Vancouver Gives a Bridge Lane to Bikes
New York isn't the only city that's experimenting with closing roads to improve traffic and create better conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. Today, from Streetsblog Network member Human Transit, we hear of a bridge in Vancouver where a lane of car traffic has been given over to cyclists:
July 22, 2009
Turning a Blind Eye to the Risks of Auto Culture
In today's New York Times article about how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration withheld research data on the risks of cellphone use while driving, one little nugget in particular caught my attention:
July 21, 2009
How Much Do Bicyclists Really Slow Down Drivers?
What is it about bicycles that drives some motorists so crazy?
July 20, 2009
Can We Create More Meaningful City Rankings?
They seem to be coming out at an ever-increasing pace: rankings of cities and nations based on how livable they are, or how bicycle friendly, or how green and happy, put together by various advocacy groups, think tanks and magazines. The media loves to pick these up, and let's face it, they're fun. But as Alex Steffen points out in a post today on WorldChanging, they can sometimes be counterproductive.
July 17, 2009
Car-Sharing and the Case for a “Low-Car Diet”
Anyone who makes any effort to live more sustainably has been there -- facing the accusation that what you're doing isn't enough. That you're compromising, and that your willingness to deviate from a purist approach invalidates your efforts. Sometimes these accusations come from within. And sometimes they make you want to give up. It's the old problem of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
July 16, 2009
In Flint, Trying to Reinvent a Shrinking City
Yesterday on the Streetsblog Network, we looked at the concept of "resilient cities" -- an idea that some of our commenters on Streetsblog NY and Streetsblog LA sites frankly weren't buying.
July 15, 2009
Cities Must Become More Resilient to Survive
The idea that cities are greener than suburbs has gotten a lot of attention lately. But a recently published book argues that in a future of diminishing resources, cities themselves are going to have to become much more efficient and inventive if they are to be sustainable -- indeed, if they are to survive at all.
July 14, 2009
Warning: Windshield Perspective Hazardous to Your Health
Over the past couple of months, we've been following a story in Savannah about a crackdown on jaywalking -- a crackdown prompted by the death of a tourist who was hit by a car on Oglethorpe Avenue in the city's historic district. Streetsblog Network member Sustainable Savannah has done a great job of articulating why the jaywalking ticket blitz was an inappropriate and ineffective response to the problem of unsafe streets.
July 13, 2009
All Aboard the Great Streetcar Debate
Streetcars provoke strong emotions in transpo geeks. A recent post on Human Transit called "Streetcars: An Inconvenient Truth" precipitated a very informed and sometimes heated thread of discussion on the relative virtues of light rail vs. bus rapid transit (a mode that got its moment in the limelight just this morning) streetcars vs. local-stop buses.
July 10, 2009
Making Climate Change Part of the Local Transpo Debate
As the leaders of the G-8 meet in L'Aquila, Italy, to discuss how to tackle climate change on the global level, we bring you a report from Streetsblog Network member GreenCityBlueLake about a victory on the local level in Ohio.
July 9, 2009