Streetsblog Network

There ought to be a statute of limitations on highway plans, because chances are, if a transportation project was conceived of at a time when rotary phones were the norm, it is just as outdated.

Protected bike lanes are pretty much the bee's knees. They make people feel safer riding a bike. They have led to significant increases in cycling and major reductions injuries to all street users.

By now there's not much doubt that protected bike lanes can be a game-changer for cycling in U.S. cities. Making streets feel safe to bike on boosts overall cycling rates, attracting people who otherwise wouldn't even consider cycling. The safety benefits keep accruing as more people on bikes hit the streets, since drivers become more aware of the presence of cyclists and pay closer attention.

Most cars these days are equipped with an "event data recorder," or EDR -- a device that tracks information like vehicle speed and brake activation, which engineers can use to fine tune safety features.

Yesterday, U.S. DOT launched a new campaign called "Everyone Is a Pedestrian," including $2 million in grants that will be awarded to as many as six focus cities for pedestrian safety education and enforcement initiatives. While $2 million is peanuts in the grand scheme of the nation's pedestrian safety needs, it's notable that Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is focusing on walking so early in his tenure.

Did the Columbia River Crossing highway/bridge megaproject for suburban Portland ever have a chance of becoming reality?

That picture above? It's a major local street near downtown Buffalo at rush hour. David Steel at Network blog Buffalo Rising says this situation should be a wake up call to reverse the region's commitment to highways and long-distance travel at the expense of his city:

In Wisconsin, anti-urban politicos are out to kill a streetcar project that Milwaukee has been trying to build for years, while the state DOT plows ahead with cars-only mega-projects over the objections of civil rights advocates. The guiding principle isn't to give local communities a say in transportation policy -- it's to build more highways.

Today on the Streetsblog Network, Jarrett Walker at Human Transit points to the interesting case of Tallinn, Estonia, a city of 426,000 people that seems to be pulling off a feat that defies the conventional wisdom: operating a transit system that people can ride without paying fares.