Posts by Angie Schmitt — Guest Contributor
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Congress and auto industry move to ban cities from regulating self-driving cars
Autonomous vehicles should benefit cities, not the other way around, but legislation advancing through Congress would tie urban officials' hands when it comes to shaping AV policy. Keep reading…
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67 Congress members to feds: Measure the movement of people, not cars
The federal government hands states about $40 billion a year for transportation, money they can basically spend however they want. The result in many places is a lot of expensive, traffic-inducing highways that get clogged with cars soon after they’re finished. Can measuring the effect of all this spending lead to better decisions? Keep reading…
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The feds just blew a chance to reform the city-killing, planet-broiling status quo
The Obama administration has released new rules governing transportation planning. Despite rumors the new rules would be a big step forward, for example requiring states to take things like greenhouse gas pollution into effect, instead they appear to be more of the same-old. Keep reading…
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Traffic engineers still rely on a flawed 1970s study to reject crosswalks
When St. Louis decided not to maintain colorful new crosswalks that residents had painted, the city’s pedestrian coordinator cited federal guidance. A 2011 FHWA memo warns that colorful designs could “create a false sense of security” for pedestrians and motorists. Keep reading…
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Zig zag road stripes can get drivers to pay more attention
At 11 points in northern Virginia, the familiar straight dashed lines on the road give way to a series of zig zags. The unusual markings, the result of a project from the Virginia Department of Transportation, are meant to alert drivers to be cautious where the W&OD Trail intersects with the road — and bicyclists and pedestrians frequently cross. Keep reading…
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What cities are learning about making bike sharing more equitable
So far, the customer base of American bike-share systems has skewed toward affluent white men. But cities have been working to make the systems more useful and accessible to a broader spectrum of people, and in a new report, the National Association of City Transportation Officials has compiled some of the lessons learned. Here are a few key takeaways:… Keep reading…
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Wider lanes make city streets more dangerous
The “forgiving highway” approach to traffic engineering holds that wider is safer when it comes to street design. After decades of adherence to these standards, American cities are now criss-crossed by streets with 12-foot wide lanes. As Walkable City author Jeff Speck argued in CityLab last year, this is actually terrible for public safety and the pedestrian environment. Keep reading…
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US infrastructure spending, in four charts
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 on… Keep reading…
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With fed help, cities can better track those on foot and bike
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. Keep reading…
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There’s a critical difference between 20 mph and 30 mph
It might seem like a small thing: reducing motor vehicle speeds 10 miles per hour. But that 10 mph can make an enormous difference for the safety of a street and how comfortable people feel walking or biking there. Keep reading…