LA.Streetsblog
Critiquing the $1.9 Billion Project to Widen I-5 in Los Angeles County
Streetsblog slams Caltrans for wasting $1.9 billion on futile freeway widening projects.
Website Opens Bay Area Transportation Data to the Masses
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission—the Bay Area's regional transportation planning agency—recently did fans of data and mapping a huge favor and launched a website called Vital Signs.
How California's Cap-and-Trade Will Fund Affordable Housing
The innovative revenue stream known as California's cap-and-trade program is ready to take action by funding affordable housing projects.
Study Shows Public Health Benefits of Recreational Facilities on Urban Rivers
A new study finds that the cost of building urban river parkways and other recreational facilities is more than offset by the savings in public health costs, such as obesity.
Evaluating the Growth of Transportation Network Companies like Uber and Lyft
Transportation network companies like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar are growing quickly. A recent article examines the potential of such networks to build new efficiencies into urban transportation, as well as some of the risks to that potential.
MAP-21 Putting Pedestrian and Bike Programs on the Chopping Block
It took a few years, but funding changes as a result of MAP-21, the 2012 federal transportation bill, have started to impact funding for Metro “Call for Projects” grants in Los Angeles County.
Comments Close for CEQA’s Level Of Service Revisions—What Now?
California’s retooling of Level of Service (LOS) analysis is one of the most closely watched regulatory changes in the country. With public comments on the issue closing on Feb. 18, how are planners reacting to the potential changes?
Sorry Cars, L.A. Begins Turning its Streets Over to People
With the launch of a new website, the city of L.A. has begun an exciting experiment in community-based placemaking. The "People St" program will soon accept applications to convert underused street space into plazas, parklets, and bicycle corrals.
Bike Share Failures Have L.A. Looking for a Regional Solution
With expected launch dates repeatedly missed, and no progress in sight, L.A.'s plan to partner with upstart Bike Nation on developing a citywide bike share system has been a failure. Mayor Garcetti is starting over with a regional approach.
City Initiative Embraces Bottom-Up Placemaking in L.A.
The same week that the City of L.A. made a big splash with its "Great Streets Initiative", a new program that has the potential to have a sizable impact on city streets went less noticed. Damien Newton reports on the city's "People St" program.
Great Streets Initiative is L.A. Mayor's First Executive Directive
In a keynote speech at the Urban Land Institute’s “Transit Oriented Los Angeles” conference, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the launch of a "Great Streets" program to coordinate work on, and investment in, "the City’s largest public space asset."
L.A. Looks to NYC for Pedestrianization Inspiration
Inspired by Manhattan's pedestrianization of Times Square, L.A.'s city council recently approved $1.8 million in funding to reduce a major downtown thoroughfare's roadway by half to make room for "a massive increase of the pedestrian infrastructure."
L.A. Bike Share Missing in Action; Is New City Ordinance to Blame?
Amid the hoopla over the recent launch of bike-share systems in two of the three largest cities in the U.S., the supposed start of such a system in the nation's second largest city has come and gone without any explanation. What's behind the delay?
Santa Monica Battles Itself, and Consultants, Over Parking
In this supposed progressive paradise, the recent removal of a transportation consultant reveals the conflicting agendas of residents that want to reduce congestion and those who want to build more parking. Then there are those that want both.
Cycle Tracks and Bus Only Lanes Coming to Downtown L.A.
The updated designs for an ambitious project to remake car-clogged Figueroa Street as a transit-, pedestrian-, and bicycle-friendly complete street have been made public in advance of a community meeting next month.
L.A. Looks to Land Use to Improve Public Health
The newest craze for improving the health of Angelenos isn't an all-liquid diet or a Brazilian exercise regimen; it's a new approach to land use regulation being championed by the County and City of Los Angeles.
L.A. to Increase Parking Requirements...For Bikes, not Cars
This week the L.A. City Council's Planning and Land Use Committee forwarded to the full council a progressive bike parking ordinance that could dramatically change how developers provide parking for both bikes and autos, reports Damien Newton.
Los Angeles Imports 'Continental' Crosswalks
In what is either a hopeful sign of the increasing prominence of the pedestrian, or a depressing comment on existing level of pedestrian safety, the installation of a crosswalk in downtown Los Angeles this week was big news.
What Was Behind L.A.'s Rejection of its Transportation Ballot Measure?
Was not enough transit spending the culprit for the narrow rejection of Los Angeles County's Measure J initiative, which aimed to speed up construction of a host of the region's transit projects from 30 to 10 years? Damien Newton thinks so.
Pedestrians in L.A. Get New Focus, Times Two
Amid all the attention L.A.'s recent transit expansion and car culture receive, you couldn't blame the area's pedestrians for feeling like the odd ones out. But with the city’s first official pedestrian coordinators on the job, that may soon change.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.