Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
Denver Is Your 2017 Parking Madness Champ!
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Denver's monster parking crater is a classic of wasted urban potential: a huge swathe of land close to downtown, served by three light rail stations, and overwhelmed by massive parking lots for sports stadiums that barely get used much of the year.
Is Your Local Government Falling for the Hyperloop Fantasy?
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There are no functional, real-world examples of a Hyperloop, Tesla founder Elon Musk's long-distance transport concept that involves shooting people through vacuum-sealed tubes in pods that travel at up to 760 mph. And yet a surprising number of government agencies are treating the Hyperloop as a serious proposition.
The Traffic Safety Establishment Needs to Take More Responsibility for Soaring Pedestrian Deaths
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America's traffic safety establishment has long been focused on "behavioral" explanations for traffic deaths -- things like seatbelt usage and drunk driving. By ignoring the role of the high-speed, car-centric transportation systems they've created, they don't have to face their own culpability.
The Elephant in the Room
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Transportation engineer Ian Lockwood is not only a leading voice within the profession for safer, multi-modal streets, he's also an amateur cartoonist known for skewering the absurdity in the modern transportation industry. Streetsblog is pleased to announce that we'll be featuring a new cartoon from Ian every month.
Atlanta’s I-85 Collapse — Another “Carmaggedon” That Wasn’t
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When a heavily-traveled section of Atlanta's I-85 collapsed in a fire last week, the traffic predictions were dire. But the highway disruption appears to be another case of "carmaggedon" that never materialized -- and that should inform the way we plan our transportation systems.
The GOP Case for Cutting Federal Transit Funding Isn’t Principled — It’s Tribalism
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The insistence that transit is a local priority while highways are a national concern has become an article of faith in the world of right-wing think tanks. But today highway spending mostly serves the same type of trips that Republicans purportedly believe are inappropriate for federal funding.
The Today Show Completely Botched Its Coverage of America’s Pedestrian Safety Crisis
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They say you should never let a crisis go to waste. Well, there’s a life-threatening crisis happening for people who walk in this country, but our national media is wasting this chance to inform the public how to fix it.
Trump Moves to Immediately Gut Transit Expansion and TIGER Funding
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Waiting for fiscal year 2018 isn't fast enough for the Trump administration to cut transit funding. The White House wants to slash transit expansion and TIGER grants immediately.
What Explains the Decline in Driving Among Young People?
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New research from UCLA concludes that while attitudes toward driving may be shifting, economic factors explain most of the recent decline in driving among younger Americans.
Seattle Campaign to #GivePedsTheGreen Would Do Away With “Beg Buttons”
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A petition in Seattle is calling on the city to do away with "beg buttons" and automatically give pedestrians a walk signal at every traffic light in its "urban villages" -- areas that are walkable and transit-oriented. While pressing a button may seem like a small imposition, it's not that simple.
Transit Advocates Launch Call to Action Against Disastrous Trump Budget
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Dozens of transit projects across the nation -- as well as walking and biking projects that count on funds from the TIGER program -- are under threat unless Congress scraps the hardline budget outline proposed by the White House. Transportation for America is urging people to contact their representatives and oppose the cuts.
Soon DC Employers May Pay People to Not Drive to Work
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With a "parking cash out" policy, employers who provide employees with parking benefits also give the equivalent value in cash to workers who don't car commute. Now a version of that idea has been introduced in the DC Council by members Charles Allen, Mary Cheh, and Brianne Nadeau.