Streetsblog.net
St. Louis “Beat Congestion” and Now Commute Times Are Longer
St. Louis is every highway planner's dream. Consistently ranked among the least-congested cities in America, the region's car commuters spend a smaller share of their trips to work sitting in traffic than all but two other cities.
February 2, 2016
Transit Investments and the Failure of Randal O’Toole’s Short-Term Thinking
The Los Angeles Times recently ran a big story to the effect that the region's major investments in transit are not paying off, since ridership has recently declined.
February 1, 2016
Designing City Streets to Suit 47 MPH Drivers Is a Recipe for Failure
Gravois Avenue is an important commercial street in St. Louis that also happens to be designated a state highway. It's currently slated for a redesign, providing a huge opportunity to make the street work better for walking and biking.
January 29, 2016
Planning Director Claims 6,600-Home Development on Farmland Isn’t Sprawl
Building 6,600 homes on farmland outside city boundaries? Some might consider that the very definition of sprawl. But leaders in the Fresno region beg to differ.
January 28, 2016
Enrique Peñalosa Back as Bogotá’s Mayor. Can He Do It Again?
After a 15-year hiatus, Enrique Peñalosa is beginning a new term as mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. Peñalosa's leadership during his first three-year term has been a global inspiration for cities. His administration reclaimed sidewalks from cars, created dozens of miles of new bikeways, and launched TransMilenio, setting a new standard for high-capacity bus rapid transit.
January 27, 2016
How Progressive Is Your Gas Tax?
Portland is considering a 10-cent gas tax that would go toward various street-related projects. To investigate the economic fairness of the proposal, Michael Andersen at Bike Portland has been looking at who drives and how much.
January 26, 2016
Dallas Highway Will Generate a Million Miles of Driving Per Day
The question of whether to build the Trinity Parkway, a $1.5 billion toll road that would run along the Trinity River from roughly West Dallas to Oak Cliff, has divided leaders in Dallas.
January 25, 2016
Commuter Rail and Inequality Within Transit Systems
In theory, transit is a big melting pot where people from all walks of life rub elbows. That may be close to the truth in some places, but in others the reality is often quite different. People riding city buses to work probably aren't as affluent as the people riding the commuter rail line into downtown.
January 22, 2016
Make No Mistake, Millennials in DC Drive Less Than Their Parents
In a series of recent articles, the D.C. press have been throwing cold water on the idea that younger people don't drive as much as their parents. The impetus was a recent study of millennials in the D.C. that found 60 percent still drive to work alone. This is sort of like the "if the earth is warming, how come it's snowing outside?" argument.
January 21, 2016
Chris Christie Sticks It to Pedestrians for No Discernible Reason
In 2014, 170 people were killed while walking on New Jersey streets, accounting for 31 percent of total traffic deaths in the state (about double the national share). In addition, 13 people were killed while biking that year.
January 20, 2016