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Lowering Mandatory Parking Minimums Is Nowhere Close to a “War on Cars”
The famed "War on Cars" -- who among us hasn't heard this tired hyperbole tossed around with wild abandon? Want to install a bike lane? Gasp! "War on cars!" Speeding cameras in school zones? "War on cars!!" Raise tolls to cover the huge cost of roads? "WAR ON CARS!!!"
February 5, 2013
Why Transpo Bureaucrats Need to Take More Risks
Last month, Slate wondered how Washington, D.C. ended up with the best bike-sharing system in the country. The answer was, essentially, vision: Local leaders had it, and they were able to win financial support from the federal government.
February 4, 2013
If Pols Won’t Raise the Gas Tax, How Else Will They Fund Transportation?
This year, we've seen a range of new transportation revenue-raising proposals from Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, where governors are all pursuing options other than raising the gas tax. Welcome to the new paradigm in transportation funding, says David Goldberg at Transportation for America:
February 1, 2013
Study: People Who Bike or Walk to Work Enjoy Their Commutes the Most
This news will surprise no one who has discovered the joy that is setting off to work on two wheels, but new research out of Portland State University found that people who bike to work enjoy their commutes the most. People who walk to work are close behind on the commute satisfaction scale.
January 31, 2013
The Case for a Highway Teardown in Dallas
IH-345 in Dallas looks like a perfect candidate for a highway teardown. The 39-year-old, 1.4-mile elevated highway is nearing the end of its useful life, and it's taking up valuable real estate just outside downtown.
January 30, 2013
28 Lanes, 8.5 Minutes to Cross — Is This America’s Worst Intersection?
Earlier this month, two pedestrians were severely injured trying to cross Route 355 and Shady Grove Road in Rockville, Maryland. So Ben Ross at Greater Greater Washington went out to investigate.
January 29, 2013
Actually, Naysayers, Change Is Inevitable
Sooner or later, every urban reformer is confronted with some local leader or newspaper commenter who rejects ideas to improve the way cities work, on the grounds that, essentially, cities don't work that way now.
January 28, 2013
Portland Mega-Highway Backers Resort to “Rebranding”
We've seen this trick from MySpace -- in modern marketing parlance, they call it "rebranding."
January 25, 2013
Repairing the Neighborhood Scars Created By a Freeway
There is no more potent neighborhood destroyer than a massive highway. But for many urban places around the country, their horizons were fixed by a freeway long ago.
January 23, 2013
Massachusetts’ Anticipated Transpo Funding Plan Is a Big Ol’ Let Down
Yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was supposed to unveil a visionary new statewide transportation plan. And while the spending component includes a commuter rail expansion and a pedestrian and bike program, the funding component bears some resemblance to what we recently held up as a worst-case scenario.
January 17, 2013