How Engineers Deflect Criticism of Their Dangerous Designs
As people who've tried to make their neighborhood streets safer for walking and biking can tell you, engineers are amazingly adept at shutting down dissent.
October 6, 2015
Are Streets Full of Traffic Good for Elderly People?
Following an eye-opening three-day experience with a car-free center city -- a byproduct of Pope Francis's visit -- many Philadelphia residents are beating the drum for more large open streets events to provide some relief from traffic.
October 5, 2015
Is This a Downtown Street or a Surface Highway?
Indianapolis recently decided to convert two downtown streets -- West New York and West Michigan -- from one-way speedways to calmer, two-way streets. The changes should help make the city's downtown campus area more walkable, but now it looks like the city is compensating for those traffic changes by turning another street -- West Street -- into even more of a surface highway.
October 2, 2015
San Diego Planners Envision a Future With More Driving
When it comes to forward-looking transportation and planning policy, California is out in front of other states, with legislation that requires regional agencies to incorporate carbon reduction goals into their transportation plans. But not all regions are up to the challenge.
October 1, 2015
3 White Elephants That Help Explain America’s Infrastructure Crisis
A new report by the Center for American Progress zeros in on an under-appreciated culprit in America's much ballyhooed infrastructure crisis: All the money we waste on useless roads.
September 30, 2015
In Oakland, a “Green Street” That Doesn’t Live Up to Its Name
Downtown Oakland is growing and changing. Earlier this year, Mayor Libby Schaaf said it's time for the city to "re-envision our roads." That's easier said than done, however, and it looks like Oakland is about to blow its chance to re-envision a major downtown street.
September 30, 2015
Miraculous! Philly’s Open Streets Open Eyes During Papal Visit
The official name for it was the "traffic box" -- the 4.7-square-mile chunk of center city Philadelphia where incoming motor vehicles weren't allowed when Pope Francis was in town this weekend. But rather than the traffic nightmare some anticipated, something wonderful happened: #popenstreets.
September 29, 2015
The Cafe Table Test — What Outdoor Seating Tells Us About Places
You can tell a lot about a place by its outdoor seating. So says Darin Givens at ATL Urbanist, who compares a sidewalk in Atlanta where cafe seating looks inviting to a place where it essentially fails.
September 28, 2015
North Carolina Lawmakers May Quickly Reverse Anti-Light Rail Measure
The last-minute legislative sneak attack on light rail plans for Durham and Orange counties in North Carolina was an example of politics at its worst. Thankfully, it may not have staying power.
September 25, 2015