Streetsblog.net
Boulder’s New Bike Lanes Work Well, But the City May Yank Them Anyway
Boulder, Colorado, is considered one of the best cities for biking in the U.S. But the car is still king on Boulder's streets, and designs like road diets and protected on-street bike lanes are still new concepts for people to digest.
September 25, 2015
Cities Won’t Mainstream Cycling By Going Halfway With Infrastructure
Like any city, Atlanta needs real bike infrastructure to make cycling an appealing option for most people. But like many other cities, a lot of times Atlanta only seems to be able to muster the will to designate leftover, marginal spaces to cyclists, putting them in potentially dangerous, or at the very least, highly uncomfortable positions.
September 24, 2015
Is Houston Serious About Becoming a Multi-Modal City?
There's been a fair amount of fanfare recently about the news that Houston is likely to surpass Chicago sometime soon as America's third largest city. You can debate whether the comparison is very useful, due to variations in land area. But there's no denying that Texas is growing fast. The Lone Star State is attracting two-and-a-half times more new households from other states than the next biggest gainer: Florida.
September 23, 2015
A Misguided Fix for Traffic Congestion in Silicon Valley
According to a recent study of transit riders in Denver covered by CityLab, people who work within a 15-minute walk of a rail station are more likely to commute by train than people who live close to transit but don't work by a station.
September 22, 2015
Wisconsin Spends on Billion Dollar Interchanges While Potholes Swallow Roads
An excellent recent Politico article "Overpasses -- A Love Story" -- took a close look at the policies of Republican Presidential hopeful Scott Walker and his big, big spending on highway infrastructure in Wisconsin. It's a pretty sick dynamic.
September 21, 2015
Bike Commute Rate in Portland Reaches a New High
New Census data out this week shows that the bike commute rate in Portland is higher than ever, exceeding the 7 percent threshold for the first time. Meanwhile, in the tier below Portland, about half a dozen large and mid-sized cities are neck and neck, Tom Fucoloro at Seattle Bike Blog reports:
September 18, 2015
Toronto Leaders Say They Hate Congestion — So Will They Support New Tolls?
Toronto fumbled on creating a more walkable, connected city when city leaders chose not to tear down the Gardiner East elevated waterfront highway. Mayor John Tory said it was important to rebuild the Gardiner "to keep congestion under control," even though experience suggests traffic would have returned to its former levels as drivers adjusted to the new situation.
September 17, 2015
Ferguson Commission Report Calls for Better Transit
The police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, touched off a protest movement that gripped the country and elevated the profile of racism and police violence as a national issue. It also raised questions about a host of factors that have shaped Ferguson and communities like it: the suburbanization of poverty, inequality, and residential segregation.
September 16, 2015
Seattle Will Let Neighborhoods Design Their Own Crosswalks
Here's a great idea from Seattle that can help serve as a reminder that streets are community spaces -- not just avenues to speed through on the way from one place to another. The city has adopted a new program that allows neighborhoods to design their own crosswalks.
September 15, 2015
Does Your Hospital Make Accommodations for Smoking But Not Bicycling?
Recognizing their responsibility to address the chronic health problems plaguing the nation, a lot of hospitals are making internal changes to avoid contributing to unhealthy choices. The Cleveland Clinic, for example, recently banished McDonald's from its food court. But even that hospital, like many, many others, has been slow to consider how its physical layout abets sedentary lifestyles.
September 14, 2015