Post Tagged with: "freeways"

NPR: ‘Superclogger’: Free Theater On L.A.’s Freeways

August 11, 2010 at 11:01 pm

Just adore NPR for finding and sharing such quirky stories..

Amplify’d from www.npr.org

In a parking lot near the Golden State Freeway, Los Angeles artist Joel Kyack is stripping right down to his underwear. He squeezes into a black bodysuit that makes the skinny 37-year-old look even skinnier, and pops open the back hatch of a dusty white truck. He’s setting the stage — quite literally — for another installment of his first large-scale public art project: a rush-hour puppet show.

The show, called Superclogger after L.A.’s endlessly clogged freeways, was conceived with Kyack’s friend Peter Fuller. Fueled by a determinedly low-tech aesthetic, it stars a cast that suggests a group of funky, grimy, homemade Muppets, acting out short vignettes on themes that might speak to people stuck in traffic. Coping with uncertain conditions, for instance, or the state of being controlled.

When informed that a major sports event is hopelessly tying up traffic, Kyack can barely contain his delight. “We’re gonna be able to do like three performances between here and the 101!” he crows.

Unfortunately, that turns out not to be the case. Shortly after NPR producer Amy Walters and I follow Kyack onto the freeway in my rental car, the artist gets pulled over by the California Highway Patrol. He doesn’t get in trouble. But then again, the cops don’t quite buy his academic theories about offering a space of engagement for drivers to reflect on the chaotic structures of their daily routine.

Read more at www.npr.org
 
See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9wJoUF

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Hollywood-esque presentation of Los Angeles traffic – Awesome image gallery captures infamous rush-hour traffic buzz

April 29, 2009 at 10:59 am

(Source: Good Magazine)

The French writer and philosopher Jean Baudrillard once wrote of the freeways of Los Angeles as being “ideally suited to the only truly profound pleasure, that of keeping on the move.” Indeed, nowhere is the pleasure of keeping on the move more profound than in a city whose freeways rarely offer it.

Fortunately, there is the architecture photographer Benny Chan, whose Traffic! series depicts the scale of overcrowded lanes of rush hour traffic from high overhead. Shot over a few years during various helicopter trips, the photographs now stand eight feet high and six feet wide, and convey, quite effectively, the enormity of the problem—as well as the need to get things moving.

Traffic! will show at the Pasadena Museum of California from May 31 through September 20.   Visit the “Good” magazine article to see other such awesome images. 

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Americans Agree: Smart Growth Approach to Transportation Helps Build Communities

February 26, 2009 at 2:28 pm

(Source:  MSNBC)

 An overwhelming majority of Americans believe restoring existing roads and bridges and expanding transportation options should take precedence over building new roads, according to a survey sponsored by the National Association of Realtors® and Transportation for America.

The 2009 Growth and Transportation Surveydescribes what Americans think about how their communities are handling development and how the transportation needs of communities can best be met.

“Realtors® build communities and know how important an organized transportation structure is in supporting neighborhood growth,” said NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth. “A well planned investment in transportation will help create more livable and vibrant communities.”

To accommodate future U.S. population growth, which is expected to increase by 100 million by 2050, Americans favor improving intercity rail and transit, walking and biking over building new highways. When asked what the federal government’s top priority should be for 2009 transportation funding, half of all respondents recommended maintaining and repairing roads and bridges, while nearly one third said “expanding and improving bus, rail, and other public transportation.” Only 16 percent said “expanding and improving roads, highways, freeways and bridges.”

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