Today’s Headlines
Trump Administration Deals a Blow to Caltrain Electrification (SF Chronicle) Will Trump Punish Sanctuary Cities By Withholding Funds for Transportation Projects? (Politico) Instead of “Climate Change,” FHWA Now Refers to “Resilience” (WaPo) New York Times Profiles Denver’s Backward Plan to Widen an Urban Highway Nebraska Senator Deb Fisscher Wants to Fund Transportation With Border Fees (Washington Examiner) Surge of … Continued
February 21, 2017
PeopleForBikes Wants Your Help to Rate Cities on Cycling
How well does your city work for bicycling? PeopleForBikes wants you to weigh in for a new city ranking that will be released in the fall.
February 17, 2017
Kansas City Will Take a Serious Look at Removing Downtown Highway
Rochester just converted part of its Inner Loop highway into a surface street, a similar project is underway in New Haven, and freeway teardowns are in play in many other American cities. Now you can add Kansas City to the list of places getting serious about removing a highway to save money, improve walkability, and open downtown land for development.
February 17, 2017
America’s Traffic Death Toll Is a National Disgrace
More than 40,000 Americans were killed in traffic last year, according to new estimates from the National Safety Council, the worst toll in a decade. The U.S. transportation system claims far more lives each year than peer countries. If America achieved the same fatality rate as the UK, more than 30,000 lives would be saved each year.
February 16, 2017
Want to See Where Transit and Biking Need a Boost? D.C. Has a Map for That
Most places in the U.S. still use 20th century metrics to measure the performance of transportation systems. The emphasis is still on moving cars, not improving transit service or reducing traffic injuries. One of the exceptions is DC, where the DOT is letting people assess streets according to a different set of priorities.
February 16, 2017
Today’s Headlines
More Than 40,000 People Were Killed in Traffic in the U.S. Last Year, a 6 Percent Increase (NYT) …Washington State Bucks the Trend (Seattle Times) World Bank Releases New Tool for Measuring “Accessibility” (Brookings) Study: Drivers Less Likely to Stop for People of Color in Crosswalks (NPR) South Carolina Withholding Custody of Four-Year-Old Boy Until Parents … Continued
February 16, 2017
Nashville Police Call Driver Who Struck Protesters a “Victim”
A 68-year-old man who ran his car through a group of protesters in Nashville not only won't be charged, but is being treated by local law enforcement as though he were the victim of a crime. And to make matters worse, a state legislator wants to codify legal immunity for drivers who strike protesters.
February 15, 2017
Milwaukee Subsidizes the Rest of Wisconsin, Not the Other Way Around
Anti-urban politicians have tried to paint Milwaukee as a den of government dependence. But the data shows it, like many cities, actually subsidizes rural and suburban areas.
February 15, 2017
Today’s Headlines
Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers Wants to Meet With Trump to Talk Taxes, Infrastructure (CNN) Statehouse Bills Would Allow Austin Build Light Rail Without Voter Approval (Statesman) Wealthy Seattle-Area NIMBYs File Lawsuit to Delay Light Rail (Seattle Transit Blog, The Stranger) Former Florida DOT Reformer Billy Hattaway Tasked With Making Orlando Walkable (WMFE) Midtown Atlanta Will Emphasize … Continued
February 15, 2017
Q&A With Dongho Chang, a Traffic Engineer Who Stresses Safety Over Speed
Dongho Chang belongs to a new generation of transportation engineers who see their job as more than moving cars. His work with Seattle DOT has established the city as a national leader on designing multi-modal streets. We recently spoke to Chang about his work in Seattle and how the profession is changing.
February 14, 2017
