Transportation
Road Funding: Doing More With Less
Roads and bridges are crumbling in America. The Highway Trust Fund is broke and new revenue other than stimulus funds are unlikely, so some state transportation officials are applying innovative methods to spread the road funding they have secured.
Will Politics Harm Allocation Of $8 Billion In HSR Funds?
The $8 billion in stimulus funds allocated to high speed rail marks a turning point in a road-airport dominated U.S. transportation network, but the politics of allocating the funds may prevent results needed to showcase HSR.
Three Things the Mayor Can Do to Fix L.A.
Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne offers three pieces of advice to recently re-elected L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for improving his city -- and his urban planning credibility.
Reducing Emissions By Measuring Carbon In Fuel
CA's Air Resources Board has issued a new regulation to reduce carbon from fuels - and the ethanol industry isn't happy.
Planned SF Transit Terminal May Be Obsolete By 2030
Designs for the new Transbay Terminal in San Francisco may not be able to handle the amount of passengers expected by 2030, according to transportation officials. Some are calling for a redesign of the plans, set to begin construction next year.
Cities Begin To Rethink Parking Policies
Three years after the publication of The High Cost of Free Parking, Prof. Don Shoup's work has begun to take hold across the country. Cities from San Francisco to Washington, DC, are starting to curb traffic and recognize the true cost of parking.
A Plea for PR: Bicycling in the City
A longtime urban cyclist compares cycling today with cycling twenty years ago, and considers how best to move forward.
Ridership Increases in Boroughs, Even As Cuts Loom
The Center for an Urban Future found that ridership in the greater Manhattan area has been up significantly since 1998. But these routes are precisely the ones targeted for service cuts due to decreased revenue.
Boosting the "Mobile" in Automobile
Three authors in the French Newspaper Le Monde pose possible futures for the car and the automobile industry.
Bike Sharing, C'est Bien en Paris
Jay Walljasper writes that bike-sharing programs are transforming life in European cities from Oslo to Rome, Barcelona to Vienna, and giving visitors a great new way to sightsee.
Experts Question $8 Billion HSR Stimulus Investment
No one expects the $8 billion to build any one single high-speed-rail system in the U.S. But the U.S., with its vast distances and low gas prices, is not Europe or Asia, and some question whether the investment will produce any substantial results.
Traffic Down 30% in Cities: How?
New data show that in 2008 traffic congestion in the nation's cities declined by 30 percent, the result not of new roads or transit, but of modest declines in VMT.
The Train in Spain Beats the Plane
As air travel security tightens and high speed rail expands, getting in and around Spain is becoming easier on the rails than in the sky.
Taking a Closer Look at the Slum
Slums have garnered some positive attention lately, from academics (Teddy Cruz) to royalty (Prince Charles). This article looks at just what it is we can learn from them, as well as the challenges that face legitimizing the world's shantytowns.
How to Make BRT Work for New York City
In this fourth and final installment on Bus Rapid Transit, Streetsblog and Walter Hook discuss how to make BRT work along 1st or 2nd Avenue--two ready-made BRT corridors.
A Model For Public Works, But A Bad One
The Highway Act of 1956 that resulted in the construction of America's Interstate Highway system has gathered a lot of praise recently as a model economy-boosting public works project. But based on the problems it's caused, that praise should stop.
Solar-Powered Parking Meter Considered
Austin joins cities across the U.S. and elsewhere in shifting away from individually-metered spaces and towards pay stations in an effort to increase revenue and efficiencies.
How States are Divvying Up the Transportation Money
This article provides a general breakdown of how state governments plan to use the first installment of transportation spending money from the stimulus. The leeway states have in how to spend has sparked debates among legislators.
Congestion Control Demanded for New 12-Lane Bridge
The mayors of Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington have come to an agreement about the size of a new bridge that will connect the two cities -- but on the condition that a bistate commission be set up to control congestion through tolling.
Don't Fear the VMT Fee
The Christian Science Monitor editorializes in support of the VMT fee replacing the gas tax just as the latest federal transportation financing commission report recommends, as Oregon Governor Kulongoski hopes to do, and as some will do in Europe.
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
