Earlier this month America 2050 sponsored a two-day planning charrette in Portland, Oregon with stakeholders along the Pacific Northwest Rail Corridor - stretching from Vancouver, British Columbia to Eugene, Oregon to develop a vision for an integrated Cascadia megaregion enabled by high-speed rail.

Building on America 2050's research on Where High-Speed Rail Works Best the workshop sought to explore the economic, land use, urban design, and transportation strategies and investments necessary to fully leverage federal, state, provincial, and local investments in high-speed rail in this binational corridor. The workshop was an opportunity to broaden the focus of regional leaders on how high-speed rail can help advance larger goals for Cascadia as a more interconnected, sustainable, and prosperous megaregion.

To learn more, you can download the detailed briefing book of background information prepared for workshop participants. You can also access America 2050's original map of the Cascadia megaregion prepared for the workshop, which synthesizes transportation, land use, and the regional planning strategies of the entire megaregion on the America 2050 Maps Page (scroll to the bottom of the page.) A summary of workshop proceedings and next steps will be posted here soon.

The idea of Cascadia has been around for over 40 years, but certain aspects of megaregional planning, as highlighted in Ecolopolis 3.0 and 4.0 posted here on this website have been an articulated Cascadia-scale strategy since the early 1990s.  This 1994 Statement on Cascadia and its regional planning and development needs is consistent with what we're working on today, and reflects the fact that, as stated in Ecolopolis 4.0: Livability in Cascadia, working at this scale is not a new endeavor.  Perhaps this time the results will be secure enough so that 20 years from now, we'll be on to a new set of issues.

Download "What is the Cascadia Project?" from 1994.

By Ethan Seltzer.
Cascadia, the megaregion located in the upper left corner of the United States and crossing the border into southwestern Canada, has long been known as a place of mountains, trees, and fish.  This association with the landscape has led us to propose viewing this megaregion not as a megalopolis in the making, but as an ecolopolis: networked metropolitan areas separated by working and wild landscapes.  It's a reflection of our brand, really of our aspirations, both at the local and state/provincial scales.

Graduate planning students at Portland State University have released the fourth version of their ongoing study of the Cascadia megaregion with the guidance of instructor Ethan Seltzer of the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning.

This latest iteration, Ecolopolis 4.0, examines the implications for Cascadia of the new federal livability partnership between the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Transportation. This new interest in the role that Federal agencies can and should play in furthering goals for livability and smart growth presents Cascadia and other megaregions an opportunity to articulate their own livability agendas in anticipation of new initiatives emanating from Washington, DC. 

The graduate students at the Toulon School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University have released their latest study of the Cascadia Megaregion, "Ecolopolis," which presents a vision for coordination and sustainable economic development in the Vancouver-Seattle-Portland megaregion. Building on two previous studies, the report includes a detailed sector-based economic analysis and recommendations for further strengthening Cascadia's economic "competencies" in areas of green building and architecture, creative services, agriculture and food production and high tech. It also makes recommendations for protecting Cascadia's renowned environmental heritage and reputation for sustainability, while improving flows and connections within the megaregion.

Download the Report.

Amtrak received a boost on Tuesday when the Senate voted to adopt the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007. This bill authorizes $11.4 billion in operating and capital subsidies to Amtrak over a six-year period. That's $1.9 billion a year, up from $1.2 billion, which they received last year. This includes funding to bring the Northeast Corridor back to a state of good repair with annual capital grants of $813 million to $1.2 billion over the six year period.

Importantly, the bill also removed the requirement that Amtrak must work toward financial self-sufficiency, recognizing that virtually no intercity passenger rail service in the globe is financially self-sufficient. (And indeed, air travel and road travel are both reliant on federal subsidies.)

I also noticed that there is a miscellaneous item in the bill that directs Amtrak to develop a strategic plan to expand cross-border service between the U.S. and Canada on the Cascade line in preparation for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. That service recently increased from one train a day to two trains a day, but still takes much longer than driving because Amtrak does not own the right-of-way and is delayed by freight trains. Better passenger rail service on the I-5 corridor would greatly increase connectivity and tourism in Cascadia.

The bill now must go to the House, which may not happen until the beginning of next year. Nonetheless, we are hopeful that this legislation will move forward speedily and put intercity passenger rail back on firmer footing so we can start thinking more expansively about its role in America's future.

Read the Boston Globe article on the Senate bill.

Photo: Flickr.com/reivax

RPA's America 2050 team traveled to Vancouver this week, where we were invited by TransLink - Greater Vancouver's transportation authority - to assist them in public consultation around the development of a 30-year transportation strategy for the region. TransLink is a unique transportation authority with planning and operating responsibilities for both roads and transit in the Vancouver region. They are currently developing a 30-year transportation strategy for the region and held three consultation forums over the last week: one with local government leaders, one with regional stakeholders, and another with their staff and transit operators.  

They were interested in RPA's experience in developing long-range plans for the NY-NJ-CT region, as well as the long term strategies of America 2050 and megaregional trends in Cascadia. RPA's PowerPoint presentation, delivered at TransLink's Stakeholder Transportation Forum on October 29 at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Downtown Vancouver can be downloaded here (2.2 MB).

You can read comments on the stakeholder forum on a local Vancouver blog here.

Photo: Construction of TransLink's new Canada Line. (Courtesy of Tom Wright.)