Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
Why Are American Traffic Fatalities Rising So Quickly?
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What’s causing the steep rise in traffic fatalities? Graph: State Smart Transportation Initiative
Summer is barely over but this much is already clear: Traffic safety on American streets is taking a big step backward in 2016.
During the first five months of the year, traffic deaths rose 9 percent over 2015 levels, reports Bill Holloway at the State Smart Transportation Campaign. [...]
White House: Make Cities Affordable By Building for Walkability, Not Parking
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The Obama administration is taking on the crisis of rising rents in American cities, releasing a series of recommendations today to spur the construction of more affordable housing. Among the many ideas the White House endorses: allowing more multi-family housing near transit and getting rid of parking minimums.
Rising rents and stagnant incomes are putting pressure on [...]
What Can a Mileage Tax Tell Us That a Gas Tax Can’t?
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Can taxes on driving mileage replace gas taxes as a source of transportation funds? Right now the state of Oregon is testing a mileage tax with an opt-in pilot program called “OreGo.” Participants install a device that tracks their driving and pay 1.5 cents per mile, which is assessed from a special account.
This device tracks driving for Oregon’s pilot mileage tax. Image: [...]
Paris to Return Its Great Public Squares to the People
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Paris’s Place de la République, before and after a 2012 redesign. Before photo: Google Street View; after photo: Clem/Flickr
If you look at paintings from the pre-automotive era, Paris’s monumental public squares were full of people strolling comfortably. But over time, car traffic has consumed most of these squares.
Now, under Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Paris is setting out to remake the city’s squares as great [...]
Highlights From Park(ing) Day Around the Globe
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Today is Park(ing) Day — a day to demonstrate how scarce street space can do so much more than store parked cars. Around the world, people are setting up camp in parking spots and turning them into public spaces.
Here are some of the fun and creative installations we’ve come across on social media. Just for fun, vote for your [...]
FHWA’s New Goal: Eliminating Pedestrian and Cyclist Deaths in America
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Pedestrian and cyclist deaths account for a growing share of traffic fatalities in America. Can federal officials reverse the trend? Graph: FHWA
The Federal Highway Administration wants to eliminate pedestrian and cyclist fatalities “in the next 20 to 30 years.” In a new strategic plan [PDF], the agency calls for reducing serious injuries and deaths 80 percent in the [...]
Portland Wants to Rethink Speed Limits By Factoring in Walkers and Bikers
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Portland wants to change the speed limit on North Weidler Street from 35 to 25 mph. Photo: Google Maps
For cities trying to get a handle on traffic fatalities, dangerous motor vehicle speeds are an enormous problem. Once drivers exceed 20 mph, the chances that someone outside the vehicle will survive a collision plummet.
But even on city [...]
When Cities Force Developers to Widen Roads, Everyone Loses
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At L.A.’s Vermont-Wilshire Towers, the city made the developer cede land and pay for 6,000 square feet of road widening. Photo: Google Maps
It’s a common practice for cities to make developers widen a street when they put up a new building. The thinking is that development creates car trips that must be accommodated with more asphalt.
But new research [...]
Portland Will Connect Streets Over a Highway With a Car-Free Bridge
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Portland’s newest car-free bridge will complete a key bike route. Image via Bike Portland
Here’s one way to heal some of the damage created by urban interstates.
Jonathan Maus at Bike Portland reports that the city has won a $2.6 million state grant to help it complete a key bike route. To fill in the missing segment, Portland has [...]
Carless Renters Forced to Pay $440 Million a Year for Parking They Don’t Use
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Many residents of American cities can’t escape the high cost of parking, even if they don’t own cars. Thanks to policies like mandatory parking requirements and the practice of “bundling” parking with housing, carless renters pay $440 million each year for parking they don’t use, according to a new study by C.J. Gabbe and Gregory Pierce in [...]
State DOTs to Feds: We Don’t Want to Reveal Our Impact on Climate Change
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State DOTs don’t want to report on how their spending decisions affect greenhouse gas emissions. Photo: Andrew Boone
Every year state DOTs receive tens of billions of dollars in transportation funds from the federal government. By and large, they can do whatever they want with the money, which in most states means wasting enormous sums on [...]
John Oliver on the Cruel Poverty Trap That is Subprime Auto Lending
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Never forget this: Those who the highest price for the American system of transportation — one that makes owning a personal car practically a mandate — are the poor. We’ve reported before about how the largely unregulated subprime auto lending market has been expanding in recent years, leading some people to wonder if a breakdown in the auto [...]