Gondola at Canyons Resort, Utah by Mathieu Thouvenin licensed under Creative Commons.

Utah’s DOT proposes a gondola connecting Salt Lake City to nearby ski slopes to reduce traffic. Rebuttals to induced demand denial. How a community in Colorado is tackling the affordable housing crisis.

Utah’s gondola gambit: The Utah Department of Transportation proposes an eight mile-long gondola between the Salt Lake City basin and ski resorts in the Wasatch Mountains. Car traffic between the two locations in Little Cottonwood Canyon has become excruciating for outdoor enthusiasts, sometimes making what is a 40-minute trip into three hours. But not everyone is sold on the solution, with some opponents arguing that the traffic and congestion that limits access to the ski slopes acts as a natural limit on the capacity of the canyon. (Aaron Gordon | Motherboard)

More induced demand denial: In a recent piece for Planetizen, Steve Polzin of Arizona State University argues that highway expansion criticisms rooted in induced demand is unjustified which drew sharp rebukes from Todd Litman. Highway planners have been getting demand wrong for decades, always projecting massive increases in driving when travel has actually flat lined. But thier biggest folly might be continuing to plan for travel speeds and “mobility” rather than access. (Todd Litman | Planetizen)

Solving the housing problem locally: Like many other states, Colorado is taking action to make housing more affordable. But many communities worry about local control, so towns like Erie, Colorado are trying to prove that you don’t need state policies to change the housing outlook. With their Gateway development, town leaders in Erie hope to create a walkable main street without state intervention that could provide housing and businesses for the community. (Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics)

An update for Livable Streets: Donald Appleyard’s 1981 book, Livable Streets, is an influential text that explored the ecology of the street and how cars negatively impact residents and cities. Donald’s son, Bruce, updated the text and added to it, following in his father’s footsteps after a driver killed him in Greece in 1982 at age 54. (Bruce Appleyard | Planetizen)

Homeowners associations are an obstacle to water conservation: Homeowners associations are a big barrier to climate action, particularly in efforts to reduce the negative impact of water-thirsty lawns. As more water restrictions are enacted around the country, especially during the record-breaking drought affecting many western states, more rules and regulations about saving water abound. But homeowners associations are an unpredictable barrier to change, worrying more about property values and aesthetics than environmental impact. (Ellen Airhart | Wired Magazine)

Quote of the Week

“The 15-Hour City believes everything has its place. Houses go in one location, businesses in another, and in between is a dark sea of soul-crushing concrete and asphalt, a sea of inactivity mimicking the lifeless labyrinth we’ve constructed.”

Devin Wallace in McSweeny’s making fun of the 15-minute city controversy.

This week on the podcast, we’re joined by University of Iowa law professor Greg Shill and University of Michigan urban planning professor Jonathan Levine to talk about their new paper, “First Principles in Transportation Law and Policy.”