Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
The Best and Worst of the New 5-Year Transportation Bill
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The trucking industry was a big winner in the transportation bill negotiations. Photo: Wikipedia
Smart people are wading through the 1,300-page transportation bill that came out of conference committee earlier this week, and we’re starting to get a clearer sense of how it will change federal transportation policy for the next five years.
The House voted to pass the [...]
5-Year, $300 Billion “FAST Act” Will Extend Transpo Policy Status Quo to 2020
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They’ve done it. Representatives from the House and Senate have emerged from conference committee with a five-year transportation bill, which is expected to be quickly approved and become first “long-term” bill in more than a decade.
Streetsblog was unable to confirm that Congress will be using this as the cover for its new transportation bill.
The discouragingly-named “FAST Act” [...]
Advice for State DOTs Looking for More Money: Spend Smarter
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The Oregon Department of Transportation is in a tough spot after it tried to justify highway expansion projects by saying they would cut greenhouse gas emissions. ODOT’s bogus claims helped sink a $350 million transportation funding package in the state legislature, and even some of the state’s Republican lawmakers are calling for agency director Matt Garrett’s head. What’s a beleaguered [...]
Tell FHWA You Want Safer Designs for City Streets
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Earlier this fall, the Federal Highway Administration proposed a major policy change: Instead of requiring roads that receive federal funding to be designed like highways, the agency would change its standards to allow greater flexibility. The implications for urban streets were huge — with less red tape, cities would have a much easier time implementing safer designs for walking [...]
Study: Sprawling Areas Require 3 Times as Much Pavement Per Person
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How much pavement area is required to service the population of an area is pretty closely related to population density, a Smart Growth America study found.
One of the big downsides to sprawl is the public cost of maintaining infrastructure that is extended over wide areas. A new study of New Jersey by Smart Growth America [PDF] attempts [...]
More Evidence That Helmet Laws Don’t Work
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Living in an area with high cycling rates is linked to lower levels of hospitalization for bicyclists. There is no similar link for helmet laws. Graph: University of British Columbia
If you want to increase cycling safety in your city, drop the helmet law and focus on getting more people– particularly women — on bikes, with [...]
Brutal Jaywalking Arrest in Austin Caught on Video
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Austin police were captured on video beating a group of “jaywalkers” into submission late last Wednesday in an incident that reeks of racial profiling.
The arrest was recorded and shared on Facebook by Rolando Ramiro. He told the website Photography is Not a Crime that he and a group of friends were trying to cross a street that had been barricaded and [...]
Just How Bad Is the Final House Transportation Bill?
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Nobody was expecting the GOP-controlled House of Representatives to put together a transportation bill that did much for streets and transit in American cities.
The House passed a six-year transportation bill this morning. Yay? Image: Transportation Dems
And they were right — there’s nothing to get excited about in the bill. But neither is it the total disaster for walking, biking, and transit [...]
Transit vs. Highways: Which Came Out on Top in Local Elections?
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Ed Murray’s Move Seattle plan got a $900 million nod from voters yesterday. Photo: Seattle Bike Blog
There were several local ballot measures with big implications for streets and transportation yesterday, and results were all over the map. Here’s how three of the most notable votes turned out.
Seattle’s property tax increase to fund walking, biking, and transit
This map shows all [...]
How Is Houston’s Big Bus Network Redesign Working Out?
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It’s been two months since Houston debuted its redesigned bus network, with routes and schedules intended to make the bus appealing to more people. Jarrett Walker, who blogs at Human Transit, consulted on the project, and today he shares his take on the early ridership numbers.
Houston’s bus network overhaul is designed to get more bang for the buck. Map [...]
Vancouver City Council Votes to Erase Last Vestiges of Freeway System
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An artist’s rendering of what the space now occupied by viaducts will look like. Image: City of Vancouver via CBC
Vancouver is famous for not having any freeways within the central city. But highway building got underway before public opposition quashed the freeway system in the early 1970s, and a couple of fragments of the old freeway structure [...]
House Transpo Bill Spells Trouble for Transit Projects Across America
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Chicago’s Red and Purple Line modernization project could be delayed or worse under the funding formulas in the House transportation bill, says Representative Dan Lipinski. Image via CTA
A provision in the House GOP’s new transportation bill threatens to upend how transit agencies fund major capital projects, delaying or killing efforts to expand and maintain rail and [...]