Angie Schmitt

We continue our overview of what’s at stake in the big transit ballot initiatives this November with a look at Seattle. The first installment of this series examined Indianapolis.

The wheels of change grind slowly at the institutions that guide the American traffic engineering establishment, but they are moving forward.

Rents continue to rise in cities across the U.S., and Pittsburgh is no exception. Noting the escalating housing costs in walkable neighborhoods, Alex Shewczyk at Bike Pittsburgh looks at how transportation and housing policy can coordinate to make places more affordable.

The presidency and Congress aren't the only things at stake when voters go to the polls next month. In several cities, people will also be deciding the future of their transit and transportation systems. With the odds of increasing federal transit funding looking remote in gridlocked Washington, these local ballot measures take on even more importance. Before the election, Streetsblog will be looking at what's at stake in some of the big transit ballot initiatives, starting with Indianapolis.

WMATA, the DC region's transit agency, is in crisis.

Since Mayor Bill Peduto assumed office in 2014, Pittsburgh has been a city that doesn't shy away from changing its streets. Most recently, two more protected bike lanes are now slated for downtown, and of course Peduto made a splash partnering with Uber to test autonomous vehicles on city streets.

Sprawl isn't just a problem in car-centric America. Even cities with the world's best transit systems are surrounded by suburbs with poor transit access, according to a new report by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. As billions of people migrate from rural to metropolitan areas in the next few decades, these growth patterns threaten to maroon people without good access to employment while overwhelming the climate with increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Employees at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have to accumulate 13 years of service time before they get an on-site parking permit. To get a sense of how much employees become invested in this system, check out this YouTube video of one man's elation the day he gets his parking privileges (and notice how towering parking garages dominate the landscape).

The concept of the "captive" transit rider -- the idea that there is a fixed number of people who ride transit because they have no alternatives -- is deeply flawed. Among other problems, it overlooks how low-income people without cars are sensitive to the quality of transit and will choose not to use poor service. And yet discussions of "captive" vs. "choice" transit riders persist.

It's America's first unsignalized "Dutch Junction" -- a type of intersection with protected space for cycling. It even has solar luminescent bike lanes. And here's the kicker -- it's in the heart of Texas.