initially were skeptical about the new planning, stating things like "It will never work...we're Danes, not Italians...we have no history or tradition for walking". I highly recommend ordering a full copy for viewing the entire film. The outtakes and extras, including interviews with urban planners from around the world, are worth the price alone. OCTA hopes to implement several of the ideas adopted by the planner interviewed, Jan Gehl, who is responsible for many of the successful changes occurring in revitalized urban cities around the world.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Designing walkable communities is a cost-effective way to address the growing epidemic of obesity in the United States and cut down on harmful car emissions and pollution, a researcher told the American College of Sports Medicine's 12th annual Health and Fitness Summit in Long Beach, California.
The problem, said Jim Sallis from San Diego State University, is that local zoning laws essentially prevent the development of walkable communities. "Zoning laws today," he told Reuters Health, "really enforce the separation of uses; they are designed to move cars as quickly as possible -- which is dangerous to pedestrians."
Sallis recently took a tour with urban planners in a new development in San Diego designed to be walkable. "The developers told me they had to get 25 waivers from zoning laws to put in the development. All that kind of paperwork costs the developer time and money so it discourages them from building walkable neighborhoods," Sallis said.
He encourages people to "be a voice for walkable neighborhoods and parks in your area and help change local zoning laws."
Sallis would also like to dispel the misconception that walkable communities are more expensive to build. They aren't, he said, noting that money spent on building, maintaining and expanding roadways could be re-allocated to building sidewalks and trails.
Walkable cities "have worked for thousands of years," Sallis points out. The most walkable cities are on the east coast of the U.S. because they are older. "Any city built in the 1800s is likely to be walkable because everyone who lived there walked. Cities like Boston, Manhattan, Washington D.C., inner Baltimore, Savannah, Charleston, are all very walkable," he noted.
In the west there are fewer walkable cities, except for Portland, which has made a concerted effort to make the city pedestrian-friendly, Sallis said. "Many years ago, Portland set up policies for transportation planning that make pedestrians a first priority, cyclists second, public transit riders third, and car drivers last. It's now one of the most activity-friendly cities in the country."
"The suburbs have really been designed to take away the option of walking to places; there are no sidewalks, everything is spread out, and there is really only one way to get around and that is by car," according to Sallis.
The good news, he said, is that more and more communities are embracing the idea of becoming more activity-friendly by adopting "mixed-use" area laws.
Recent Brookings Institute report states people wanting more "walkable" cities
Written by Jason Roberts
Wednesday, 05 December 2007
The Brookings Institute released a report yesterday stating that young people are looking to live in walkable cities. They rank cities throughout the US, with Washington DC topping the list, followed closely by New York City.
The Dallas Morning News coverage of the report quotes the study's author, citing the Metro rail line as the reason for DC's high ranking:
"Mr. Leinberger attributes Washington's success with walkability to several factors, including a large population of 20- and 30-somethings and recent strong economic growth. But the chief factor, he said, is the success of the Metro. The 31-year-old rail system has transformed the region, shaping development and making the walkable urban model more viable. "
EPA set to tighten acceptable standards for DFW ozone levels.
Written by Jason Roberts
Monday, 26 November 2007
The Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News highlights a story on the city's attempt to block the EPA's request to tighten area standards on acceptable ozone levels.
According to the story, many scientists and medical groups have concluded that the current ozone limit, set in 1997, can no longer be considered safe. They include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Society, the American Thoracic Society, the American Lung Association, the administrator and staff of the EPA, and all 23 members of a panel that reviewed the science for the EPA.
Automobiles, followed by industry, are considered the number one contributor to DFW's high pollution levels.
WBJ: Several former streetcar routes returning to D.C.
Written by Jason Roberts
Friday, 23 November 2007
Forty-five years after increasing auto traffic squeezed the region's streetcars off their tracks, that congestion -- now exponentially worse -- may be fueling their return.
Several new streetcar lines are on track to arrive in the area, planned by municipalities hoping to return their commercial corridors to the pedestrian- and tourist-friendly places they were before the automobile began to dominate the scene.
Urban areas around the country are doing likewise, hoping to ride trolleys toward the dual ends of traffic reduction and tourist promotion.
"What's happened with streetcars is they are both a means of mobility and an economic development assist," said Jim Graebner, who chairs a committee on streetcars for the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Cities everywhere are hoping to leverage the old-made-modern mode of transportation into tourist dollars and traffic reduction, he said. "The streetcar can be the thing that makes it happen."
Read more of the article from the Washington Business Journal here.
T. Boone Pickens: we peaked last year, globally
Written by Jason Roberts
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
Legendary Texas oilman and chair of BP Capital, T. Boone Pickens, held an impromptu video question and answer session at ASPO Houston with Global Public Media's Julian Darley and other journalists last month. Pickens spoke about the peaking of world oil production, which he says occurred in 2006.
79 year old billionaire T. Boone Pickens is ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 131st richest person in the world. Pickens was a well-known takeover artist who he grew his company, Mesa Petroleum, by acquisitions rather than by exploration alone. In recent years Pickens has spoken out on the issue of peak oil and he advocates, amongst other responses, the promotion of renewable energy technologies. Streetcar systems and Light Rail fall under this category, due to being powered by electricity and not petroleum.
Click here to view the transcript, and here to view the video.
In case you missed it, PBS aired an episode of the award winning show, the History Detectives, that focused on the demise of America's streetcar system. They delved into the theory that GM had a hand in closing the streetcars in order to promote its new bus lines. The evidence seems pretty compelling after viewing the episode. You can read the transcript here.
The first entry
Written by Jason Roberts
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
This is the first blog entry for the Oak Cliff Transit Authority. We plan on rolling out a lot of information in the future, so check back often for updates on our progress.
Special thanks to OCTA board member, David Jennings of Bauart Creative for programming this site, and for helping with our recent brochure.
The Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News highlights 
Legendary Texas oilman and chair of BP Capital, T. Boone Pickens, held an impromptu video question and answer session at ASPO Houston with Global Public Media's Julian Darley and other journalists last month. Pickens spoke about the peaking of world oil production, which he says occurred in 2006.