An analysis of travel times in major world cities reveals how much time drivers spend in traffic.

A study from TomTom ranks New York City as the worst U.S. city for traffic congestion and travel speeds, with San Francisco coming in second, reports Magdalena Del Valle in Bloomberg CityLab.
“People from the top 10 US cities with the longest travel times lost an average of 60.6 hours commuting over peak hours by car last year,” according to the study. Cities with bottlenecks like bridges or mountain roads tend to have higher congestion, according to a TomTom analyst.
Travel speeds and congestion were ranked separately. “The researchers gave cities one ranking based on travel speed and another on ‘congestion’ — a metric that discounts other factors that slow drivers down like infrastructure and speed limits.” In cities like New York, the built environment makes driving a car slower regardless of traffic. “To encourage faster alternative means of travel, New York City plans to invest the revenue from its new congestion pricing policy in infrastructure for improved public transit and biking.”
FULL STORY: New York, San Francisco Ranked Worst for US Traffic in City Centers

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

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

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall
A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work
Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle
Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.
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