Transportation

What Would You Do With $100 Billion To Improve Transit?

As part of a series of opinions about traffic and transit, The Los Angeles Times gives one transit advocate the fantasy situation of having $100 billion to spend on rail, buses, and a host of other transportation improvements.

March 26, 2007 - The Los Angeles Times

Barriers To Planning: Lessons From Katrina

Evacuating people after Hurricane Katrina revealed chronic shortcomings of local and regional evacuation planning. The barriers that hindered efforts in New Orleans apply not only to evacuation planning, but to planning in general.

March 26, 2007 - Thomas W. Sanchez, Marc Brenman

Is London's Congestion Charge Bad Policy?

Mayor Livingstone's sledgehammer approach to congestion management lacks imagination, and travel in the UK capital isn't that much better, according to a recent commentary.

March 26, 2007 - Spiked

Shanghai Tells Transit Officials To Get On The Bus

The city's government is requiring that high-ranking officials use transit at least one day a month.

March 25, 2007 - Shanghai Daily

Texas Program Helps Motorists 'Trade Up' To Lower Pollution

With several of the state's metro areas failing federal clear air standards, Texas lawmakers are dramatically increasing funding to a program that help drivers of older cars buy new, less polluting vehicles.

March 23, 2007 - The Houston Chronicle

Talking With The Parking Evangelist: An Interview With Donald Shoup

UCLA Professor and author of The High Cost of Free Parking visits New York City to preach the gospel of sound parking pricing policies.

March 22, 2007 - Streetsblog

Making TOD Work: An Interview With Nathan Cherry

One of the designers behind Mockingbird Station in Dallas, Texas, one of the first TODs in the country, talks about the recipe for a successful transit-oriented development.

March 22, 2007 - Multi-Housing News

Could Parking Meters Solve Traffic Snafus Around Schools?

One blogger wonders if parking meters would help solve the morning and afternoon traffic jams by discouraging parents from driving their kids to school -- all the while lowering emissions and raising revenue for public education.

March 21, 2007 - AboutMyPlanet.com

L.A. Looking At 'Inland Port' Idea

With high amounts of truck traffic congesting freeways near the county's busy ports, County officials in L.A. are considering creating an 'inland port', where goods travel from the port by rail to be picked up by trucks far from the port complex.

March 21, 2007 - The Daily Breeze

Atlanta Revisits Downtown Parking

The city is responding to a new parking survey by adding uniform public parking signage and revising its parking structure zoning.

March 21, 2007 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Earth To Planners: Americans Want Roads, Not Transit

The current strategy of encouraging traffic congestion and focusing on transit doesn't align with the majority of American's preferences. Instead of continuing to follow failed policy, planners should start using new solutions to increase capacity.

March 21, 2007 - Reason Online

Should A Traffic Engineer Be In Charge Of NYC's DOT?

As New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg nears selection of New York City's next transportation commissioner, residents call for a candidate who is interested in moving people, not cars.

March 20, 2007 - Streetsblog

Canada To Penalize SUVs, Reward Hybrids

Canadians shopping for a new car will get a rebate for purchasing hybrids, and a penalty for purchasing a gas-guzzler.

March 20, 2007 - The Globe and Mail

Controversial Sierra Nevada Foothill Freeway Revisited

Resurrection of a 1959 plan to construct a freeway along the Sierra Nevada foothills in California's Central Valley is in the works.

March 20, 2007 - The Fresno Bee

When The Road To The Future Erases The Past

Column McCann laments the loss of Ireland's cultural and environmental heritage as a result of the construction of new motorways.

March 20, 2007 - The Los Angeles Times

EU Suggests Speed Limits On Autobahn

The European Union's environment commissioner has suggested that speed limits be placed on Germany's autobahn -- one of the last roadways in the world with sections unhindered by speed limits. The EU says limits would help reduce carbon emissions.

March 19, 2007 - International Herald Tribune

Peer-to-Peer Networking... For Traffic

Just like it's possible to share files using peer-to-peer networking, a German research group envisions enabling cars and bikes to share useful traffic and road condition information with other vehicles.

March 19, 2007 - Chris Steins

Removing Urban Freeways

As part of our effort to slow global warming, we should be correcting one of the great errors in the history of American city planning: the post-war binge of urban freeway building.

March 19, 2007 - Charles Siegel

Thinking Beyond Tighter Automobile Fuel Economy

While Congress is eager to increase fuel economy standards to lower petroleum consumption, ill-planned regulations could do more harm than good, says a senior researcher at RAND.

March 18, 2007 - The Detroit Free Press

New High-Speed Train Debuts In France

The new Paris-Strasbourg TGV line is the continent's fastest high-speed rail link yet, and will connect France with Germany and Eastern Europe.

March 17, 2007 - Der Spiegel

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.