Transportation

More Diversity Needed in Bike Planning Processes

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

November 5, 2015 - Next City

Explained: Bus-On-Shoulder Service

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, 2015 - Metropolitan Planning Council - The Connector

Colorado Town to Fund Transit…By Taxing Skiers

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, 2015 - Summit Daily

Double Trucks

House Rejects Amendment Allowing Heavier Trucks

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, 2015 - The Hill

The New Speaker's First Test: The Transportation Reauthorization Bill

Congress began work this week on a 6-year transportation bill, the first since SAFETEA-LU expired in 2009. Overseeing the process of adding amendments to the bill will be new House Speaker Paul D. Ryan in his first significant test of leadership.

November 4, 2015 - Roll Call

Subway

Street Harassment: An Issue for Planners?

Women and men experience public spaces differently. It is all too common for women to experience street harassment when in public spaces. Nina Flores explores the ways that this issue is being combatted in the online public realm.

November 3, 2015 - Jennifer Evans-Cowley

30 Crossing Would Widen I-30 and Remove a Streetcar Line in Little Rock

Advocates at the local and the national level are voicing their concern over a proposal by the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department to widen the I-30 freeway in Downtown Little Rock.

November 3, 2015 - Streetsblog USA

Southeast Seattle Sidewalks

Seattle Has a Low-Cost Plan for 250 Blocks of New Sidewalks

Seattle political leadership recently announced an ambitious plan to build more sidewalks with less money.

November 3, 2015 - The Urbanist

A Negative Review of 'Vision Zero'

The 'Vision Zero' movement to eliminate pedestrian deaths is fantastic. It is helping cities around the world create better, safer streets. The name and its embrace of absolutes dooms cities to failure.

November 3, 2015 - California Planning & Development Report

Gas Pump

Guess Where Americans Are Plowing Their Gas Savings

Gas prices are 80 cents a gallon less than a year ago and $1.50 less than April 2014. With this amount of savings, the economy should be improving from all the extra cash in consumers' hands. You'll be surprised where much of the savings is going.

November 3, 2015 - Business Insider

Parking Lot

How Parking Management Can Help Cities Grow Smarter

An excerpt from the introduction to "Parking Management for Smart Growth," by Richard W. Willson, Ph.D., FAICP. Here Willson argues for parking management strategies as a critical tool for communities to get more out of the space devoted to cars.

November 2, 2015 - Richard Willson

Survey Finds Support for Transit in Atlanta

Residents of metropolitan Atlanta showed signs of a strengthening economy, a fast growing region, and, perhaps surprisingly, strong support for public transit.

November 2, 2015 - Atlanta Business Chronicle

$500 Million in TIGER Grants Awarded to 39 Projects

The seventh round of TIGER funding was announced last week. Louisville provides a case study of how cities engage with the competitive grant process.

November 2, 2015 - U.S. Department Of Transportation

Rainy Biker

Why Biking and Walking Can't Be Lumped Together

Biking and walking are often assumed as two peas in a pod, when in fact it might be more helpful to think of them as apples and oranges.

November 2, 2015 - Bike Portland

Regional Planning Merger One Step Closer to Reality in the Bay Area

The Bay Area is one of the few metro regions in the U.S. with a separate MPO and COG, but that could change after voting members of both the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments agreed to a merger study.

November 2, 2015 - Contra Costa Times

Alberta Oil Sands

Shell Gives Another Early Christmas Gift to Environmentalists

Shell Oil surprised the environmental community in September by announcing an end to Arctic drilling. What could come next? Shell is abandoning plans for the Carmon Creek oil-sands project in Alberta and taking a $2 billion write-down.

November 2, 2015 - Bloomberg News

NYC Subway Riders

MTA Capital Plan Approved—Thanks to Compromise from Cuomo and de Blasio

A long, contentious political process has finally produced an approval for a massive capital investment program for the New York MTA. Some questions about funding remain, however.

November 1, 2015 - Politico New York

Vision Zero Hero: L.A. to Hire an Artist for Traffic Safety Work

Applications are due on November 6 for a novel position in the world of traffic safety: artist in residence at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

November 1, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

$85 Million Transportation Bond Measure on the Ballot in Maine

A week before a Nov. 3 Maine transportation referendum on a *general fund bond issue to address roads and bridges, TRIP released a report showing that over a third of the state's bridges "are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete."

November 1, 2015 - Kennebec Journal

Bike Count

One Expert's Response to Misinformation from Bike Lane Opponents

Swatting down untruths and misinformation by bike lane opponents in St. Paul doesn't require a PhD, but it helps.

October 31, 2015 - Beyond Chron

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HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

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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.