Traffic Calming

Orlando Street

Nation's Most Dangerous City for Pedestrians Becoming Safer

A Smart Growth America report put the spotlight on Orlando and the entire state of Florida as leading the nation in pedestrian deaths per capita. NPR investigate what is being done to lose the infamous title.

June 16, 2014 - NPR

Stockholm Complete Street

Rethinking Streets: New Report Illustrates Complete Streets Projects

"Rethinking Streets," a new report by the University of Oregon's Sustainable Cities Initiative, provides detailed information on 25 complete streets and streetscaping projects. It is available free in PDF and hard copy format.

April 30, 2014 - Sustainable Cities Initiative

Guerrilla Traffic Calming Efforts Elicit Mixed Responses

A recent article surveys a few examples of residents in cities around the country employing tactical urbanism. As tactical urbanism has been adopted in different ways in different cities, so to have the reactions of city leaders varied.

February 28, 2014 - Governing

Zen & The Art of Traffic Calming

This week's guest 'Shaker, Rob Dalton, talks roundabouts, bollards and buffers to get your feet into a 禪 Zen street.

February 5, 2014 - PlaceShakers

Sick of Speeding, Baltimoreans Deploy DIY Traffic Calming

Fed up with speeding cars, and a city bureaucracy seen as slow to respond to their complaints, residents and artists in Baltimore have taken it upon themselves to remedy the situation by creating their own traffic calming measures.

December 30, 2013 - Baltimore City Paper

main street in hamburg, new york

Road Diet Paves the Way for Town's Return to a 'Wonderful Life'

Community resistance stopped plans for widening Hamburg, New York's Main Street. By embracing calmer streets, the town is flourishing and once again enjoying comparisons to the idyllic Bedford Falls of 'It's a Wonderful Life.'

August 20, 2013 - The New York Times

Canadian Officials See Long-Term Threat from Short-Term Urbanism

A series of tactical urbanist interventions inspired by a recent talk given by Mike Lydon, Principal of the Street Plans Collaborative, have raised the ire of the powers that be in the Canadian city of Hamilton.

May 11, 2013 - Raise the Hammer

Union Street Public House

Removing Sidewalks to Make Room for Peds

WAMU's Michael Pope reports on an Alexandria, VA's plan to level the playing field for bikes, pedestrians and cars by taking out curbs.

December 28, 2012 - WAMU

Annual PARK(ing) Day Lessons (Re)Learned

Last Friday was annual PARK(ing) Day, and for Howard Blackson, who participated in a pilot park(let) project in San Diego, the reasons to enable context appropriate civic space was underscored again.

September 25, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Friday Funny: Trading in Stop Signs for Sex Dolls

An elderly woman in China has implemented an innovative traffic calming measure in her neighborhood. Could sex dolls replace stop signs at an intersection near you?

August 3, 2012 - Boing Boing

Guerrilla Traffic Calming Spreads in Southern California

Alexandria Abramian Mott spotlights several grassroots ways -- from signs to screams -- in which "fed-up residents are reclaiming their streets, or at least trying to."

July 9, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Do Stop Signs Make Streets Safer?

When communities feel like street traffic is unsafe, they usually demand stop signs or traffic lights to be installed. But studies show that those devices may actually make streets less safe.

April 26, 2011 - Streetsblog

Snow as Traffic Calming

Recent snowstorms in much of the U.S. have left many cities with major snow cleanup jobs on their streets. In some instances, though, the buildup of snow has created natural traffic-calming curb extensions.

February 9, 2011 - Streetfilms

Smart Growth's Future in Northern Virginia

In an interview with Arlington County Board Vice-Chairman Christopher Zimmerman, Jonna McKone asks the local official about current and future transit-oriented development (TOD) and managed growth in the Washington, D.C. region.

December 18, 2010 - TheCityFix

Britons Move Towards A New Era of "Civilized Street Design"

Designers and "movement specialists" in Great Britain are pioneering various street designs that aim to bring traffic speeds down to teens, which they claim is the speed range that allows vehicles to safely share a space with pedestrians.

December 6, 2010 - New Urban Network

Not All Want NYC Bike Infrastructure to Pedal Forward

The surge in city investment in bicycle lanes and the recent passing of various pro-bicycle laws has greatly irked many residents. Complaints have been leveled at everything from vehicle flow disruption to "extraordinarily ugly" lane paint choices.

November 22, 2010 - The New York Times

Living Alley Establishes Permanent Roots in San Francisco Neighborhood

Street furniture and plantings transform a small strip of roadway within a bustling San Francisco neighborhood, much to the delight of the planners and designers who fought for the change for over five years.

October 26, 2010 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Halloween Costumes for Urban Planners - 3rd Edition

It's Halloween time again, the day when dressing up in silly costumes is required of every conscionable person. Some opt for the scary ghost or the sexy nurse, but others, more thoughtful others, make more of this opportunity.

October 25, 2010 - Nate Berg

Neighborhood Design Prompted Speed Hump Homicide

Grist digs deeper into the Virginia Speed Hump murder - showing how the street configuration of the suburban neighborhood may have contributed to the rage, and why it's unlikely to see more neighborhoods like it in the future.

September 20, 2010 - Grist

Virginia Speed Bump Leads to Neighborhood Activist's Murder

A Virginia man who rallied to have a traffic-calming speed bump installed on his street became the source of so much local controversy that a neighbor recently shot and killed him.

September 17, 2010 - The Washington Post

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.

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