Podcast

This week's guests are Breen Masciotra, transit-oriented development manager for the Port Authority of Allegheny County, and Karina Ricks, director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure for the city of Pittsburgh. We discuss the challenges they face in Pittsburgh, including topography, new technologies, and hostile streets. You'll also hear about how they're making a more walkable and multi-modal city through new bus rapid transit projects, transit-oriented development initiatives, and "eco innovation districts."

Emanuel discusses why he wants a ride-hailing fee to fund transit improvements.

This week we’re joined by James Corless, CEO of Sacramento's regional planning agency. We chat about the Sacramento area and the connections between its urban and rural economies, his past working on federal transportation advocacy, how mid-sized cities are nationally important for providing jobs and housing, and why it’s kind of ridiculous to do 30-year long range regional transportation plans.

This week's guest is Benjamin De La Pena, deputy director for policy, planning, mobility, and right of way at Seattle DOT. We talk about SDOT’s New Mobility Playbook, which describes "strategies for shaping the future of transportation in a way that puts people first."

This week's podcast features mayors of three major American cities discussing transportation and "innovation." Libby Schaaf of Oakland, Bill Peduto of Pittsburgh, and Michael Hancock of Denver shared the stage at September's Rail~volution conference for a panel moderated by Maurice Jones of LISC.

This week we return to Rail~Volution for a talk with Diana Mendes, who leads the transit and rail practice at HNTB. Diana tells us about meeting the author of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), what needs to change about environmental planning, the early use of GIS, and the environmental planning process for the Lower Manhattan Recovery after 9/11.

Blumenauer discusses how Rail~Volution got its start, how we can use congestion pricing and road user charges to pay for transportation, Vision Zero, and why urbanists should be thinking about the Farm Bill.

This week we’re joined by Tony Dutzik of the Frontier Group and Steven Higashide of TransitCenter to discuss their new report, "Who Pays for Parking?" - an incisive critique of federal commuter tax benefits.

Our guest is transit advocate and Maryland resident Dan Reed, and the subject is the Purple Line light rail project.