What Cities Are Learning About Making Bike-Share More Equitable
So far, the customer base of American bike-share systems has skewed toward affluent white men. But cities have been working to make the systems more useful and accessible to a broader spectrum of people, and in a new report, the National Association of City Transportation Officials has compiled some of the lessons learned.
September 16, 2015
Ferguson Commission Report Calls for Better Transit
The police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, touched off a protest movement that gripped the country and elevated the profile of racism and police violence as a national issue. It also raised questions about a host of factors that have shaped Ferguson and communities like it: the suburbanization of poverty, inequality, and residential segregation.
September 16, 2015
House Dems: We Won’t Support a Transpo Bill That Cuts Bike/Ped Funding
House Democrats won't stand for any cuts to federal funding for walking and biking infrastructure. That was the gist of a letter signed by every Democratic member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week.
September 15, 2015
Seattle Will Let Neighborhoods Design Their Own Crosswalks
Here's a great idea from Seattle that can help serve as a reminder that streets are community spaces -- not just avenues to speed through on the way from one place to another. The city has adopted a new program that allows neighborhoods to design their own crosswalks.
September 15, 2015
How America’s Staggering Traffic Death Rate Became Matter-of-Fact
How did more than 30,000 annual motor vehicle deaths become something that most Americans accept as normal? A new paper by Boston University professor Itai Vardi tries to answer that question.
September 14, 2015
Does Your Hospital Make Accommodations for Smoking But Not Bicycling?
Recognizing their responsibility to address the chronic health problems plaguing the nation, a lot of hospitals are making internal changes to avoid contributing to unhealthy choices. The Cleveland Clinic, for example, recently banished McDonald's from its food court. But even that hospital, like many, many others, has been slow to consider how its physical layout abets sedentary lifestyles.
September 14, 2015
Why Cities Should “Steal” the Indianapolis Cultural Trail
Indianapolis has set a great example for other cities with its "Cultural Trail," eight miles of biking and walking routes through the heart of the city. According to a recent study, the $63 million project has been well worth it, drawing people downtown and leading to a surge in local business creation and hiring along the trail route.
September 11, 2015
How to Make Big Box Stores Less Terrible for Walking: 8 Expert Tips
It's no coincidence that the most dangerous streets in many communities are the ones in front of big box stores.
September 8, 2015
3 Reasons Politicians Like Building New Roads More Than Fixing Old Ones
American transportation policy places a premium on delivering big, shiny new things.
September 1, 2015
Here They Are — The Sad Benches Where No One Wants to Sit
Last week, Gracen Johnson over at Strong Towns introduced the phrase "places I don't want to sit" to describe the lousy, leftover public spaces where someone has plopped down a bench or two as an afterthought. The seating, in these cases, helps crystallize how unsalvageable our public realm becomes when everything else is planned around moving and storing cars. Who would actually want to sit there?
August 31, 2015