You never know what you’ll find digging through federal documents.  Like this bar chart from page 18 of Chapter 2 of the Transportation Energy Data Book – 2010 that I referenced in the last post.

Assuming that “Oakland” here is actually San Fran, it looks like all U.S. heavy rail systems are present and accounted for on this list.  Anyone know how Atlanta got itself to #1 on this list, and why this claim isn’t more frequently shouted from various high-density rooftops?

Believe it or not, this isn’t an easy “versus” to get supporting data for.  Even on the interwebs.

Most conversations concerning both the electric car and mass transit seem to devolve into more general discussions about other benefits of each – mainly personal freedom vs. land use – and have trouble staying focused on the issue at hand: energy use.

So, I’m going to assume folks who frequent this site are familiar with the general pro v. con arguments surrounding autos vs. transit.  Let’s leave all that stuff on the sidelines and concentrate solely on energy use, which for decades has been an important element of the pro-mass transit argument.

What does the reemergence of the electric car in America do to the energy-consumption playing-field between mass transit and the auto?

As I opened with, even Google has trouble providing an easy click-thru answer to this particular question.  While comparisons between cars and mass transit and gas and electric vehicles abound,  little if anything popped up comparing energy consumption between electric vehicles and mass transit.  So we must make due with what we have.

But what do we have?  We have BTUs per passenger mile courtesy of the Transportation Energy Data Book -2010…

• Transit Buses – 4,348 BTUs
• Cars – 3,437 BTUs
• Personal Trucks – 3,641 BTUs
• Certified Air Route – 2,995 BTUs
• Rail – 2,541 BTUs
• Motorcycles – 1,875 BTUs

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Sounds like Avondale Estates is looking to pull a “DeVry” on a large piece of unused property at the edge of its city limits.

Last week’s Champion Newspaper detailed Avondale’s plan to annex the remaining 9 acres of the roughly 13 acre abandoned Fenner Dunlop mill property into the city with plans of mixed-use development.

Like Decatur’s recent DeVry property annexation, there is no current developer for the property, but the city has a vision for the area that includes “pedestrian-friendly streets complete with sidewalks, crosswalks and bike accommodations. There could be a museum, a community center, community gardens, charter school and a residential area.”  (Avondale has a few documents on its website detailing plans for the property.)

The Avondale Commission votes on the project tonight at 7:30pm.

Here’s the result of Saturday’s water main break at the intersection of East College Ave and East Trinity Place in Decatur, as photographed by Greg.

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