Categories : Fresno Highways TransitTags : 6 Comments

Vote NO on Fresno County Measure C Renewal

On By jamesinclair

I am awaking from my slumber to talk a little about the upcoming vote on Fresno County Measure C, a 30-year extension of the half-cent tax for “road and transportation improvements.”

I like transportation, clearly, and I believe it’s important to fund transportation. So this should be a sure thing right? Well, one of the reasons I started this blog was because I was upset about how Measure C money was being spent. Highway expansion, roadway expansion, and a side of more roadway expansion, like the sprawl-inducing extension of 180 deep into rural areas.

Theoretically, Measure C had a bike/ped/transit component. But in reality, it meant, at best, throwing a wider sidewalk on one side of a widening, like the new path along Veteran’s Boulevard – another roadway designed to facilitate sprawl. Click to read more!

Categories : Airlines FresnoTags : 3 Comments

Even with Southwest, Fresno air service still more limited than peers

On By jamesinclair

Five years ago, I looked at how air service at FAT compared with cities similar to Fresno. I found that relative to the size of the metro area, Fresno had less passengers and less destinations served. Fresno also lacked service by both Jetblue and Southwest, but did get a larger share of airlines, thanks to the competition on flights to Mexico. Airlines would price fares high out of Fresno, and locals would save money by driving to LAX or SFO.

Well, today is a big day, as Southwest Airlines has finally started to serve Fresno.

There’s also been other changes since I wrote my post. Delta has started flying to LAX and Seattle. Both American and United have added service to Chicago. There are now 4 destinations in Mexico. Airlines have continued to add larger planes along existing routes. Click to read more!

Categories : Fresno High Speed Rail Housing RetailTags : 6 Comments

2021 Downtown Fresno Construction Update

On By jamesinclair

Would it be Stop and Move if I didn’t post my construction update over a month after taking the photos? Of course not! At least it’s not as bad as my 2020 update.

Anyway, I spent some time downtown and in the Tower District looking for new construction. 2020 was a slow year, obviously due to the pandemic, but development is showing signs of life again, and there a few new housing projects that should pop up quickly this year. If you missed it, I already posted about the new protected bicycle lane and the TOD apartments on Blackstone.

The District

We kick things off in the Tower District, which is downtown enough for me (scandalous I know). New apartments are going up on Van Ness and Alhambra, just a couple of blocks from the Tower Theater. Fresno State archives show this lot has been empty since at least 1977, and probably much longer – that’s crazy! While this is a prime location, and housing will be great to have near the bars and restaurants, they’re unfortunately only doing 18 units. Seems like a missed opportunity really. Oddly, I can’t find a rendering of this project. Click to read more!

Categories : Fresno Housing TransitTags : 10 Comments

A look at Fresno’s first transit-oriented apartment building

On By jamesinclair

About a mile north of downtown Fresno, at the intersection of Blackstone and McKinley, a really exciting project is well underway: Fresno’s first transit-oriented apartment building. Aside from looking impressive in person, I think this is the first time in Fresno history that a real apartment building is being constructed outside the downtown core. And by “real,” I mean as one urban unit. There are apartments all over Fresno, but they tend to be two-story, 2 or 4 unit blocks built among an oasis of parking and grass. Those are perfectly fine, but they’re suburban in nature. This building will have four floors, which will make it twice as tall as 98% of Fresno buildings. Click to read more!

Categories : Bicycling FresnoTags : 3 Comments

A look at Fresno’s first protected bicycle lane

On By jamesinclair

It has finally happened—Fresno has a protected bicycle lane! The new lane is located downtown, on R Street between Ventura Street and Tulare Street. The roadway previously did not have bicycle lanes, but had one lane in each direction, parking, and a central turn lane. The central turn lane was removed, the parking was moved out from the curb, and bicycle lanes were added between the curb and the parked cars. Additionally, regular bicycle lanes and sharrows were added between Tulare Street and Fresno Street, providing a link to Community Hospital.

protected map
The new lane is between the two stars

I’m not quite sure why this was chosen as Fresno’s first protected bike lane. Many years ago, there were talks of protected lanes on Fulton and Van Ness, connecting Downtown and the Tower district. Those were never built. This lane is a bit out of the way, but that may be intentional, as no one is around to NIMBY it. Now that it is in place, the city can point to it as an existing product, instead of a hypothetical, when it comes to future implementation. Click to read more!

Categories : Clovis Fresno TransitTags : 6 Comments

FAX Route 28 Starts New Route and Manchester Transit Center Reopens

On By jamesinclair

Starting today, August 3rd 2020, FAX Route 28 has been modified to no longer server Fresno State. Instead the line will now continue along Dakota and end at Peach Avenue. And no, the website has not been updated to reflect this.

The black line is the new route.

This change to Route 28 was proposed earlier this year, along with changes to many other bus lines. However, the other proposed changes won’t happen until 2021. Unfortunately, this is a big loss to those taking the bus to Fresno State. While Route 9 will continue to serve Shaw Avenue, there will simply be half as many buses going to the campus.

The schedule itself is mostly the same. IE, the southbound buses hit the MTC at x:10, x:30, and x:50. However, the overall route is shorter, so the buses will start their trip 9 minutes later. To that end, I don’t understand why they couldn’t have made the route longer to use the same amount of time, such as going up Peach to Ashlan. The schedule can be found in the big booklet, which has a nice new cover photo featuring one of the new bus stops. Click to read more!

Categories : Amtrak FresnoTags : 2 Comments

How much service will Amtrak be cutting this fall?

On By jamesinclair

Like all travel providers, Amtrak has been hit hard by the effects of COVID-19, as the vast majority of people have cut down on their travel. However, unlike airlines that received huge sums of bailout money, Amtrak is less posed to get government assistance. That is because Republicans for years (decades?) have been trying to eliminate Amtrak, so they’re not rushing to save the organization now.

In the short term, Amtrak cut service in order to match reduced demand. For example the San Joaquin line cut three daily round trips on March 26th, and the Capitol Corridor went from 15 to just 5 trips a day. Other Amtrak lines, like the Downeastern (in Maine) and Keystone (in Pennsylvania) completely shut down for a couple of months. Click to read more!

Categories : Bicycling FresnoTags : 4 Comments

Public Meeting for Proposed Palm Avenue Bikeway

On By jamesinclair

Will Fresno finally get a protected bikeway, like in the San Francisco photo above? They’ve been talked about in the past, including a proposed couplet on Fulton and Van Ness that never came to be. But tomorrow there will be a public meeting on a new proposed bikeway along Palm and Belmont. See the flyer:

Zoom link:

https://zoom.us/j/99170680769

If you can’t attend, a survey is available online:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T5NNCCS?fbclid=IwAR3SwCMBRx6tPoZT2UlWW2aKDP5RsPvzxNToWGRZC6d8072AQtnGvAF38NA

Make sure your voice is heard! There’s been almost zero progress on bike projects in Fresno over the last five years, so this could be a much-needed push. Click to read more!

Categories : Bicycling Clovis Fresno ParksTags : 3 Comments

Fresno COGS asking for feedback on 2020 Fresno County Regional Trails Plan

On By jamesinclair

The Fresno Council of Governments and Fresno County are developing the 2020 Fresno County Regional Trails Plan, which will create recommendations for the ongoing development of new trail connections that create a safe, comfortable, and connected network for walking/hiking, off-road biking and horseback riding.

Note: Don’t confuse this with the Trail Network Expansion Feasibility Plan, which is a CITY of Fresno plan. This new plan is for the entire county and will focus on unpaved recreational trails and paved shared-use paths in Fresno County, including county areas within Fresno.

There’s two ways for you to comment, a survey and a map. They both can be found on this page. You do the simple survey first, and then get shown a map of existing trails. You can then click on segments and make comments. For example, you can tell them that the Van Ness trail is not very useful. Once you’re done commenting on existing trails, you can draw your own preferred future trails. Click to read more!

Categories : Airlines FresnoTags : 8 Comments

Alaska Airlines adding flights to LAX from Fresno

On By jamesinclair

Just a quick post to share some news from Fresno2Minneapolis on Twitter. Starting in September, Alaska Airlines will begin service twice a day between Fresno and Los Angeles! The flight will be on an Embraer RJ-175, operated by Skywest.

If all goes as planned, they would join American Airlines and United on this route. Note that due to COVID-19, those flights are currently not operating. However, if they come back as before, there would be 10 daily flights between the two cities.

The flight schedule, (assuming no more Coronavirus changes) from Fresno to LAX would be as follows:

6:00 AA
6:20 UA
7:30 Alaska
8:01 UA
11:55 AA
13:55 UA
14:00 Alaska
16:10 AA
17:57 UA
19:15 AA Click to read more!