What the Heck Is Wrong With Boston’s MBTA?
Last week, the engine on one of Boston's Orange Line trains overheated and ignited some trash, filling traincars with smoke. Passengers broke windows to escape. Three people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
November 4, 2016
How the Accommodations We Make for Cars Impose Huge Costs on Cities
Wide highways, big parking lots, dangerous intersections designed for speed -- there are a lot of downsides to all this car-centric infrastructure, including the way it saps the fiscal health of cities.
November 4, 2016
How Can Cities Make the Most of an Infrastructure Spending Spree?
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have indicated that they intend to spend big on "infrastructure" if elected president. Whether this ends up making cities stronger or just fueling more wasteful sprawl, however, is an open question.
November 3, 2016
Will Seattle Blow Its Chance to Reclaim Its Waterfront?
It's bad enough that Washington DOT is building a huge underground highway by the Seattle waterfront at enormous expense and financial risk. Now the city is poised to ruin the one benefit of the highway tunnel -- better pedestrian connections to the waterfront.
November 2, 2016
Transit Vote 2016: Raleigh’s Chance to Grow Smarter
We continue our overview of what’s at stake in the big transit ballot initiatives this November with a look at Wake County, North Carolina. Previous installments in this series examined Indianapolis, Seattle, Detroit, and Atlanta.
November 1, 2016
Pedestrian Shaming — an Annual Rite of Halloween
Cutrufo has a good roundup of how different agencies performed: Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and New York state DOTs, and the Federal Highway Administration get the worst marks, while Missouri, Texas, Illinois and Louisiana DOTs get points for placing responsibility on motor vehicle operators.
November 1, 2016
What If Climate Hawks Fought Dirty Highways Like They Fight Dirty Energy?
American climate activists' single biggest achievement in recent years was the defeat of the Keystone XL pipeline. Nothing has unified and energized more people than the fight to keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground. Yesterday, the world watched members of the Standing Rock Sioux defend their tribal lands and water from armed police acting in the interest of companies building the Dakota Access Pipeline.
October 31, 2016
Transit Vote 2016: Atlanta May Finally Expand MARTA and Beef Up Bus Service
We continue our overview of what’s at stake in the big transit ballot initiatives this November with a look at Atlanta. Previous installments in this series examined Indianapolis, Seattle, and Detroit.
October 28, 2016
Will State DOTs Follow Through on Their Goals for Zero Traffic Deaths?
State DOTs aren't known for setting ambitious street safety goals. They're usually more interested in moving traffic than saving lives. But it looks like that's starting to change as states follow the lead of the federal government's "Toward Zero Deaths" initiative, which itself was inspired by the spread of Vision Zero campaigns among cities. Even states like Ohio are saying their goal is zero traffic deaths.
October 27, 2016
What It Would Take to Eliminate Carbon Emissions From U.S. Transportation?
To do its part to avert catastrophic climate change, the United States would have to more or less eliminate carbon emissions from transportation in the next 35 years. But America is nowhere near on pace to make that happen.
October 26, 2016