Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
Democrats Who Embrace the Trump Infrastructure Plan Are Suckers
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As painful as it is to deal with the reality of a Donald Trump presidency, if you think highways and sprawl are a terrible mistake, the time to mobilize is now.
Senator Chuck Schumer reportedly sees infrastructure as an area of collaboration with the Trump administration. Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
One of the first things [...]
Transit Vote 2016: What’s at Stake on Local Ballots and How to Track Results
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$200 billion in local transit funding is at stake in these elections. Map: CTFE
With federal transportation policy stuck in DC gridlock, more cities and regions are taking it upon themselves to shape the future of their transit systems. Today there are 78 local ballot measures that will affect funding for transportation in some way, with $200 billion in transit [...]
How the Accommodations We Make for Cars Impose Huge Costs on Cities
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Drive-thrus and parking lots are bad news for a city’s tax base. Image via Streets.mn
Wide highways, big parking lots, dangerous intersections designed for speed — there are a lot of downsides to all this car-centric infrastructure, including the way it saps the fiscal health of cities.
Bill Lindeke at Network blog Streets.mn lists seven, from the erosion of the local tax [...]
How Can Cities Make the Most of an Infrastructure Spending Spree?
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Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have indicated that they intend to spend big on “infrastructure” if elected president. Whether this ends up making cities stronger or just fueling more wasteful sprawl, however, is an open question.
Local governments can get to work getting projects like these pedestrian improvements in West Jefferson, North Carolina, into their “shovel ready” pipeline. Photo: [...]
Why American Trucks Are So Deadly for Pedestrians and Cyclists
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Large trucks are a leading killer of cyclists and pedestrians and cyclists in urban areas. While London has recently decided to kick the most dangerous trucks out of the city, in the U.S., truck safety regulations are much further behind.
Alex Epstein, left, a researcher with U.S. DOT’s Volpe Center, has been studying how side guards (the [...]
Will State DOTs Follow Through on Their Goals for Zero Traffic Deaths?
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Oregon DOT has set a target of eliminating traffic deaths by 2035. Graph: ODOT via Bike Portland
State DOTs aren’t known for setting ambitious street safety goals. They’re usually more interested in moving traffic than saving lives. But it looks like that’s starting to change as states follow the lead of the federal government’s “Toward Zero Deaths” initiative, which itself was [...]
What It Would Take to Eliminate Carbon Emissions From U.S. Transportation?
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America’s transportation system obscenely more carbon-intensive than global leaders in Asia and Europe. Graph: U.S. PIRG
To do its part to avert catastrophic climate change, the United States would have to eliminate carbon emissions from transportation in the next 35 years. But America is nowhere near on pace to make that happen.
Transportation recently overtook the electric power sector to become the [...]
How Much Would Cyclists Pay to Cover Their “Fair Share”?
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One of these vehicles doesn’t cause nearly as much damage as the others. Photo: Streets.mn
Cyclists should pay their “fair share” for streets — it’s a favorite complaint of newspaper commenters worldwide.
So Walker Angell at Network blog Streets.mn decided to figure out what exactly a “fair share” for cyclists — and pedestrians — would be. Here’s his analysis:
Three factors influence [...]
How Montgomery County’s Bus Rapid Transit Can Alleviate Suburban Poverty
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Montgomery County, Maryland, just outside DC, is getting ready to do something that could set a precedent for American suburbs — build a bus rapid transit network. The 82-mile system should offer a huge boost in job access, especially for people without cars.
Bus rapid transit can improve job access while reducing household transportation costs in Montgomery County, Maryland. Photo: Beyond DC
Pete Tomao [...]
Why Do We Put the Onus for Traffic Safety on Kids?
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.@NTSB Vice Chairman: Practice safe walking behavior. Stay alert, walk on sidewalks, cross at crosswalks. #NationalWalkToSchoolDaypic.twitter.com/TWRChfTdcZ
— NTSB (@NTSB) October 5, 2016
It’s Walk-to-School Day, a day when children all over the country get to enjoy the simple experience of traveling somewhere using their own power. It makes me happy because I love seeing the pictures of kids walking with [...]
The Feds’ Tentative Steps to Legalize Mixed-Use Housing Don’t Go Far Enough
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Small apartment buildings with ground-floor retail used to be a fixture of small towns and big cities. But federal lending rules have made this type of housing very difficult to build or renovate. Photo: Wikipedia
For a long time, apartment buildings with ground-floor retail were the building blocks of America’s cities and towns. Combining housing and commercial uses is also essential [...]
Adieu, Cars: Paris Riverfront to Be Permanently Returned to the People
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A rendering of the Right Bank of the Seine — sans highway. Credit: Luxigon
After years of experimentation, the Paris City Council this week committed to the permanent conversion of two miles of the Georges Pompidou expressway along the River Seine into a waterfront park.
The 1960s expressway carried two lanes of traffic and about 43,000 vehicles a day along [...]