The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

After TransCanada hit the "pause button," President Obama hit "reject." The seven-year saga has come to an end, announced President Obama in a noon White House statement to the press on Friday where he took no questions.

November 6 - The White House

A public-private partnership to build a tunnel connecting Norfolk with the city of Portsmouth under the Elizabeth River in Virginia has gone awry, saddling the public with increasing costs and, likely, more expenses in the future.

November 6 - The Washington Post

An intrepid mapmaker and data cruncher has created a map that illustrates the ubiquity of fatalities on U.S. roads and highways.

November 6 - Metrocosm

Prop. 1, a $930 million, nine-year transportation levy backed by Mayor Ed Murray, was approved by 54 percent of Seattle voters on Nov. 3 to the delight of bus, bike, pedestrian and good roads advocates. First order of business: Safe Routes to School.

November 6 - The Seattle Times

Prolific and infamous developer Geoff Palmer rarely gives interviews. So it was an occasion when he appeared before an audience at the Lorenzo, his lavish student-housing complex, to recount the philosophy and practice of his controversial legacy.

November 6 - The Planning Report

Fears that low gas prices and increasing vehicle miles traveled would negatively affect transit ridership might have come true in the first half of the year, according to data provided by the American Public Transportation Association.

November 6 - Progressive Railroading

A retailer in Liverpool has installed a new 'fast track' pedestrian lane outside its store to separate the slow from the hurried.

November 6 - CityLab

The House of Representatives plowed through about 270 amendments this week, with floor votes on nearly 130 of them, before passing the Surface Transportation Reauthorization & Reform Act of 2015 (STRR Act) with funding for three years.

November 6 - The Hill

Gentrification has been described as the end of the world before. But not like this.

November 6 - McSweeney's

City planners should be wary of any predictions that downplay the unknowability of the future by projecting present conditions onto it.

November 5 - Thriving Cities Blog

As Mexico City continues to add population, issues of sprawl, inequality, and water infrastructure remain challenges in the growing megalopolis.

November 5 - Inverse

Many communities that want more transit oriented development are still struggling to build the political will and the financing mechanisms necessary to deliver. Here are four ideas about how to make TOD happen.

November 5 - The City Fix

Left behind in business-as-usual city planning processes: low income and racial minority residents who rely on biking for transportation.

November 5 - Next City

Bruce Katz has an idea: "A year out from next year’s presidential election, let’s dispel the pervasive myth that the federal government runs the country."

November 5 - Brookings

Allowing buses to drive on the shoulder of highways when traffic slows has been shown to increase ridership, thus proving an important point: people will ride transit when it's a reasonable option.

November 5 - Metropolitan Planning Council - The Connector

Here's a novel approach to funding transit only available to a lucky few communities that happen to be located on the side of a ski mountain: taxing lift tickets.

November 5 - Summit Daily

A few words to live by for elected officials in communities working to transform vacant and abandoned properties into valued, productive uses.

November 5 - Center for Community Progress

One of the nearly 270 amendments the House is considering in the $325 billion transportation reauthorization bill would allow individual states to allow heavier trucks to use highways. It was decisively defeated in a floor vote on Tuesday.

November 5 - The Hill

How well do public spaces reflect the changing conceptions of "public good" in contemporary political discourse? The UPenn design community starts a challenging conversation.

November 5 - PlanPhilly

San Francisco voters rejected a moratorium on market rate housing in The Mission (Prop. I) and tighter restrictions on Airbnb (Prop. F), while approving the city's largest-ever housing bond (Prop. H) and a large mixed-use development.

November 4 - San Francisco Examiner