The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The bill to reauthorize the current surface transportation law, "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century", a.k.a. MAP-21, was released on Monday and will be "marked up" on Thursday. Spending is kept at current levels of $50 billion a year.

May 13 - Bloomberg News

The effort to protect bikers from cars making illegal maneuvers continues in Washington D.C. on Pennsylvania Avenue. Because the street holds regular inauguration parades, planners can make a limited number of permanent changes.

May 13 - Greater Greater Washington

With six new Green Line stations coming to Somerville, Massachusetts in the next few years, planners and political leaders are trying to find the right balance between transit oriented redevelopment and its more expensive consequences.

May 13 - Atlantic Cities

The Philadelphia City Council has been busy, proposing multiple bills to rezone a few neighborhoods and parcels around the city. Many of the proposed changes follow the guidance on the city's Philadelphia2035.

May 13 - PlanPhilly

Cheap construction materials, crowdfunding, and volunteer construction crews have produced villages of tiny homes as a place for the homeless to find shelter in every corner of the United States. What does it take for such homes to work?

May 13 - Reuters via Chicago Tribune

With the national Promise Zone grant initiative rolling out in Los Angeles, the Youth Policy Institute aims to deploy funds strategically in targeted areas that struggle with poverty.

May 13 - The Planning Report

Last Thursday, House and Senate leaders announced agreement on an $8.2 billion waterways infrastructure bill, and if they have their way, it won't be their last major agreement. On Monday, a successor highway bill (to MAP-21) will be released.

May 13 - The Hill

West Palm Beach, Florida is undertaking a walkability study of its downtown; wide streets and a confusing mix of jurisdictions provide substantial challenges to the effort.

May 13 - The Palm Beach Post

A report from the Long Island Index explores the economic impact of a new Third Track on the Long Island Rail Road.

May 13 - Long Island Press

For those who thought that glacial melting due to climate change mainly affected Greenland and mountain glaciers like in the Himalayas, think again. A new NASA/UC Irvine study reports that melting of West Antarctica's glaciers "appears unstoppable".

May 13 - Vox

C.W. Nevius examines the consequences of Proposition B—on the ballot in San Francisco in June.

May 12 - SFGate

In recovery mode following the most recent housing crisis—two Phoenix-area master-planned communities are continuing to grow.

May 12 - AZ Central

A local Tea Party type is making a passionate pitch for what his group considers Constitutional guarantees against government planning, and I get this deju vu tug. I’ve been here before. I’VE BEEN THIS BEFORE.

May 12 - PlaceShakers

Houston has proposed a large-scale overhaul of the Metro bus system. Based primarily on a high-frequency grid, the proposed plan would make sweeping changes to routes, nomenclature, and more. The plan will be a "must watch" for planners.

May 12 - Houston Chronicle

Joseph Stromberg discusses the "Idaho Stop"—so named because Idaho has been allowing bikers to roll through stop signs since 1982.

May 12 - Vox

Some 1,500 workers are building the 95 Express Lanes in Virginia, south of Washington D.C. Meanwhile, most of the drivers commuting the corridor are using their cell phones while they drive.

May 12 - The Washington Post

"We can’t understand what’s working in America’s cities unless we also look at what’s not working in the vast suburbs that surround them," writes Rebecca Burns.

May 12 - Politico Magazine

Although Mayor Bill de Blasio's recent announcements provided some important details about his administration's affordable housing agenda, there are a few questions still left to be answered that will determine the success of the plan.

May 12 - Crain's Business New York

Michael Lejeune is the creative director for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and as such he's tasked with making transit cool in a city that long worshipped the automobile.

May 12 - KCRW - DnA

A bi-partisan Senate bill to dramatically reduce carbon emissions by increasing energy efficiency got caught-up in Keystone XL pipeline politics, while President Barak Obama pursued his own energy efficiency agenda at a Walmart in Mtn. View, Calif.

May 12 - NPR