Coronavirus

The reason people die of coronavirus is because others are breathing and coughing and sneezing near them in close quarters. But cities have lots of space — if they just took some away from cars.

This silver lining is tarnished: The number of car crashes is plummeting, but the rate of car crashes is actually up in many cities — as are the injury and fatality rates for both drivers and vulnerable users.

We need more space — which means we need a new blueprint for how to do Open Streets events during this challenging global moment and beyond.

New crisis, same old mistakes. The Federal Transit Administration’s $25-billion COVID-19 public transit grant package contains much-needed lifelines for struggling transit agencies across the country — but the amount received by each agency did not take into account the new reality of the virus, but were allocated using the same formulas from normal years. As a […]

...with some very important exceptions.

Americans are indeed driving less — up to 94 percent less in some places — as the global COVID-19 pandemic keeps people at home, but rural segments of the country are not doing their share to flatten the curve.

A lot of smaller micromobility companies kept their scooters and bikes on the streets. And a reminder: if micromobility is truly part of the sustainable future, it needs to be there always, not just when times are good.

In the absence of federal leadership on how to keep pedestrians and cyclists safe during COVID19, cities are stepping up and sharing resources themselves.

The virus isn't just a public health emergency for our hospitals. It's also a public health emergency for our roads.