Through diligence and innovation, New York has been able to make the city's streets the safest of any big city in America. This month, it published a guide to help livable streets supporters anywhere replicate its success.
"Earlier this month, NYC DOT put out a major new report, Making Safer Streets [PDF], that collects before-and-after data from dozens of street redesigns and distills five key principles to reduce traffic injuries," reports Ben Fried. "It’s an accessible guide to how DOT approaches the task of re-engineering streets for greater safety."
"The DOT team hopes the report will serve as a reference not only for planners and engineers, but for any city resident who cares about street safety and wants to evaluate how streets are functioning and what would make them better," he adds. "It’s written in accessible language and comes in at under 30 pages, with a raft of graphics and photos doing much of the communication."
NYC DOT has organized its recommendations around five key principles:
- Make the street easy to use
- Create safety in numbers
- Make the invisible visible
- Choose quality over quantity
- Look beyond the (immediate) problem
FULL STORY: NYC DOT Shares Its Five Principles for Designing Safer Streets

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Canada vs. Kamala: Whose Liberal Housing Platform Comes Out on Top?
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Washington State’s Parking Reform Law Could Unlock ‘Countless’ Acres for New Housing
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Wildlife Rebounds After the Eaton Fire
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LA to Replace Inglewood Light Rail Project With Bus Shuttles
LA Metro says the change is in response to community engagement and that the new design will be ready before the 2028 Olympic Games.
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