MUTCD
Talking Headways Podcast: Bike Guides to Build Your City
Bill Schultheiss on AASHTO and NACTO bike lane design guides, the importance of history, political will and the stress of being an expert witness in court.
May 29, 2025
Feds, Advocates Talk About What’s In The New MUTCD (And What Isn’t)!
The new MUTCD isn't the revolutionary rethink advocates were asking for, but it does offer transportation officials more flexibility to design roads safely. The only question is whether they'll take it — or stick to the status quo.
December 19, 2023
New Bill Would Finally Rewrite the ‘Notorious’ MUTCD for Vulnerable Road User Safety
U.S. transportation engineers tend to treat the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices like a bible. A new bill would encourage them to treat it more like a recipe book — and sub out deadly design ingredients when they aren't safe for vulnerable road users.
November 15, 2023
Six Changes To Look Out For in the Next Edition of the MUTCD
The Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices is getting its first update in over a century. Will it make people who move outside of cars safer, or endanger them even more?
August 16, 2023
The MUTCD Update is Late — And While We Wait, People Are Dying
Despite a binding requirement the Federal Highway Administration missed the deadline to release a new edition of America's street design guidelines by more than a month. Advocates fear the delay will result in yet another green light for increasing traffic fatalities.
July 3, 2023
Counter-Intuitive Department: Sometimes, Traffic Controls Make Streets More Dangerous
Since the very first center line appeared on a Michigan road in 1911, many have questioned whether the design norms that govern U.S. roads really make them "safe", or simply less dangerous than the anarchic days of early motordom — though still nowhere near as safe as the days before the car dominated American roads at all. Here's why.
January 18, 2023
OP-ED: New Fed Road Guide Enshrines Danger into Law
A writer's public records search reveals that Congressional requirements to design safer streets went unheeded.
November 8, 2021
Study: Rural Areas Need Safe, Sustainable Transportation Now
Rural communities need policies that make it easier for residents to drive less, a new report argues — but federal politicians keep perpetuating the myth that transit, walking and biking have no place outside mega-cities.
October 6, 2021
Op-Ed: Will States and Feds Let Cities Tame Urban Highways?
Urban highways are a fixture of city life in the U.S. — but much of the time cities don’t control them. Could that change?
September 23, 2021
Active Transportation Advocates See Silver Lining in Infrastructure Bill
A handful of critical policy changes buried in the bipartisan infrastructure megabill may quietly revolutionize life for people who walk and roll through U.S. cities — especially if it's amended to include other progressive items a House bill.
August 4, 2021