Transportation
Stick With Diesel, Climate Experts Tell Truckers and Transit Agencies
So much for switching from diesel fuel to natural gas to protect the environment. A new report concludes that it is best to stick with oil-based fuels because methane leakage from natural gas is much greater than currently estimated.
Los Angles Launching First Bicycle Friendly Business District
Coming soon to Northeast Los Angeles: a "Bicycle Friendly Business District." The Northeast Los Angeles pilot project is expected to clear the way for a citywide program in 2015-16.
San Francisco's Running Out of Room for Cars
In terms of land area, San Francisco’s a small city. Yet if current policies persist, the city will build 92,000 parking spots for residents by 2040, on just 49 square miles of land.
Subway Transfer Signage a No-Go in NYC
A recent guerrilla campaign designed to ease train-to-train transfer on the New York subway displeased both the MTA and regular commuters.
Bridge-gate Widens to Include ARC Tunnel Cancellation
Remember the $8.7 billion Hudson River rail tunnel project that Chris Christie canceled in 2010 shortly after becoming governor? N.J. legislators investigating the September lane shut-down on the George Washington Bridge are now connecting the dots.
CA High Speed Rail Chugs Along—New Business Plan Released
Despite numerous legal and legislative setbacks in the last few months, the California High Speed Rail Authority has released a new business plan—the first update of the controversial plan since 2012.
Mapped Snow Routes Reveal the Logic of Transportation Infrastructure
A side-by side-comparison of several cities’ snow routes reveals the inherent logic (or lack thereof) of their transportation infrastructure.
Illinois Betting On Tolls to Cover Highway Costs
The state of Illinois is actively pushing two highway projects that might fail to pencil-out for users and for state taxpayers.
Modern Love Looks Like Parking Tickets
Fools rush in, they say—with a little push from the Cambridge Traffic, Parking, & Transportation Department.
10 Unexpected Cities to Love
A valentine to ten cities around the world that are quietly creating urban paradigms to admire and emulate.
Forget Sunk Cost—What's the Best Way to Spend Bertha's Remaining Funds?
Seattle’s massive highway tunneling project delays while solutions are sought for the mechanical error that brought the project’s massive drilling machine, Bertha, to a halt. Some are starting to examine life after Bertha.
Business and Labor Agree: Boost the Gas Tax
At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meeting on Feb. 12, leaders from big labor, big business, AASHTO, and AMTRAK testified to the importance of keeping the Highway Trust Fund solvent. The first two specified increasing the gas tax.
College Campuses as Multi-Modal Models for Cities
A new report argues that city governments have some of the same incentives for de-emphasizing single-occupant commuters as colleges—such as attracting younger workers and freeing up land used for parking.
Drive Till You Disqualify: Will Businesses Continue Hiring Super-Commuters?
Workers with long commutes are more likely to be be tired and stressed at work, and businesses are learning that they often make for less productive employees.
Big Oil vs. Big Corn in Transportation Fuels Fight
Say what you will about growing corn for fuel, and there are many criticisms even coming from the environmental community, corn ethanol has its benefits, and one of the most important is reducing oil's stranglehold on America's transportaton fuels.
A History of 'Jaywalking' Shame: Santa Claus, Boy Scouts, and Clowns
With jaywalking enforcement policies recently making news in New York City and Los Angeles, more of the media is pushing back on long-held assumptions about who rules the road. Here’s a primer on how jaywalking became a crime.
Ranking Freeways Without Futures
The Congress for the New Urbanism releases a Top 10 list highlighting the worst, most ready-to-be-junked urban freeways. New Orleans, Syracuse, and Detroit make the list. Boulevards are a viable and much-needed alternative, says CNU.
Will Development Follow RTD Light Rail in Aurora, Colorado?
The mayor of Aurora has lofty ambitions for a new “Main Street” along its forthcoming 10-mile light rail route, but will the market deliver, especially with the rise of real estate prices?
Bad News Bay Bridge: Leaking, Possibly Corroding
The eastern span of the Bay Bridge has had cost overruns, delays, scandal, and lukewarm architecture reviews, but the latest bad news is cause for concern—the bridge is leaking into structural elements and officials aren’t sure why or what it means.
Where and How People Live Without Cars
The USA Today takes a closer look at data from the recent “Has Motorization in the U.S. Peaked?” report by Michael Sivak for the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
Pagination
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello