Transportation

Early Reviews Are In: Chicago's New Transit App Makes it Easy to Pay the Fare

The Ventra app hits the streets—or the tracks, perhaps—this week. Steven Vance of Streetsblog Chicago has already tested the new tool.

November 20, 2015 - Chi.Streetsblog

Northern California City Protests Closure Of Popular Rail Crossing

State rail officials decided that the risk posed by Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit trains is too grave to allow an existing grade crossing to remain open, forcing pedestrians and a cyclists out of their way to cross the tracks.

November 20, 2015 - The Press Democrat

Opponents to California High-Speed Rail Board: Show Us the Money!

Bereft of private investment, how can the $68 billion project proceed? That's the question about 20 members of the public repeated in their public comments at Tuesday's High-Speed Rail Authority meeting in Fresno. To their surprise, it was answered.

November 20, 2015 - Fresno Bee

Planning for Fitness in Oklahoma City

Six years ago, the 620-square-mile city had not one bike lane and forty McDonald's franchises.

November 19, 2015 - Huffington Post

Two-Way Streets Coming Soon to Dallas' Victory Park

The city of Dallas got the memo about the benefits of converting one-way streets to two-ways. Two streets in the Victory Park neighborhood will be reconfigured this weekend.

November 19, 2015 - The Dallas Morning News

Estimated Cost Savings of 10 Percent of People Riding Bikes: $24 Trillion

The mode share for bikes in urban environments around the world currently sits around 6 percent. A new report out of a university located in one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country quantifies the benefits of 10 percent mode share.

November 19, 2015 - Climate Central

Chicago Tribune Finds Faults With City's Speed Camera Program

A special investigation by the Chicago Tribune finds inconsistencies and errors with the city's "'Children's Safety Zone" initiative, which places speed camera near schools and parks.

November 18, 2015 - Chicago Tribune

Toll Road Truck

A Texas Toll Road Struggling to Induce Demand

Texas 130 has failed to live up to its revenue potential, leaving the private company that operates the road in junk bond status.

November 18, 2015 - San Antonio Express News

Northern Virginia Considering a New Light Rail or Bus Rapid Transit Line

One of the busiest corridors in Northern Virginia, both in traffic and development, is under consideration for a new transit line.

November 18, 2015 - WAMU

Electric Car

Report: Electric Vehicles Best Option in Most of U.S.

A new Union of Concerned Scientists report shows that due to considerable gains made in cleaning the electric grid and in producing electric vehicles more efficiently, EVs are the environmentally sensible choice.

November 18, 2015 - Union Of Concerned Scientists

New Study Underway: Do Ride-Hailing Services Reduce Car Ownership?

The University of California, Berkeley and NRDC will team-up to verify whether Uber and Lyft reduce car ownership and are thus good for the environment. Such data already exists for a sister form of shared mobility: car-share.

November 17, 2015 - The Verge

Oregon DOT Releases Draft Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan

The Oregon Department of Transportation is showing leadership among state transportation agencies by adopting a new pedestrian and bicycle plan. With a first draft on the street, the early reviews are coming in.

November 17, 2015 - Bike Portland

Door Zone

Reactions to Cleveland's Backwards Bike Lane

A photo of a "backwards" buffered bike lane in Cleveland prompts commentary from the planning community. What is gained by separating bike lane and curb?

November 16, 2015 - People for Bikes

Microsoft, City of Bellevue Developing Tech to Predict—and Prevent—Bike Crashes

If it's successful, a public-private partnership between Microsoft and the city of Bellevue, Washington could produce Minority Report-style predicative capabilities to prevent bike crashes.

November 16, 2015 - GeekWire

Google Bus Opponents Argue Need for CEQA Study in San Francisco Superior Court

On Friday, tech bus opponents took their case to court, arguing that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency must comply with the California Environmental Quality Act due to impacts including air quality and community displacement.

November 16, 2015 - San Francisco Examiner

US Highway 53 - Wisconsin

Wisconsin Goes Deeper in the Fiscal Hole to Fix Aging Roads

Wisconsin legislators have voted to continue steep borrowing to pay for needed road repairs, while calls to increase the state’s gas tax grow louder.

November 16, 2015 - Urban Milwaukee

The Time the Google Self-Driving Car Got Pulled Over for Driving Too Slowly

Google's response to its self-driving car getting pulled over by police in California: " "Driving too slowly? Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often."

November 15, 2015 - San Jose Mercury News

Why It's So Hard to Tell When a New York Train Will Arrive

The Atlantic has deep and detailed coverage of the expensive, obsolete, and decaying technology used by the New York subway system.

November 15, 2015 - The Atlantic

Santa Monica Bikes

Santa Monica Debuts GPS-Enabled Bikeshare

Serving beach-side Santa Monica and nearby Venice, Breeze Bikeshare equips its bikes with GPS tracking. The program claims to be more advanced than an L.A. Metro system set to debut in early 2016.

November 14, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

Feds Release New 'Transportation and Health Tool'

A new tool from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control allows comparisons between state or metropolitan area on transportation and public health indicators.

November 13, 2015 - Metro Magazine

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.