Photo by Tmuna Fish on Flickr.

Learning about yellow

Studies on yellow lights show that longer yellows don’t get more drivers to stop; to the contrary, some drivers expect to be able to run the yellow and may hit cars that stop as they should. (Leslie Tamura/Post, Matthias)  (Tip: Matthias)  

Better models in San Diego

We, and many other urbanists, constantly criticize conventional traffic modeling, which generally assumes more car trips than in reality for mixed-use and walkable areas. EPA commissioned development of a better model, and San Diego’s Association of Governments has officially adopted it. Will our COG/TPB follow? (Kaid Benfield/Switchboard via Streetsblog)  

Gas taxes lowest in a long time

As a percentage of income, Americans pay the least gas tax since 1929 (40¢ per $100 of income); by distance, it’s the lowest since 1975 ($19 per 1,000 miles). (USA Today)  

Not the death spiral

When ridership dropped at Green Mountain Transit Agency in Vermont, the agency responded by cutting fares and adding service rather than the reverse. (Times Argus Online)  

Should DC better use triangles? Can it?

Rachel Ryan suggests that DC better program its triangular parks, such as with cafes, as Paris does. But Matt Yglesias notes that Paris is about five times denser than DC, despite still being mostly low-rise. That means Paris has five times the customers for those cafes.  

No sculpture, no seating

When the controversial sculpture for 18th and Columbia was canceled, the corner also lost immediate hope for some seating, which the corner sorely needs. (Lydia DePillis/City Paper, Stephen Miller)  

Suburban scholars and museums

Suburbs have become a large part of American life, obviously. It’s therefore little surprise that some schools are creating departments of Suburban Studies, and Johnson County, Kansas is creating a National Museum of Suburban History. (Seattle PI)  

Advantages of urban living

All together, “a suburban lifestyle costs about 18 percent more than living in the city” in New York, the New York Times found … and NYC children are only half as likely to die of injuries as peers in the rest of the country, largely because they use public transit rather than driving. (NYC Dept of Health, Matthias)  (Tip: Matthias)