Transportation
NACTO Releases New Transit-Focused Street Design Guide
One of the national centers of authority for street design is onboard with trends already in motion in local jurisdictions all over the United States. So let it be written; so let it be done?
Latest 'Muni Forward' Changes Mean Route Changes, Frequency Improvements
Muni will soon launch the fourth phase of improvement to San Francisco's transit system.
More Evidence That Living Near Highways Is Bad for Your Health
The findings of a new study based in Boston offer evidence of negative health outcomes connected to the collision of residential land use and transportation infrastructure.
Texas Highway Opens Shoulders to Drivers—Congestion Disappears
An experiment in Irving on SH 161 is defying the rules of induced demand, but not by building new lanes.
Pierce Transit in Washington on the Road to Recovery
The economic recovery is strongly evidenced by a proposal to restore thousands of hours of transit service in Pierce County, Washington.
A Watershed Moment for Ferries in the San Francisco Bay Area
With BART showing its age and struggling to meet growing demand, water-borne vehicles a potential panacea for transit in the San Francisco Bay Area?
Transit May Not Reduce Congestion—But It's Still Important
Laura Bliss argues that rather than promise to reduce congestion, Los Angeles Metro should embrace its real beneficiaries: non-drivers.
California Environmental Law Continues to Frustrate Bike Planning (for Now)
Help is on the way. The law that requires the governor's planning office to devise an alternative method for measuring vehicle traffic for environmental compliance will also take up where an earlier law that exempted bike lanes from CEQA left off.
TOD: The 'T' Stands for 'Trail'
Planning for active transportation is the new trend in urban development, according to the Urban Land Institute—and it pays off.
Broward County, Florida Advances One-Cent Transportation Sales Tax
A one-cent transportation sales tax took a major step forward to being placed on the Broward County November 2016 ballot with the 7-1 approval of the Broward County Commission. It now goes to the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Using Highway Medians for Carbon Sequestration
Americans are thinking about undeveloped land alongside and between roadways as a low cost and widely dispersed strategy for carbon sequestration
Virginia Railway Express Adding New Tracks to Increase Capacity
A Richmond Times-Dispatch article details a pair of projects to add third tracks to Virginia Railway Express stations—one set to complete this month and one just getting ready for construction.
'Community Partners Program' Offers $5 Memberships for Capital Bikeshare
The new Community Partners Program will help Capital Bikeshare respond to concerns about the system's lack of access for low-income and minority residents.
Friday Funny: The Death Star's Transit System Is the Best
If you've been waiting for a nice crossover of the Star Wars universe and the planning and urban design universe, here it is.
Is Tesla Ready for an Apple Moment?
A Quartz article describes the recent announcement of the Model 3, and the subsequent response by the market, as a "slow-motion disruption of the global auto industry."
On the Risk of Terrorist Attack on Public Transportation in the U.S.
The administrator of the Transportation Security Administration says public transportation systems in the United States are relatively safe from terrorist attack. His reasons for that assessment might surprise.
Kentucky Governor Signs No-Toll Bill, Likely Sets Back Ohio River Bridge 10 Years
As promised, Gov. Matt Bevin signed the P3 bill that allows private funding, but bans tolls, to pay for the $2.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge project over the Ohio River that connects Covington, Ky. to Cincinnati. Now he needs to find the funding.
The Transportation Policy of Four Presidential Candidates
An article for Next City reveals the transportation policy platforms of Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders, asking the question of whether any of them will shift new support to public transit.
Community Engagement Highlights from APA 2016
As I do every year at the APA National Conference, I did my best to catch as many community engagement sessions as possible. Here are highlights, takeaways, and the common threads I noticed this year.
Bruce Rauner's Highway to a Shrinking Chicago
How a proposed expansion of Chicago's I-55 could further disperse Chicago's population.
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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association
