Livable Streets
Engineers to Pedestrians: No ‘Walk’ Signs for You!
The traffic engineering profession says intersections with no "Walk" signal are a-okay. Even as pedestrian deaths soar.
January 11, 2019
Ford to Citizens: Don’t Drop Dead
Automaker says high-tech gizmos in new cars will save lives — but no one really believes that.
January 9, 2019
Check Out What Seattle Did with a Dead-End Street
Basketball anyone? One of the highlights from Seattle's Pavement to Parks program.
January 4, 2019
For a More Walkable City, Enlist the Fire Chief
Rewrite the fire chief’s mandate to optimize public safety, not response times, says Jeff Speck in his new book, "Walkable City Rules."
November 12, 2018
Urban Designers Take a Do-It-Yourself Approach to Taming Houston’s Extra-Wide Streets
Impatient at the slow rate of change on Houston's streets, advocates and urban designers took it upon themselves to tame some of their city's wide roads -- and are promising to come back for a second round soon.
June 1, 2017
Two-Week Pilot Lets Columbus, Georgia, Test Road Diet as Part of Bigger Plan
A pilot project in Columbus, Georgia, is the latest chapter in an effort to improve walking, bicycling, and public space in this city along the Alabama border.
May 9, 2017
Study: High-Traffic Arterial Roads Reduce Quality of Life, Even Blocks Away
Seminal research by Donald Appleyard in the 1970s found the volume of traffic on a street affects quality of life for residents in profound and unexpected ways. For example, the amount of social contact people had with their neighbors was curtailed for those who lived on high traffic streets compared with those living on quieter streets. People even defined their "home area" much more narrowly if they lived on a busy road.
August 16, 2016
Photographic Proof That America Can Make Streets for People Instead of Cars
Need some inspiration to make your city's streets safer and more inviting?
April 6, 2016
Feds Propose Major Rule Changes to Eliminate Barriers to Safer Streets
Applying highway design standards to city streets has been a disaster for urban neighborhoods. The same things that make highways safer for driving at 65 mph -- wide lanes, "clear zones" running alongside the road that have no trees or other "obstacles" -- make surface streets dangerous and dreadful for walking, killing street life.
October 8, 2015
Vote to Decide the Best Urban Street Transformation of 2014
If you're searching for reasons to feel positive about the future, the street transformations pictured below are a good start. Earlier this month we asked readers to send in their nominations for the best American street redesigns of 2014. These five are the finalists selected by Streetsblog staff. They include new car-free zones, substantial sidewalk expansions, superb bike infrastructure, awesome safety upgrades, and exclusive transit lanes.
December 17, 2014