Transportation
Roads On Sale
As business slows down, road construction contractors are slashing their prices. They're offering lower bids to states across the country for road work, leading many transportation officials to foresee more work able to be funded by the stimulus.
Insufficient Funding for High Speed Rail?
The stimulus plan includes $8 billion for investments in high-speed rail, but some critics point out that this isn't nearly enough to bring these plans to fruition.
Brookings to Congress: Integrate Housing and Transportation Planning
In this testimonial to Congress, the Brookings Institution's Robert Puentes argues that housing and transportation are irreversibly linked and that, in the face of the current recession, more integrated planning is needed.
Without Rail, Sydney Will Fall Behind Global Cities
Without a proper light rail system, Sydney will get left behind as other global cities progress into a diverse transit future, according to planning expert Peter Newman.
TOD Districts Approved in Honolulu
Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann has signed a law that allows for the creation of transit oriented districts around the city's recently approved regional train system.
Funding Street Networks, Not Sprawl: A Conversation With CNU's John Norquist
Streetsblog speaks with CNU President John Norquist about how federal policy can live up to the promises of "sustainable communities" coming from DOT and HUD.
ARRA Lowers Transit Expenses
With all the 'shovel-ready' talk focused on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, gone unnoticed by many was the huge increase in the transit costs that can be included in the pretax program to assist commuters - $230/month can now be included.
Charging Motorists For Crashes They Cause
Cash-strapped towns in California are resorting to what opponents dub an "accident tax". At-fault, out-of-town drivers involved in a crash are sent a bill for the public services sent to clean-up the incident. Local motorists are spared.
Clash of Subways and Car Culture in Chinese Cities
The question is whether the burrowing machines can outrace China’s growing love affair with the automobile.
Students Give Up Wheels for Their Own Two Feet
This piece from the New York Times looks at a program in Italy the encourages children to walk to school.
Walk Score and Water: How Location Affects Pedestrians
Eric A. Morris takes a look at pedestrian-oriented cities with an economist's eyes.
Redirecting Bridge Funding Could Create Citywide Light Rail for Vancouver
A public-private partnership that would have built a new 10-lane bridge in British Columbia has fallen apart, leaving the $3.1 billion tab on the BC government. Researchers say that much money could build a 200-km light rail system instead.
Krieger: Bike Registrations Improve Bike Safety
BikePortland.com editor Jonathan Maus interviews Rep. Wayne Krieger about his legislation requiring cyclists to register their bicycles.
Why the Streetcar Beat Out "Green Lines"
Matt Fikse calls attention to a Seattle transit plan, which has few drawbacks but has been left to die by officials. Why the streetcar beat out the Rapid Trolley Network.
Boston Neighborhoods to See Rail-Related Upgrades
New stations for the Fairmount rail line in Boston has made its surrounding neighborhoods targets for redevelopment by community organizations, which may rebuild up to a dozen properties.
San Francisco Plans Pedestrian Street
San Francisco is looking to follow New York City's lead as it moves forward with plans to convert a portion of street into a pedestrian plaza.
Reinventing Infrastructure with Tech
According to Kazys Varnelis, architects should spend less time worrying about the little funding that the stimulus allots to highways and rail, and spending more time focusing on new technologies that supplement typical infrastructure.
Staten Island Rail on the Drawing Board
A year-long study of the proposed West Shore Light Rail finds that the borough could draw nine stations and about 13,000 riders traveling within Staten Island or to Manhattan.
The $2,200 Car
Tata Motors of India released their much anticipated $2,200 car yesterday, with 1m people already on the waiting list. Environmentalists fear that the surge in cars, even tiny ones, will make India's cities more autocentric.
Not Quite the Urban Utopia
When Andres Duany planned the village of Cornell, he built in walkability, density, and mixed-use. The outcome, however, falls short of the New Urbanist vision; driving is the norm and retail is scarce. What happened?
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
