The Hundred-Mile-Long Traffic Jam

"Heeding days of dire warnings about Hurricane Rita, as many as 2.5 million people jammed evacuation routes on Thursday, creating colossal 100-mile-long traffic jams that left many people stranded and out of gas as the huge storm bore down on the Texas coast," says the New York Times report of the desperate attempt to flee in adavnce of the hurricane. "Acknowledging that 'being on the highway is a deathtrap,' Mayor Bill White asked for military help in rushing scarce fuel to stranded drivers."

Even with days of advance warning, it has still proven all but impossible to evacuate major metropolitan areas relying largely on private vehicles. After the crisis eases, this is something officials will have to think long and hard about. Do we try to come up with plans that will allow for reasonable evacuations, that somehow better augment the private automobile/SUV? Do we acknowledge that our current development patterns are dangerous, and work in the long term to make them safer? Or do we basically acknowledge that such widescale emergency evacuation needs are rare and thus accept this inability to get people out in a reasonable manner? Because doing nothing is actually dong the last choice - admitting that we simply can't evacuate a major metro area in any sort of timely fashion.

Now That’s Screening

Take a look at this entrance to the Marginal Way, a spectacular cliff/oceanside walking path in Ogunquit, Maine:



You'd never guess that the flower border, grass buffer and line of trees (to the right, out of the photo) are actually screening part of a parking lot at a nearby hotel. In fact, I walked by there a number of times before even realizing there were cars parked just a few feet away.

It IS possible to create a pedestrian-appealing walking environment not far from parking. But you have to try. Waist-high shrubs don't do it.

South Weymouth Base Redevelopment

Planners say the shuttered naval base could be "the future of Massachusetts development -- a vibrant, updated version of an old classic, the New England town center," the Boston Globe observes. "Within a dozen years, this spot will be transformed into a neighborhood for roughly 7,000 residents who can work at a nearby office campus, eat lunch at cafes, do their shopping along Main Street, exercise at playing fields, and never need to drive."

That's the idea of smart growth - create neighborhoods where it's possible to survive without a car. Many Americans outside of New York City - the only major U.S. urban area where more than half of residents take public transit to work - don't understand what non-car-dependent urban development patterns look like. It was interesting to hear my New York cousin's comments over Labor Day weekend when we visited the beautifully restored Charlestown neighborhood around the naval yard there. He looked around and quickly saw that there were no neighborhood stores within easy walking distance. Most suburbanites wouldn't have noticed.

But getting back to South Weymouth:

"The 'Village Center' development will be easy to navigate -- everything will be about a 5-minute walk from the commuter rail station -- and officials hope it will provide a model for the redevelopment of other military bases as New England faces another round of closures," according to the Globe. Officials in Abington, Rockland, and Weymouth "all embraced the plan this summer," the paper adds.

Drawings of the development were in the paper version of the Globe, but not on Boston.com. You can see some initial drawings from the Sept. 24, 2004 Patriot-Ledger, when the base plan was first announced.

It looks very promising; my only initial complaint is that it appears somewhat isolated from surrounding communities.

Assabet River Rail Trail Grand Opening

I have to admit I'm a bit jealous of this month's Assabet River Rail Trail grand opening (Sept. 24, 9 am to 3 pm, Hudson & Marlboro). How many years now have we heard that this would be the year at least a portion of the Cochituate Rail Trail would open to the public? (The crtrail.org's Framingham section helpfully advises that "the Town expects to open a short section of trail sometime in 2004." Sigh.)

At the Framingham Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee this week, I heard comments that the Assabet trail is quite nice, including a beautiful tunnel under the I-290 connector. Committee members also expressed confidence that the Cochituate trail will be even nicer; but at this point, I'd happily settle for usable, safe, reasonably appealing and open sometime this decade. This is NOT meant a criticism of the people working on the Cochituate trail, by the way - a group of very dedicated and hard-working individuals.

But I'm a bit baffled as to why it seems to take just a few months from concept to construction for, say, a new Lowe's store on Rte. 30 in Framingham (I haven't seen the final plans, but I fear it will significantly more pedestrian-hostile to the streetscape than the NE Telephone building that was there before it); yet plans for a trail for walkers and bicyclists in Framingham and Natick are going on half a decade. Sure, Lowe's will be paying property taxes. But so do the walking and bicycling citizens around here.

Neighbors Applaud Planned Memphis ‘Smart Growth’ Project

"As city and county leaders look for ways to tame the monster that is sprawl, neighbors of the planned development in the rapidly growing area near Walnut Grove and Forest Hill Irene are citing the project as a model for others to follow," the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports.

The Gardens of Gray's Hollow development, to be built in phases, may ultimately include more than 1,100 residetial units on about 380 acres. Lot sizes will vary from 5,000 to 20,000 square feet. About 38% of the site will be used for open space, the newspaper notes, but not simply empty unusable space as a buffer between it and neraby developments. Instead, some homes will look out on small town "greens;" there will also be a "greenbelt system" including walking paths as well as conventional sidewalks. "Five areas of the greenbelt system where the developer plans to remove dirt for construction will be turned into lakes. "

Carson Looney, who lives in the Grays Creek area, said that while the original plan had some serious flaws, Bronze was willing to work with his potential new neighbors to maintain the integrity of bordering properties and streetscapes while creating a neighborhood that can be sustained over a long period of time.

Of course, you have to have some forward-thinking zoning to get developments like that, instead of knee-jerk reactions that require cookie-cutter suburban lot sizes.

It's unclear from the article whether there will be commercial and office space in the development as well; and if so, what kind. "Smart growth" typically includes the ability for residents to walk to destinations besides someone else's home, such as shopping and even work.