Southbound Akard has been closed from Main to Commerce for weeks. As a pedestrian, the reduced traffic flow has made the walk so much nicer! Can we make this permanent please?

They’re going for a whole new style of decoration at Parker Road Station!

This book was written 60 years ago! We’ve known for 60 years! And yet we still have to have the “Won’t somebody think of the traffic??” fight every time anyone wants to build anything.

Oh man, why did I wait so long to read Death and Life? It continues to astound me how perfectly this 60 year old book describes Plano’s current predicament.

New month, so time for a new book! This month, I’m reading a seminal book I should have gotten to a while ago: Jane Jacob’s Death and Life of Great American Cities. This is April’s @ridewithdata.org book club book!

Human Transit explains why putting the high speed rail station at Cedars is a mistake. Union Station is right there and already connects to Red, Blue, Dallas Street Car, TRE, and Amtrak. Instead, we’re putting it barely a mile away but where it only connects to Red and Blue. This is an own goal.

Chapter 8 clearly demonstrates why one hour frequencies on the Silver Line is a huge whiff. I can’t realistically plan my flights around the Silver Line train table. If, on average, just waiting for the train is as long as the drive home (and sometimes far worse), it might as well not exist.

New month, new urbanism read! This month, I’m reading Human Transit by Jarrett Walker. Really looking forward to this one!

That presentation in a nutshell: Uber lobbyist getting paid six figures looking sad about transit.

I… I thought the website was part of the joke at first. Just look at this. Like 10% of this is talking about amenities and 90% is about the rules of the amenities. Tell me you like playing dictator without telling me you like playing dictator. This screenshot is barely a quarter of it!

The new year is here, so time to start on my urbanism book list! Up first, Jeff Speck’s Walkable City. Didn’t take long to get the first eye popping statistic. Wowza!

Getting started on my yearlong read of this tome! I’m reading through the intro this week so I’m ready for chapter 1 in the first week of the new year.

Working on my reading goals for 2025. I haven’t read near enough of the urbanism “must reads”, and I want to rectify that. Here’s what I have so far. I’ve already read Strong Towns, Confessions, Arbitrary Lines, and Paved Paradise, and I’ll spread Power Broker over the year. What else am I missing?

Some more photos now that I’m off the train

Second year out of the last three getting the holiday train! What a fun surprise!

I got delayed getting out of the house this morning and was on a much later train than usual. Nonetheless, the Orange Line car I was in had almost every seat filled!

The K Avenue Lofts at Parker Road Station are a fantastic starting point for turning this area into a transit oriented area. The new entrance allowing direct access to the station is a great addition! But let’s not stop here. This area has so much potential!

Picked up some appropriate reading for the train ride in today, too.

If you have to post this sign, maybe it’s time to pedestrianize Akard? #downtowndallas