Network Roundup
Florida DOT Unveils Its Big Plan to Fix Deadly Streets
Plenty of states are saddled with a legacy of roads designed to be deadly for pedestrians, but Florida stands out as a special case. Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Miami have a monopoly on the four "top" spots on Transportation for America's list of the most deadly cities for pedestrians [PDF].
December 8, 2015
TIGER Restored, Transit Expansion Funds Cut in 2016 Spending Bill
As the House and the Senate get to work on hashing out a multi-year transportation bill in conference committee, Congress is also putting together its annual spending package for transportation. The annual bill decides the fate of several discretionary programs, and earlier this year it looked like US DOT's TIGER grants, which tend to fund multi-modal projects at the regional or local level, might not survive.
November 23, 2015
Inspiration for Turning Decrepit Public Staircases Into Beautiful Places
In cities with steep hills, public staircases can be an important piece of the walking network. Like any type of infrastructure, however, sometimes cities let their staircases fall apart.
November 10, 2015
True Story: Ratings Agency Pins Dangerous Roads on Car-Free Young People
The financial ratings agency Standard & Poor's has a new report out that presents a bizarre theory about dangerous conditions on American streets. It's the Millennials' fault, "but not in the way you think," they say. Prepare yourself for some ratings agency clickbait!
October 21, 2015
A Conservative Case for Truck Tolls
Republican lawmakers in Rhode Island are trying to pay for roads and bridges without new tolls on trucks.
October 9, 2015
Will Private Transit Startups Help or Hurt Public Transit?
The rise of private transit operators like Bridj, Leap, and Uberpool has raised questions about equity in places including the Bay Area, where such services are fast replicating. A related issue is the impact they will have on traditional public transit systems.
April 30, 2015
Is Your City Making Full Use of Existing Transit Investments?
Chicago's rail transit infrastructure has a lot of unused capacity, Yonah Freemark wrote last week on the blog of the Metropolitan Planning Council, and making use of it might be cheaper and easier than expanding the system.
April 27, 2015
To Put Transit on Stronger Footing, Stop Lavish Subsidies for Driving
There's an interesting conversation happening in urbanism circles about how to make transit financially sustainable, going back to a piece in CityLab last June from University of Minnesota professor David Levinson. Levinson made the case for running transit like a public utility, not a government agency.
March 2, 2015
In Major Shift, Central Cities Edging Out Sprawl in Competition for Jobs
Job sprawl -- picture suburban office parks with lots of parking -- might be past its peak. The last few years have been good ones for central cities, as far as job growth is concerned, and not so hot for mid-height, reflective glass office campuses.
February 24, 2015
How Do "Best Cities for Families" Rankings Get It So Wrong?
City rankings that purport to reveal the best place to raise a family are ubiquitous. Where I live, in northeast Ohio, it's the homogeneous, sprawling suburbs that tend to be very proud of their positions on these lists.
February 10, 2015