Baltimore

Road closures began early this week in Baltimore for the city's annual Labor Day event: the Baltimore Grand Prix.

It's well-established that density and mixed-use development reduce driving. Right? But strategies like those don’t work the same way everywhere, according to new research published in the Journal of Transport and Land Use. While in major cities, denser development is linked to lower rates of driving, researchers found that in smaller cities it might not have much effect at all. The research suggests that for smaller cities, a focus on reducing block sizes and improving street connectivity may be the most effective way to cut down on driving, though the authors caution that more research is needed to draw universal conclusions.

Here's a good way to get a sense of the importance a given city assigns to the well-being of pedestrians: press the "walk" button at an intersection. Then look at your watch.

There's been a lot of ink spilled lately over population losses in cities. And these gloomy numbers from Yonah Freemark at The Transport Politic help explain why:

With Election Day fast approaching, Streetsblog Capitol Hill is turning our attention this week to key governor's races. As Ya-Ting Liu of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign recently wrote (and as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has made painfully clear), "decisions by state and local elected officials ultimately determine whether federal transportation policies become instruments of reform or tools to be abused." Today we look at the gubernatorial election in Maryland.