Ben Fried

Transportation Alternatives is looking for a few good sources to help handle all the media requests coming their way these days. Here's how Streetsbloggers can lend a hand:

This number from cartoonist Bob Lafay makes a good companion to last week's news that some bike models are in short supply throughout New York City, perhaps reflecting the effect of gas prices on manufacturers' inventories. The panic subsides once you start pedaling.

Fifteen Percent Live Near Convenient Transit Options

On their way to class, Brooks High students brave the shoulder along route 72.

Here's a great way to support transit before we head in to another traffic-snarled Memorial Day weekend. H.R. 6003, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, is currently in need of co-sponsors in the House (a version has already passed the Senate). The bill "authorizes Amtrak for the five years Fiscal 2008-2012, provides for capital assistance for states, and development of state rail plans," according to the National Association of Railroad Passengers. Five years of funding will, among other things, put a stop to the current practice of forcing Amtrak to beg for money every year.

This image comes courtesy of TrucksDeliver.org, not the Onion.

On Friday, Streetsblog looked at how northern Virginia can't get enough road widening. As a follow-up, Gary Toth of Project for Public Spaces directed us to another example of how smart growth faces hurdles in the places that need it most -- in this case, the Trenton suburb of Bordentown, New Jersey (right: the main drag).

Suburbanites in northern Virginia are finding their streets more clogged with traffic than ever, and, as the Washington Post reported earlier this week, they aren't about to get bailed out by road-widening projects. Here's the crux of the problem, told from the Post reporter's decidedly windshield perspective:

Following the lead of John McCain and Hillary Clinton, the State Senate voted yesterday to suspend New York's gas tax for the summer. The move was largely symbolic, as the governor and Assembly speaker have both indicated they won't support the bill.