Road Design

Cars on highway in Colorado with snow-capped mountains in background

How Vehicle Ownership Impacts Roadway Design

New research assesses the potential implications of reduced car ownership on the design of roads and communities.

February 21, 2023 - The Washington Post

Pedestrians in zebra crosswalk with green bike lane in downtown Seattle, Washington with three-story brick building in background

Washington Focuses Road Safety Efforts on Individuals, Neglecting Design

Legislative efforts to reduce traffic deaths could move the needle toward Vision Zero, but state leaders failed to commit infrastructure funds to making structural improvements.

February 1, 2023 - The Urbanist

Two-lane street with pedestrian crossing island

What Is a Road Diet?

A road diet ‘trims down’ multilane roadways by reallocating street space to uses other than car traffic, improving safety for pedestrians, encouraging multimodal travel, and enhancing overall livability.

January 9, 2023 - Diana Ionescu

Woonerf street with no curbs and trees in Lodz, Poland

What Is a Woonerf?

The woonerf, a type of road design that encourages multimodal transportation and blends pedestrian and vehicle space, was born as a reaction to the car-centric development that began dominating American and European city planning in the mid-twentieth century.

October 5, 2022 - Diana Ionescu

Aerial view of I-10 junction over swamp near New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana Road Safety Plan Highlights Impaired Driving, Reckless Behavior

The plan focuses traffic safety efforts on distracted and impaired driving, seatbelt wearing, and speeding, with a small nod to infrastructural factors.

July 31, 2022 - Plaquemine Post South

Minneapolis Bike Lanes

Touring One of the U.S.’s Best Biking Cities: Minneapolis

The latest Streetfilms release offers an in-person, on-bike tour of Minneapolis.

July 14, 2022 - Streetfilms

walkable street

Walkability Scores Don’t Tell the Whole Story

A new report concludes that common ‘walkability’ measures don’t account for many barriers faced by pedestrians, such as environmental factors and policing.

May 4, 2022 - Streetsblog USA

Portland Street

What Is Automobile Dependency?

Automobile dependency is a term used to describe households who must rely on private vehicles for everyday transportation, often due to a lack of safe pedestrian infrastructure, ineffective or absent public transit options, and sprawl.

May 3, 2022 - Diana Ionescu

View of Capitol building on Pennsylvania Avenue

Three Concepts for a Pennsylvania Avenue Makeover

The Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative seeks to redesign the capital’s most famous thoroughfare to include more park space and pedestrian amenities.

April 29, 2022 - WTOP

Ghost Bike

Opinion: U.S. Must Prioritize Safety for Non-Drivers

The rise in cyclist and pedestrian deaths in the United States points to preventable failures in road design and regulations.

April 24, 2022 - The New York Times

I-84 to I-5 Interstate Freeway in Portland Oregon with Long Exposure Vehicle Traffic Motion

What Is VMT?

A measure of the demand for vehicle travel on public roadways, VMT provides a metric for evaluating the potential impact of road projects and developments and could become an increasingly useful tool for assessing road usage taxes.

March 2, 2022 - Diana Ionescu

 Building in Washington Avenue Historic District

Why a Complete Streets Makeover Went Awry in Philadelphia

The city pulled the plug on a proposed street redesign after community groups criticized the public engagement process for not listening to all local voices.

February 28, 2022 - Bloomberg CityLab

Seattle Downtown

Seattle Rule Change Makes it Easier to Add Crosswalks

Rather than looking at current pedestrian counts, the city will use a newly developed set of 'pedestrian generators' to evaluate the need for new painted crosswalks.

February 24, 2022 - The Urbanist

Empty Road

What Is Car-Centric Planning?

'Car-centric planning' refers to urban planning that privileges the private automobile as a primary transportation mode, often to the exclusion of people who walk, bike, or use public transit.

February 17, 2022 - Diana Ionescu

New Orleans Freeway

Outdated State and Federal Road Design Rules Hinder Freeway Removal

Although some cities are in favor of removing or reducing urban freeways in favor of more walkable spaces, guidelines like the 11-year-old MUTCD still encourage a 'throughput at all costs' mentality.

October 1, 2021 - Governing

Los Angeles Road

Road Design Still Privileges Cars

Author Jeff Speck discusses the progress made since he first wrote Walkable City–and how far we still have to go to build streets that are safe for all.

August 9, 2021 - Governing

Traffic and Speed

Illinois Traffic Deaths Up by 10% Over 2020

Officials point to speeding and reckless driving as causes for the increase in fatal crashes.

August 3, 2021 - Daily Herald

Share the Road

Opinion: U.S. Traffic Deaths are a Regulatory Failure

One writer argues that rules that prioritize driver safety and ignore pedestrian infrastructure have led to a sharp increase in fatalities on U.S. roads.

April 6, 2021 - Bloomberg CityLab

Uber Autonomous Vehicle

Uber's Self-Driving Cars Couldn’t Detect People Outside of Crosswalks

The National Transportation Safety Board has released documents related to the Tempe, Arizona, crash that killed a person, highlighting what went wrong with the driverless technology.

November 13, 2019 - Wired

Phoenix

Walking in Phoenix Can Mean Taking Your Life in Your Hands

Phoenix's roads are the most dangerous in the state for pedestrians, but the city is taking little action to make them safer.

April 8, 2019 - AZ Central

Planner II

City of Greenville

Planner I

City of Greenville

Rural Projects Coordinator (RARE AmeriCorps Member)

Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps Program

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

HUD’s 2023 Innovative Housing Showcase

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

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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.