State Smart Transportation Institute
It’s Time For State DOTs to Step Up and Do a Better Job
As federal support for active modes gets clawed back, state DOTs could play a more important role in America's transportation system — and a new report argues they need to innovate.
March 24, 2025
Study: How Megacars, More Driving Could Cancel Out EV Gains
Even the most realistic models of the emissions-cutting potential of electric vehicles are still underestimating how much more Americans are likely to drive and their preference for gas-powered megacars, a new study suggests.
September 29, 2021
Parking Craters Aren’t Just Ugly, They’re a Cancer on Your City’s Downtown
Streetsblog's Parking Madness competition has highlighted the blight that results when large surface parking lots take over a city's downtown. Even though Rochester, winner of 2014's Golden Crater, certainly gains bragging rights, all of the competitors have something to worry about: Cumulatively, the past 50 years of building parking have had a debilitating effect on America's downtowns.
April 10, 2014
U.S. DOT Still Has Time to Get MAP-21 Performance Measures Right
Many transportation reform advocates were disappointed in the performance measures included in MAP-21, which was signed into law in July 2012. They weren’t tied to funding, they gave states and localities too much leeway to set their own performance targets, and they measured the wrong things. But there’s still a chance for them to get much stronger.
October 11, 2013
New Threat: States Robbing From Education to Pay for Highway Expansions
Last week, protesters gathered on the statehouse steps in Little Rock, Arkansas, to oppose a bill that would transfer money from the state's general fund into its highway fund.
March 19, 2013