State transportation officials say a proposed road expansion project would reduce congestion — if coupled with transit initiatives.

Maine transportation advocates are calling on state officials to reject a highway expansion proposal that state transportation officials claim would reduce carbon emissions, reports Annie Ropeik for Energy News. “The toll road aims to offer a more direct route from Portland’s growing suburbs into the city, bypassing local roads that officials say weren’t designed to accommodate increasing commuter traffic.” A Maine Turnpike Authority (MTA) spokesperson say the Gorham Connector project is part of “a multi-pronged approach” that also includes land use and transit initiatives.
According to Benito Pérez, the policy director of the nonprofit Transportation for America, any emissions reduction benefits are ‘negligible.’ “Pérez pointed to examples in the Washington, D.C. area, Salt Lake City and elsewhere where highway expansions that aimed to reduce gridlock instead led to more traffic and further need for expansions years later — a paradox known as ‘induced demand.’”
A 2012 study recommended the project in addition to changes to roads, transit, and land use and development patterns, but advocates say “these other efforts are moving more slowly and with less state support than the Connector has received, putting these parallel solutions out of step with each other.” According to Pérez, “The mindset is, ‘we’re designing for vehicles,’ and that’s what they’re measuring for, not measuring for the movement of people.”
FULL STORY: Critics, studies cast doubt on Maine’s claims of climate benefits from highway expansion

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

Rural Missouri Transit Service Could Lose State Funding
OATS Transit offers low-cost rides to primarily elderly rural residents with little or no access to other transportation options.

Opinion: California’s SB 79 Would Improve Housing Affordability and Transit Access
A proposed bill would legalize transit-oriented development statewide.

Record Temperatures Prompt Push for Environmental Justice Bills
Nevada legislators are proposing laws that would mandate heat mitigation measures to protect residents from the impacts of extreme heat.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service