Angie Schmitt

Minneapolis is one of the best cities for biking in the U.S., and it wants to get better. Last week the city released a plan to build 30 miles of protected bike lanes over the next five years and a total of 48 over 10 years.

Over the weekend, the Tampa Bay Times blew the lid off a major police harassment story: Cops there issue more tickets to cyclists than in any other big Florida city, in the name of "bike safety," but what their targets appear to be most guilty of is bicycling while black.

Ever suspect that the officer who parked a squad car in the bike lane, forcing you to swerve into traffic, isn't really on pressing police business? Stick around and you might get proof.

Winning support for good transportation projects in the state legislature can be one of the most challenging political problems cities face, especially with the current revenue squeeze. And without support from the state, it can be impossible to build new transit lines.

It seems like the Trinity Toll Road -- a proposal to build a wide, high-speed road right next to the Trinity River in Dallas -- is losing momentum. But the politics of road-building in Texas are tricky, and the highway isn't dead yet.

Milwaukee is the poster child for the special kind of economic oppression that results from a combination of residential segregation, bad transit options, and job sprawl. This is a problem to some extent in almost every city in the country, but it's worse in formerly industrial cities where big employers have decamped for the suburbs. And in Wisconsin, where the governor and state DOT are determined to spend billions on highway expansions while starving transit, the situation is especially desperate.

The lack of good data on walking and biking is a big problem. Advocates say current metrics yield a spotty and incomplete picture of how much, where, and why Americans walk and bike. The U.S. Census only tells us about commuting -- a fairly small share of total trips. The more detailed National Household Transportation Survey comes with its own drawbacks: It's conducted infrequently and doesn't provide useful data at a local scale.

The DC region is working on a plan to get the most out of its transit infrastructure by making it easier and safer to walk or bike to subways and commuter rail. The region's Transportation Planning Board recently conducted a big audit to figure out which stations have additional capacity, and what barriers prevent people from walking and biking to these stations.

Vision Zero -- the idea that we should no longer accept traffic deaths and serious injuries -- is gaining momentum as a framework for thinking about city streets and transportation, as more American cities adopt the goal of ending traffic fatalities.

Tension between food trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants is common in cities. That's because food truck businesses are naturally attracted to the same areas as restaurants: places with lots of pedestrian activity. In Providence, the city has responded to pressure from restaurant owners by asking food trucks to stay away from business districts.