Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
It Just Got Easier for Cities to Design Walkable, Bikeable Streets
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The federal government threw out 11 rules that prevented cities from building walkable streets. Photo: NJbikeped.org
We probably haven’t seen the last of engineers who insist on designing local streets like surface highways. But at least now they can’t claim their hands are tied by federal regulations.
Last week, the Federal Highway Administration struck 11 of the 13 design rules for “national [...]
Reminder: Just Laying Track Is No Guarantee Riders Will Come
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Atlanta’s streetcar route is still surrounded by parking lots. Photo: Streetcarviews/Tumblr
Laying track isn’t enough to build a successful transit system — as some cities are learning the hard way.
A slate of new rail projects — mostly mixed-traffic streetcars, but that’s not the only way to mess up — are attracting embarrassingly few passengers. Some of these projects may be [...]
How Can Cities Move More People Without Wider Streets? Hint: Not With Cars
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Here’s how many people a single traffic lane can carry “with normal operations,” according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials.
How can cities make more efficient use of street space, so more people can get where they want to go?
This graphic from the new NACTO Transit Street Design Guide provides a great visual answer. (Hat tip to Sandy Johnston for [...]
U.S. DOT Wants to Show America How to Heal Divides Left By Urban Highways
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Highway destruction in reverse: U.S. DOT used the teardown of Milwaukee’s Park East Freeway, shown here mid-demolition, to illustrate its “Every Place Counts” initiative. Photo: Milwaukee Department of City Development via CNU
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx opened up earlier this spring in a refreshingly personal speech about how highway construction in American cities isolated many neighborhoods — especially black [...]
Does It Make Sense for Transit Agencies to Pay for “Last Mile” Uber Trips?
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Should transit agencies subsidize short “last-mile” Uber trips to expand transit access for people who live outside comfortable walking distance of a train station?
The green areas denote where people would be eligible for ride-hail commute subsidies. Map: CAP
Columbus, Ohio, has proposed something along these lines as part of its application for U.S. DOT’s Smart City Challenge. The city is one of seven finalists competing for [...]
After Big Push From Mayors, TIGER in Line For Slight Funding Boost
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There’s good news out of the Senate committee responsible for doling out transportation funds.
The Indianapolis Cultural Trail was funded in part with a TIGER grant. Photo: Walk Indianapolis
Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee okayed a small increase in TIGER funding, according to Stephen Lee Davis at Transportation for America. TIGER is the program that allows local governments [...]
How Good Is the Transit Where You Live? Measure It With AllTransit
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The top ten rankings are great conversation fodder, but the real strength of AllTransit is its deep reservoir of data, enabling multifaceted analysis of transit quality at many different scales. Table via AllTransit.
Do you have the sense that transit in your city could be a lot better, and you want to show your local elected officials what [...]
A Big Opportunity to Reform the Vicious Cycle of Highway Expansion
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Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx made headlines recently with a speech about how America needs to rethink its approach to urban highways. But U.S. DOT’s influence is limited. States have the real power when it comes spending federal transportation funds, however, and a lot of states are still stuck in the cycle of addressing traffic congestion by widening highways, [...]
How Federal Rules Make It Harder to Build Trains in America
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Former U.S. Secretary Ray LaHood at the Nippon Sharyo plant near Chicago in 2012, when the company was awarded a contract to build 130 railcars. Photo: U.S. DOT
The Wall Street Journal‘s Bob Tita broke the news yesterday that the manufacturer of 130 new Amtrak railcars is years behind schedule, and probably won’t complete the order before the federal funding for [...]
Why Bike Lanes With Lots of Bike Traffic Can Still Appear “Empty”
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Wherever there is a bike lane, there is probably an angry driver complaining that it is always empty.
San Francisco’s Market Street bike counter. Photo: U.S. DOT
That tends to be the case even when plenty of people do use the bike lane. And there are reasons for that, writes University of Minnesota professor David Levinson. Mathematical, geometrical reasons. Like [...]
Parking Madness Elite Eight: Dallas vs. Muncie
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We’re down to six remaining contenders in this year’s Parking Madness tournament after the grey expanse of Niagara Falls, New York, blew out the competition from Rutland, Vermont, claiming the second slot in the Final Four.
Today’s pairing: a Texas-sized disaster and a Midwestern moonscape. Only one will advance.
Dallas
Dallas’s Fair Park is a 275-acre complex near downtown that is home to the state fair. The enormous [...]
Anthony Foxx Wants to Repair the Damage Done By Urban Highways
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During the first two decades of constructing the Interstate Highway System, almost half a million households were forced to leave their homes.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is offering a surprisingly honest appraisal of America’s history of road construction this week, with a high-profile speaking tour that focuses on the damage that highways caused in black urban neighborhoods.
U.S Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx spoke [...]