Transportation

Aerial view of Bend, Oregon with river and old mill district

Bend Eliminates Parking Minimums

The city is complying with an Oregon state mandate that some cities have challenged in court.

January 20, 2023 - KTVZ

Blurred view from ground level of yellow center lines on asphalt street

How Design Guidelines Can Reduce Road Safety

Signs and markings designed for traffic control can make conditions less safe for pedestrians and other road users.

January 20, 2023 - Streetsblog USA

Rendering of Midtown Connector freeway cap park in Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta Receives $3.2 Million for Freeway Cap Plan

The federal funding will help move forward planning for an ambitious proposal to cap a downtown Atlanta freeway with a 25-acre park.

January 19, 2023 - Urbanize Atlanta

Serial view of elevated freeway interchanges with downtown Houston in background

Details for Houston Interstate Project Remain Hazy

With the project still under federal investigation, local and state agencies say they are moving forward with the development of design details for the contentious freeway redesign.

January 19, 2023 - Houston Chronicle

Pedestrians and Cars

New York Speed Limiting Pilot Shows Promising Results

City vehicles equipped with speed limiting technology showed nearly complete compliance with speed limit laws and a significant reduction in hard-braking events.

January 19, 2023 - Smart Cities Dive

Orange snowplow clearing snow on Colorado road

Colorado DOT Invests in Workforce Housing

With the agency struggling to fill positions and housing costs rising across the state, the Colorado Department of Transportation is taking matters into its own hands.

January 18, 2023 - Route Fifty

A conceptual rendering of a revamped train station in a historic corner of Salt Lake City.

A Citizen-Led Plan Would Revamp Salt Lake’s Transit and Freeway Mix

The Rio Grande Plan would restore rail service to the Rio Grande Depot and reconnect a community divided by a freeway in Salt Lake City.

January 18, 2023 - Salt Lake City Weekly

Downtown Oklahoma City

Oklahoma Turnpike Expansion Project Challenged by Lawsuits

A recent court ruling could turn the tide against a roadway expansion plan that threatens to displace homes and businesses and that locals say was pushed through with little transparency or community input.

January 18, 2023 - Strong Towns

Congestion

Redesigning Streets for Livability: A Global View

An excerpt from the introduction of the recent book, “Streets For All: 50 Strategies for Shaping Resilient Cities,” edited by Vinayak Bharne and Shyam Khandekar.

January 18, 2023 - Vinayak Bharne

Regional Transit

California Could Cut $2 Billion in Transit Spending

The governor’s proposed budget would slash public transit investment to help make up for a projected $22.5 billion deficit.

January 17, 2023 - Sfist

Blue and yellow light rail train pulling into outdoor station in St. Paul, MInnesota

Leveraging Federal Funding for Transit Accessibility

Just 8 percent of U.S. households live near “high-quality transit.” How can federal infrastructure spending help fill this gap?

January 17, 2023 - Urban Institute

Nighttime view of Cincinnati, Ohio skyline

Cincinnati Gets Serious About Pedestrian Safety

A new in-house team dedicated to pedestrian safety at Cincinnati City Hall and a new complete streets ordinance are some of the changes underway in Cincinnati.

January 17, 2023 - Streetsblog USA

Two soccer players chasing a ball

Transit-Oriented Development with Soccer

Learn about StationSoccer, an innovative program in Atlanta which connects communities through transit, soccer, and leadership training.

January 16, 2023 - Urban Land

Rendering of grey convertible electric Hummer charging at a charging station against a sunset sky

Electric Car Batteries Spark Weight Concerns

A federal transportation official is warning that electric vehicle batteries, which can weigh thousands of pounds and make cars much heavier than their gas-powered counterparts.

January 16, 2023 - NPR

A woman wears a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic in a large crowd at a transit station in New York City.

Where Ridership-Only Service Design Comes Up Short

Jarrett Walker and Mathew Yglesias discuss one of the great quandaries of 21st century transit planning—how to increase cost effectiveness and ridership while also ensuring equity and service for underserved communities.

January 16, 2023 - Human Transit

Streets and buildings in historic Oxford, England.

What Draws Conspiracy Theorists to Traffic Calming Plans?

Proposals for road diets, ‘15-minute cities,’ and other traffic reduction programs often meet with unfounded conspiracy theories claiming that the plans are nothing short of steps to world domination.

January 15, 2023 - The Guardian

Multimodal Improvements Coming to Houston

The city is continuing its investment in safety and accessibility improvements for transit riders, pedestrians, and cyclists.

January 15, 2023 - Houston Public Media

Indianapolis Street

Indianapolis Launches Fatal Crash Review Commission

The group is tasked with making a deeper assessment of the underlying infrastructural causes of fatal crashes and recommending improvements.

January 13, 2023 - Bloomberg CityLab

Parked electric scooters on a sidewalk with person walking bike in the background

Small Modes Are Beautiful!

Active modes (walking, bicycling and their variants) and micromodes (e-bikes and e-scooters) can provide large climate emission reductions and other important benefits, if we let them. Small modes are important but often undercounted and undervalued.

January 13, 2023 - Todd Litman

A long rail bridge, rusted and old, crosses a long stretch of water with hills and clouds on the other side.

Meta’s Plans to Revive an Old Rail Bridge Halted During the Pandemic

The company formerly known as Facebook’s once planned to revive the Dumbarton Rail Bridge across the San Francisco Bay. Those plans are as derelict as the bridge.

January 12, 2023 - The New York Times

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.