Wednesday Wrap: 12/2

Wednesday Weekly Wrap-Up is a feature looking back on transportation and planning news and opinions from the last week or so.

• The Fast Bus: Washington state has its first BRT line. The "Swift" runs 17 miles from Everett to Shoreline and has stops about every 2 miles.
• A Streetcar Named 'Big D': Dallas is trying for several million dollars of federal funding for two new trolley routes to complement the successful DART light rail.
• Wave of the Future?: NPR considers the future of Personal Rapid Transit.
• Travel Week: This week is busy for all modes of transportation, and Amtrak is no exception. Two additional trains were added to the route of the Cascades in Washington and Oregon. Other trains ran full.
• A Troubled Bridge over Water: The New York Post reports that after years of underfunding, many of Amtrak's rail bridges in New York are in bad repair.
• Closer to South Coast Trains: Massachusetts and CSX are getting closer to an agreement to return passenger trains to the South Coast, perhaps by 2010.
• Sunshine State Looks at Rail: It looks likely that Florida's Legislature will hold a special session to consider commuter and high-speed rail.
• Save the Stations: The Detroit Free Press looks at how two cities managed to resurrect their rundown train stations. Can Detroit follow suit?
• OKC Without a Car: The mayor of Oklahoma City would like to see a city where you don't need a car to get around. And he's pushing a streetcar as one way to do that.
• Aloha Delays: Hawaii has decided to review the Honolulu LRT's EIS. This could delay the project, which was set to break ground in January or February.