Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
Crashes Doubled After Houston Banned Red Light Cameras
| | No Comments
Collisions increased dramatically after Houston banned red light cameras. Chart: Houston Police Department
Law enforcement officers warned there would likely be an uptick in collisions when Houston debated banning red light cameras in the early part of the decade. Turns out they were absolutely right.
Houston voters banned the life-saving technology in 2010, with the press mostly cheering them along. Last [...]
The State of American Infrastructure Spending in Four Charts
| | No Comments
If you’ve checked the news on the subject of American transportation infrastructure lately, you’ve probably heard that the sky is falling. It’s true that Congress can’t get its act together and pass a decent transportation bill, but the amount of money that’s being spent isn’t the problem so much as the fact that we’re spending it [...]
American Roads Depend on Handouts From Bus Riders, Cyclists, Pedestrians
| | No Comments
Paying for roads costs everyone, not just people who drive. Graphic: U.S. PIRG
Once upon a time in America, the road system was largely funded by the gas tax. But that was many Highway Trust Fund bailouts ago.
Gas taxes, tolls, and other fees on driving account for a rapidly declining share of road spending. Graph: US PIRG
Today, only about [...]
Study: Most Roads Don’t Pay for Themselves
| | No Comments
Most American roads — even the most highly trafficked — are financial losers. That’s a major finding from a new study by the Center for American Progress [PDF].
Four out of 10 American highways don’t generate enough revenue to pay for maintenance. Photo: Wikipedia
A financial analysis by the think tank found that about four out of 10 U.S. [...]
Putting TIGER Spending in Perspective
| | No Comments
Federal spending on TIGER compared to the total cost of various U.S. highway projects. Image: Streetsblog
The House’s current transportation spending bill calls for reducing the share of federal spending that goes to TIGER, a grant program for sustainable transportation projects in cities, from $500 to $100 million. The budget, meanwhile, holds highway funding steady.
Indianapolis’s cultural [...]
You Can Help Make State DOTs Accountable for How They Spend
| | No Comments
States have failed to prioritize maintenance instead of expansion. Will new standards help? Image: Smart Growth America
Pressure is mounting on the president and Congress to keep roads and bridges from falling apart by increasing transportation funding. But a big part of the problem is states, which receive the lion’s share of federal transportation funds but opt to spend [...]
Minneapolis Sets Out to Build 30 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes By 2020
| | No Comments
Minneapolis is planning to construct 48 miles of protected bike lanes over the next 10 years. Click to enlarge. Map: City of Minneapolis
Minneapolis is one of the best cities for biking in the U.S., and it wants to get better. Last week the city released a plan to build 30 miles of protected bike lanes over the next five years [...]
FHWA Will Help Cities Get Serious About Measuring Biking and Walking
| | No Comments
This counter in San Francisco gives planners reliable, up-to-date data about bike trips on Market Street. Photo: The Fast Lane
The lack of good data on walking and biking is a big problem. Advocates say current metrics yield a spotty and incomplete picture of how much, where, and why Americans walk and bike. The U.S. Census only tells us [...]
New Organization Sets Out to Raise the Standard for “Vision Zero” Cities
| | No Comments
Leah Shahum, former director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, will head up the Vision Zero Network. Photo: Melissa Balmer
Vision Zero — the idea that we should no longer accept traffic deaths and serious injuries — is gaining momentum as a framework for thinking about city streets and transportation, as more American cities adopt the goal of [...]
Is the Lord For or Against a Texas County Road Bond? Opinions Mixed
| | No Comments
Things are really getting heated in Montgomery County, Texas, just outside Houston, over a proposal to issue $350 million in bonds to maintain and expand roads. Like fire-and-brimstone heated.
Earlier this week, at a county commissioners meeting, volunteer Mary Hammer Menzel referred to road bond opponents as “tools of satan” in her opening prayer, reports the Montgomery County Courier.
Menzel apparently has [...]
Parking Madness 2015 Elite Eight: Tampa vs. Fort Worth
| | No Comments
It’s almost a shame that these two titans are meeting in the second round of the Parking Madness tournament, because both Tampa and Fort Worth look like they have champion potential.
Yesterday, Syracuse knocked off Newport News, Virginia, to join Camden in the Final Four. Now it’s up to you to decide who gets the third slot.
Tampa
This crater advanced [...]
AASHTO Chief: Don’t Blame Street Design for Cyclist Deaths
| | No Comments
This is a pretty revealing (read: depressing) exchange between a U.S. representative and the president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which represents state DOTs.
The transportation agencies that comprise AASHTO essentially dictate how streets are designed throughout the U.S. They are aware that pedestrian and cyclist deaths are not declining as fast as total traffic fatalities. But [...]