Once dubbed the "lungs of the city," highways are becoming perhaps less essential. From Seattle to Seoul, pedestrianization is gaining traction on both the domestic and international fronts.
According to The Architect's Newspaper, "[t]oday's urban thinking puts pedestrians before cars."
Katherine Fung writes, "Half a century after the height of urban renewal, a national movement is set to try a new road to urban growth, reintegrating communities through dismantling the highways."
"As the National Interstate Highway turns 55 this month, many highways are reaching the end of their design lives. Cities now face the option of investing billions in maintenance or getting rid of them altogether," she continues.
In her article, Fung talks with NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan: "We're looking for ways to reconsider highways to maximize their highest and best uses in light of today's intensely urban settings, which are different from uses in earlier parts of the 20th century."
Read the full story: Go Down, Moses
Feds May Drop 'Highway-Inspired' Rules for Streets
The Federal Highway Administration may put an end to rules mandating wide lanes and "clear zones," making it easier to implement complete streets.
Should Fuel Taxes Pay For Alternative Transportation?
Planetizen has teamed up with National Journal, a weekly politics and policy magazine, to explore transportation issues. As part of National Journal's Transportation Experts blog, we've asked Planetizen Interchange bloggers and National Journal's Transportation Experts whether money from the Highway Trust Fund should be used for non-highway projects like bike lanes and pedestrian walkways.
A Transect of sprawl
A development pattern this lifestyle-defining deserves its whole own classification system.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
Trump administration unlawfully slashed $7 billion in clean energy grants, judge rules
The Environmental Protection Agency ended the Solar For All program, which provided the grants, after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Record-breaking wildlife overpass in Colorado brings 91% reduction in animal collisions
Prior to the overpass, vehicles were hitting one deer per day on Colorado’s Interstate 25.
California lawmakers approve just 5% of much-needed LA28 transportation funding
State legislators appear just as unwilling as Trump to pay for Olympics-related transportation projects.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello