Transportation

Even in cities without world-class transit systems, transit can reduce car ownership to some extent.

November 18, 2012 - Michael Lewyn

After his entreaties went unheard the first time around, Mayor Greg Ballard is once again leading efforts to get support for a $1.3 billion mass transit overhaul for the Indianapolis region.

November 18, 2012 - Indystar

Turns out if you don't provide the parking, tenants still bring their cars - they just park on the street, according to a limited Portland survey. Neighbors asked city planners for a moratorium on 'parking-less' apartments and adding parking minimums

November 18, 2012 - The Oregonian

Writing from Madera in the Central Valley, the Mercury News transportation reporter explores the local opposition to the largest public works project in the nation. Farmers wanted an injunction placed on the CA High Speed Rail Authority to halt work.

November 17, 2012 - San Jose Mercury News

Last month we came across an ingenious idea for making your sidewalk frustrations known to offending amblers, while sidestepping the dangers of verbal confrontation.

November 16, 2012 - Treehugger

Angie Schmitt takes issue with the controversial premise of a recent story from the popular Freakonomics guys. True to their reputation for counter-intuition, their most recent report makes the claim that "driving is greener than transit."

November 16, 2012 - DC.Streetsblog

Based on a new metric he's developed for defining the components of a smart city, Boyd Cohen ranks the top cities in Europe that are "working the hardest to be the most advanced urban landscape."

November 16, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Exist

In the immediate aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, bicycles appeared to be the big winner in the ensuing transportation chaos. This week, however, it was revealed that efforts to expand bike use in the city were also one of the storm's victims.

November 15, 2012 - The New York Times

Given its unprecedented “scale and scope”, California's bullet train poses a plethora of complex challenges to engineers and train planners, reports Ralph Vartabedian, yet it also seizes their imaginations.

November 14, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Efforts to remove a bike lane from Toronto's Jarvis Street did not go exactly as planned this week, as protesters prevented city crews from completing their work by blockading the street, reports Lissette Valdez.

November 14, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper Blog

As a special election gets underway to determine whether 10,000 downtown L.A. residents support taxing property owners to build a new streetcar system, the editors of the Los Angeles Downtown News offer their qualified support for the project.

November 13, 2012 - Los Angeles Downtown News

AP covers the opening of the first toll lanes in LA county: 110 Freeway Express Lanes that allow solo-drivers to use a carpool lane for a toll that varies with the level of congestion (i.e. congestion pricing). Shoup asks: "Why did it take so long?"

November 13, 2012 - AP via San Jose Mercury News

With a plan to spend $150 million on bike infrastructure over the next eight years, Amsterdam is cementing its reputation as "the capital of European biking," and doubling down on a pledge to "remain a clean and accessible city."

November 13, 2012 - The New York Times

As part of Bloomberg BusinessWeek's "Fix This" city planning series, the World Bank's Daniel Hoornweg considers how cities can often be a reflection of the cultural and institutional personalities of their citizens.

November 12, 2012 - Bloomberg BusinessWeek

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently launched a new information-sharing initiative designed to help local public agencies and state departments of transportation manage their Federal-aid Highway Program projects.

November 12, 2012 - Public Roads

Jarrett Walker examines the desirability of slow transit as argued by University of British Columbia Professor Patrick M. Condon in support of a vast streetcar network for Vancouver.

November 11, 2012 - Human Transit

In the aftermath of the presidential election, an observation by the star statistician Nate Silver about the connection between sidewalks and voting patterns has been getting a lot of play. Robert Steuteville tries to depoliticize walkability.

November 10, 2012 - Better! Cities & Towns

With only 25% of gas stations in NYC operating, the mayor has instituted odd-even rationing that has proven effective in reducing lines in NJ. Meanwhile, MTA announced most transit and subway service have been restored to pre-Hurricane Sandy levels.

November 10, 2012 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

Sophie Landrin looks at the global rise in the use of cable cars - the kind you find on a ski lift and not on the streets of San Francisco - as a transportation alternative. Several French cities are developing plans to become "wired".

November 9, 2012 - The Guardian

Patrick Doyle makes a persuasive argument for alleviating Boston's parking problems by raising the rates at the city's overly cheap parking meters.

November 9, 2012 - Boston Magazine