Streetsblog Network

The advocates at 1000 Friends of Wisconsin recently completed a report [PDF] evaluating the Cheese State's traffic projections. The organization compared actual traffic levels with Wisconsin DOT projections on 11 highways where the state has proposed adding lanes. The total cost of the proposed expansions is $3 billion.

This November, Austinites will be asked to vote for a $600 million bond issue to bring a new rail line to the Texas capital. Unfortunately, a lot of local urbanists aren't that enamored with the $1.4 billion Central Corridor plan.

In the U.S., one metric dominates the public discussion about transportation: traffic congestion. Rankings are published every year assessing how clogged the streets are in different cities, and transportation agencies devote a great deal of resources trying to reduce congestion.

North Avenue in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa is in the final stages of a redesign. The safety improvements include curb extensions, shorter pedestrian crossings, green-painted bike lanes, and bike boxes.

David Alpert at Greater Greater Washington shares this fantastic chart from a new study of transportation funding by the Pew Charitable Trusts [PDF]. Alpert explains:

Portland is importing a new kind of bike lane design from the Netherlands. "Advisory bike lanes" allow drivers to use the bike lane space if they have to -- and if it's safe. Jonathan Maus at Bike Portland reports that advisory bike lanes are intended for streets with high bike traffic but not a high volume of car traffic, where there otherwise wouldn't be room for bike lanes:

CityLab ran an article yesterday describing how Seattle’s new streetcar addition breaks the mold of its peers in one key way: It runs on dedicated lanes, rather than in mixed traffic.

What makes a good street? Wide, tree-lined sidewalks? A concentration of businesses and activity? Or an unobstructed path to speed through in a car?

Holding the distinction of being the most dangerous state for biking and walking seems to have inspired a real reform effort in Florida.