Streetsblog Network

As the House and the Senate get to work on hashing out a multi-year transportation bill in conference committee, Congress is also putting together its annual spending package for transportation. The annual bill decides the fate of several discretionary programs, and earlier this year it looked like US DOT’s TIGER grants, which tend to fund multi-modal projects at … Continued

How often do state DOTs lie with numbers to justify building highways? There’s so much funny math buried inside air quality formulas or traffic projections, a better question might be: Do these agencies ever tell the truth? Here’s a case where a dishonest case for highways was flushed out into the open. David Bragdon, former chief of Portland’s regional planning organization, recently accused state DOT … Continued

Transitions where streets suddenly change are a tricky part of bike lane design. Here’s how street designers in Pittsburgh handled the transition where a two-way bike lane ends at a T-intersection — with a “merge lane” for cyclists turning right across motor vehicle traffic. Bike PGH is enthusiastic about the new design: Have you had a chance to … Continued

So far this year, nine people have been killed while walking in Columbus, Ohio. Predictably, pedestrians have been caught up in the police response, as the cops increased enforcement of jaywalking. It got even worse with comments from Sergeant Brooke Wilson made to the local NPR station. “It’s not just enough to be legally correct in … Continued

In a six-month pilot program, Boston’s MBTA is exploring the use of taxis as an alternative to large vans for paratransit service, which is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The program is “already earning praise from customers” according to the Boston Globe. Jarrett Walker at Human Transit explains why this could be very good news for … Continued

A Google car made headlines last week when police pulled it over for driving too slowly on El Camino Real in Mountain View, California. Most media accounts treated the incident as a funny anecdote, but Richard Masoner at Cyclelicious says it reveals a lot about what’s broken with how police approach traffic enforcement: Guess which area of Mountain View is the most dangerous … Continued

We’ve written before about how bike-share “station density” — how closely together stations are placed — is a key variable in how successful systems are in attracting riders. Here’s a new theory on how station locations can have an impact on bike-share use. Bill Lindeke at Streets.mn says it matters where stations are placed within commercial sites and public areas. The more prominent the … Continued

Here’s a creative fix for the parking crater problem plaguing so many American cities: Milwaukee recently transformed part of one of its craters with a colorful paint scheme and some outdoor furniture. Project for Public Spaces, which helped lead the project, says the space has been dubbed The Spot 4MKE, and is now hosting public … Continued

Something pretty remarkable is happening with DC parking policy. The city has begun a sophisticated program based on the work of economist Donald Shoup: meters with prices that adjust to demand, at that time, in that location. Naturally, there’s been some sensational media coverage about how smarter parking meter prices amount to “surge pricing” a la Uber. David Alpert at Greater … Continued