Day 7: Union Terminal - Cincinnati, OH

Eric Fredericks • Monday July 9, 2007

I made my first real visit to Cincinnati on a freezing day in mid-January 2003. I had the pleasure of visiting (and getting warm inside) the Union Terminal. Inside, you’ll find a cool children’s museum, a railroad museum, and some beautiful mosaics. The outside of the building is quite impressive as well and is an icon on the western edges of downtown Cinci. The terminal is still active, with a daily Amtrak service.

This photo I shot just inside the entrance. It has a very solemn feel for me—almost haunting. I had no idea what to expect when entering the building, but I vividly remember enjoying it.

In my opinion, Cincinnati has the most impressive skyline of the Ohio cities. Mostly because of the great view of the skyline coming through the Gap in Northern Kentucky on I-71 & 75. There are quite a few walkable neighborhoods to explore in Cincinnati, despite its less-than-stellar reputation.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Public Transit •• Region: Cincinnati •• comments

Day 5: K Street Mall - Sacramento, CA

Eric Fredericks • Friday July 6, 2007

Today’s photo is from Sacramento, shot on the K Street Mall about 9 blocks from my apartment. The train pictured is the Sacramento Light Rail and behind it is an arts theater called the Crest Theater. The K Street Mall is a pedestrian and transit only street. Like most American pedestrian malls, it needs some work. Although, I do find myself on this street quite frequently, so it does have its plus sides. Just to the right of the Crest Theater is my favorite sushi restaurant in town – Taiko Sushi.

This probably isn’t the best that Sacramento has to offer by any means. I just haven’t shot that many photos of Sacramento. Out of about 8,500 photos I’ve taken, only about 200 are from Sacramento. I need to get out and start shooting my own town!

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Public Transit •• Region: Sacramento •• comments

Day 4: Amtrak Station - Davis, CA

Eric Fredericks • Thursday July 5, 2007

The barrage of photos from California continues today, this time with a stop in Davis at the Amtrak Station. This station is the first stop west of Sacramento on the Capitol Corridor Amtrak train. It is truly a beautiful station.

Davis is an amazing town and the “Bicycling Capital of America.” There were many bikes parked at this station on the day I took this photo, and there are always many bikes parked every time I take the train to the Bay Area.

This station is adjacent to a beautiful new mixed-use TOD and is connected to the quaint downtown. I chose this photo over the hundreds of photos I shot here because most of my other photos had so much vegetation that it was hard to see anything. Yeah, Davis is that cool. It even has its own very popular wiki.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Public Transit •• Region: Sacramento •• comments [2]

Ontario's Plans for Public Transit: $11.5 Billion

Eric Fredericks • Tuesday June 19, 2007

One more reason that I really need to visit Toronto. Can our neighbors to the north please share some political will with our politicians? Thanks!

In a surprise announcement before the fall provincial election, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty unveiled plans Friday to spend $11.5-billion over 12 years on a lengthy list of public-transit projects in what the government boasted was the largest such investment in Canadian history.

Mr. McGuinty promised to cover two-thirds of the cost of more than 50 rapid-transit projects in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton — up from the current routine provincial commitment of one-third and a funding level unheard of since the 1990s. Mr. McGuinty actually trumpeted Friday’s plan as a $17.5-billion investment — but that number includes $6-billion in federal money as yet uncommitted.

Ontario planning $11.5-billion in public transit via Active Transportation Listserv

 

Category: Public Transit •• Region: Canada •• comments

Fire Takes Out Sacramento Amtrak and Major Bike Path

Eric Fredericks • Thursday March 15, 2007

Sacramento was delivered a harsh blow to multi-modal transportation options tonight.

A portion of the Union Pacific Railroad caught fire and sent huge plumes of black smoke into the air. Parts of the elevated railway collapsed, essentially taking out major Amtrak service indefinitely. This particular Amtrak line runs from Chicago to the Bay Area, and the section from Sacramento to San Jose has the second highest number of riders behind the East Coast’s Acela service. This section of track is also a heavy freight corridor. The economic impacts from this will be huge.

Not only did we lose our wonderful rail service, we also have lost another important resource: The American River Bike Trail. The trail travels right under the rail trestle, and from the looks of the damage, it’s probably severe enough to temporarily shut off access for risk of the track collapsing. Hopefully, an alternative or quick temporary solution can be found. It’s an important connection for bicycle commuters.

This was the largest plume of smoke I’ve ever seen from a fire (with my own eyes). It was very impressive, although I knew (without actually knowing what happened) that the damage was severe. You could see it clearly from my Downtown home and office, or even from hundreds of miles away.

I strongly hope that the track and bridge structures can be quickly replaced. This is an unfortunate illustration of just how fragile our transportation system is – especially for non-vehicular modes. The bus service to replace the Amtrak line just won’t be the same for the riders. Freight service will likely be shorthanded for quite some time. Maybe this will help spark some debate on the importance of additional transit, bike, and pedestrian travel alternatives!!

My apologies on the quality of the photos—my mobility is still limited because of my broken ankle, and with a very sensitive camera, so are my photography skills when shooting on one good leg!

 

Category: Public Transit •• Region: Sacramento •• comments [2]

ETE: On DANISH Trains...

Lauren Hilliard • Tuesday September 5, 2006

Being in Copenhagen for a week now, I can hop on and off the S-Tog train system without thinking twice. It is great living only a few stops from the Stroget, the huge pedestrian city centre with tons of FABULOUS places to shop. The best part is that I can tote Nicole’s pink bike around everywhere with me! Check out the bike parking on the S-Tog is this picture — very simple and effective. You just have to look for the bicycle picture on select car windows to know which section of the train to board. This open area on the train is used for strollers as well.

This article is part of the Exploring Transportation in Europe series.

 

Category: Public Transit •• Region: Denmark •• comments

ETE: On GERMAN Hauptbahnhofen...

Lauren Hilliard • Thursday August 17, 2006

We arrived in Berlin’s new and AMAZING Hauptbahnhof (central train station), which cost 900 million euros to construct. This station was absolutely incredible. It was basically a massive shopping mall/transport hub…..how fun that you can go shoe shopping while waiting for the train! This picture shows just a few of the 5 levels in the building to accomodate the various integration of transport:

Level -2: U-Bahn (Berlin’s underground rail network)
Level -1: U-Bahn
Level E: Berlin’s Trams and Busses
Level 1: The S-Bahn train (Berlin’s surface rail)
Level 2: The DB trains (Deutsch Bahn rail company), including RE (regional trains) and ICE (high-speed rail)

This article is part of the Exploring Transportation in Europe series.

 

Category: Public Transit •• Region: Germany •• comments

ETE: On GERMAN High-Speed Rail...

Lauren Hilliard • Tuesday August 15, 2006

Clocking in at a speed of 250 km/hour (over 150 miles/hour), we took the famous German ICE train from Freiburg to Berlin. The scenic 800 mile trip was much nicer by rail than highway I would say! We had a minor mishap on the journey home though since we got off at the wrong Frankfurt station and missed our connecting ICE train back to Freiburg. But not a problem! We simply caught the next one only one hour later after negotiating new seats for our group of 25 American students who ALL managed to get off at the wrong stop.

This article is part of the Exploring Transportation in Europe series.

 

Category: Public Transit •• Region: Germany •• Comments

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