Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
Dallas Highway Will Generate a Million Miles of Driving Per Day
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The question of whether to build the Trinity Parkway, a $1.5 billion toll road that would run along the Trinity River from roughly West Dallas to Oak Cliff, has divided leaders in Dallas.
The Trinity Parkway, sold as congestion relief, is projected to generate a million additional miles of driving each day by 2035. Image: North Texas Tollway [...]
5 Things States Can Do to Bring Transportation Policy Out of the Stone Age
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A growing number of states are taking steps to ensure projects are selected on merit rather than politics. Image: Transportation for America
On its page commemorating the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower signing the Federal Aid Highway Act, the Federal Highway Administration offers a “Then and Now” chart showing how much America has changed since 1956. It’s a little corny, [...]
What Will It Take for Houston to Eliminate Traffic Deaths?
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Houston’s traffic fatality rate is more than three times higher than NYC’s, and local advocates are calling for change. Photo: Houston Tomorrow
In 2014, 227 people were killed in traffic collisions in Houston. Per capita, that means the city’s streets are more than three times as deadly as New York City’s.
Despite the toll, there’s a culture of acceptance surrounding [...]
Social Engineering! Cities That Build More Parking Get More Traffic
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Cities like Hartford that added a lot of parking over the last few decades saw driving rates increase more than in cities where parking volumes stayed flatter. Graph: McCahill/TRB
Build parking spaces and they will come — in cars. New research presented this week at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board finds a direct, causal [...]
Texas DOT Isn’t Learning From Its Horrific Road Fatalities Calendar
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Graphic: Texas DOT
This calendar is published by the Texas Department of Transportation as part of its traffic safety efforts. It shows how many fatal collisions and traffic deaths happened every day of the year. On average, someone is killed every two and a half hours on Texas streets, and someone is injured every two minutes, according to TxDOT [PDF].
Texas hasn’t had a [...]
Ridership on the Upswing After Houston’s Bus Network Redesign
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Houston’s bus map before and after a thorough system overhaul.
In August, Houston debuted its new bus network, reconfigured to increase frequent service, expand weekend hours, and improve access to jobs.
The implementation was contentious at times, and when we last checked in on the results — two months after the changes took effect — bus ridership was down 4 percent overall but [...]
Vote for the Best Urban Street Transformation of 2015
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It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2015, which means we’re about to hand out Streetsies to recognize achievements for walking, biking, and transit in American cities this year.
Earlier this month we asked readers for nominations for the Best Urban Street Transformation of the year, and here are the standouts from your submissions. It’s a great batch and all [...]
Carseats and the Limitations of American Safety Culture
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One lesson they really hammer home, when you’re a new parent, is the importance of carseats.
Alarming articles about carseat failures are part of the territory for new parents. Image: Today
Hospitals won’t let you take a newborn home from the hospital unless you can show you have a carseat. And they warn you of this fact [...]
2-Minute Video: Why Parking Minimums Are the Worst
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“Minimum parking requirements act like a fertility drug for cars,” Donald Shoup wrote in his celebrated investigation of parking economics, The High Cost of Free Parking. The above video, from the city of Ottawa, does a good job explaining exactly why that is and the problems it causes.
Ottawa commissioned the animation to explain why its 1960s-era parking regulations [...]
Federal Report: Bad Street Design a Factor in Rising Ped/Bike Fatalities
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A new report from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office [PDF] examines why people walking or biking account for a rising share of traffic deaths in the United States. While the conclusions aren’t exactly earth-shattering, one culprit the GAO identified is street design practices that seek primarily to move cars.
The investigation was ordered by U.S. representatives Rick Larsen (Washington State), Peter [...]
Two Very Different Ways Bike-Share Benefits Transit
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Bike-share’s effect on how people use transit depends on the context. Image: Access Magazine
A new survey [PDF] by researchers at UC Berkeley and published in Access Magazine sheds light on how bike-share systems interact with transit.
Researchers Susan Shaheen and Elliot Martin surveyed more than 10,000 bike-share riders in Montreal, Toronto, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, and Washington, DC. Like previous surveys have shown, Shaheen and [...]
Send in Your Nominations for the Best Urban Street Transformation of 2015
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Center-running, level boarding sbX bus service helped E Street in San Bernardino capture “Best Urban Street Transformation” honors last year. Photo courtesy of Matt Korner
Did your city turn a dangerous, high-speed street into a safe place to walk and bike this year? Got a new transitway or protected bike lane in your hometown that’s changing how [...]