Transportation

How to Build a Real-Time LED Display of Your City's Transit System

One MIT student's love of transit means no one in his house will ever miss the T.

September 26, 2015 - The Boston Globe

Crosswalk no daylight

Daylighting NYC's Most Dangerous Intersections

Legislation is proposed to reduce the number of fatal pedestrian and cyclist accidents in NYC.

September 25, 2015 - StreetsBlog NYC

Deadly Diesel Emissions Plummeting in California

Amidst the bad publicity coming from Volkswagen's engineered fraud on diesel emissions testing comes good news from California Air Resources Board: The cancer risk from airborne toxins, most of which come from burning diesel fuel, dropped 76 percent.

September 25, 2015 - California Air Resources Board

Eliminating the Dangerous 'Waze Left'

Vocal users of the wildly popular navigation app Waze have pushed the company's developers to look for a solution to its routing algorithm's tendency to send drivers turning left through crowded intersections.

September 25, 2015 - The Atlantic

Traffic Safety Sea Change Underway in Texas

Streetsblog surveys the Texas cities adopting new standards of traffic safety as official policy.

September 25, 2015 - Streetsblog USA

Atlanta Approves 31 New Miles of Bike Lanes Amid Growing Bike-Lash

Bike advocates in the famously car-centric Atlanta are finding success despite outspoken opposition.

September 25, 2015 - WABE

Boston Mayor Considering Shoup-Style Makeover for Downtown Parking

Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Chris Osgood, the latter Boston's new "chief of streets," are looking to San Francisco as a model of dynamic parking.

September 25, 2015 - The Boston Globe

Meter

A Counterpoint in the Great Uber Dialogue

An op-ed counters concerns about the social equity consequences of Uber by allowing the possibility of public benefits arising from transportation network companies.

September 24, 2015 - William Riggs

Thoughts on the Dynamic Cities Sector

After spending more than a decade in government and real estate development, Brian Swett recently joined Arup in the role of Director of Cities and Sustainable Real Estate in the Americas. We asked for his thoughts on urban expansion and development.

September 24, 2015 - Doggerel

Jersey City Bikeshare Launches; Hoboken's System on the Way

The New York Times recognizes the signs of urban biking's renaissance in the launch of bikeshare systems in New Jersey cities.

September 24, 2015 - The New York Times

Calling for the Removal of Houston's Pierce Elevated Freeway

Houston's Pierce Elevated, a section of the I-45 freeway, is the latest target in the movement to remove urban freeways.

September 24, 2015 - The Urban Edge

'Beyond the 710' Seeks Multimodal Alternatives to Filling Freeway Gap

A coalition in Los Angeles County wants to reframe the debate about closing the gap in the 710 Freeway, asking Metro to look "beyond the 710"—and toward a multi-pronged, multimodal approach to transportation problems in the region.

September 23, 2015 - The Planning Report

Volkswagen Caught Cheating on Emissions Testing

A toxic revelation about the use of software to cheat emissions testing, found in 11 million Volkswagen vehicles, has taken down the company's CEO and could cost the company around $7.3 billion.

September 23, 2015 - The New York Times

Massachusetts Could Be Next State to Adopt a Road Usage Charge

In the wake of voter rejection of automatic indexing of the state gas tax, Massachusetts legislators may do away with the tax altogether. They are considering a trial of the Oregon model of road usage charge.

September 23, 2015 - Eagle-Tribune

Build It and They Will Come: Big Expansion Expected for Houston Bikeshare

Critical funding from the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Policy Council will expand the size of Houston's B-Cycle bikeshare system. The investment is intended to attract more users.

September 23, 2015 - Houston Chronicle

Nashville Neighborhood Conducts Car-Free Experiment

A neighborhood in West Nashville is in the midst of a "Don't Car Campaign," concluding on September 25, to determine just how walkable and transit-friendly their homes can be.

September 23, 2015 - Nashville Business Journal

Amsterdam Electric Car

Electric Vehicles: When Too Much of a Good Thing Is Bad

Environmental sustainability on a national level is proving to be financially unsustainable on a local level for an island community in Norway that is counting on $20 tolls, with an electrical vehicle exemption, to pay off a $70 million tunnel.

September 22, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

Moving Forward in Ferguson with Better Transit

The Ferguson Commission report includes recommendations for combating racial inequity in the Saint Louis region with better-funded, more expansive transit access.

September 22, 2015 - Citizens for Modern Transit

Mercedes-Benz Developing Self-Driving Limousines

Manifesting predictions that many self-driving vehicles will serve as a new form of taxi service, Mercedes-Benz recently revealed some of its plans to develop a fleet of on-demand limousines.

September 21, 2015 - Quartz

The Case for an Oil Severance Tax

After Big Oil killed the oil reduction mandate in climate legislation and with a critical transportation bill stalled by anti-tax Republicans, Los Angeles Times political columnist George Skelton opines that taxing oil extraction could pay for roads.

September 21, 2015 - Los Angeles 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.