Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
One Senator’s Eye-Opening Walk Across Connecticut
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Senator Chris Murphy walked across Connecticut and encountered some scary conditions on Route 1. Image: Google Maps via Mobilizing the Region
It’s difficult to understand just how terrifying it can be to walk on America’s car-oriented streets unless you’ve actually experienced it. Unfortunately, too few people in decision-making roles ever find themselves in that position.
That’s why U.S. Senator Chris Murphy’s walk across Connecticut [...]
Portland Wants to Rethink Speed Limits By Factoring in Walkers and Bikers
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Portland wants to change the speed limit on North Weidler Street from 35 to 25 mph. Photo: Google Maps
For cities trying to get a handle on traffic fatalities, dangerous motor vehicle speeds are an enormous problem. Once drivers exceed 20 mph, the chances that someone outside the vehicle will survive a collision plummet.
But even on city [...]
When Cities Force Developers to Widen Roads, Everyone Loses
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At L.A.’s Vermont-Wilshire Towers, the city made the developer cede land and pay for 6,000 square feet of road widening. Photo: Google Maps
It’s a common practice for cities to make developers widen a street when they put up a new building. The thinking is that development creates car trips that must be accommodated with more asphalt.
But new research [...]
Portland Will Connect Streets Over a Highway With a Car-Free Bridge
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Portland’s newest car-free bridge will complete a key bike route. Image via Bike Portland
Here’s one way to heal some of the damage created by urban interstates.
Jonathan Maus at Bike Portland reports that the city has won a $2.6 million state grant to help it complete a key bike route. To fill in the missing segment, Portland has [...]
Carless Renters Forced to Pay $440 Million a Year for Parking They Don’t Use
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Many residents of American cities can’t escape the high cost of parking, even if they don’t own cars. Thanks to policies like mandatory parking requirements and the practice of “bundling” parking with housing, carless renters pay $440 million each year for parking they don’t use, according to a new study by C.J. Gabbe and Gregory Pierce in [...]
State DOTs to Feds: We Don’t Want to Reveal Our Impact on Climate Change
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State DOTs don’t want to report on how their spending decisions affect greenhouse gas emissions. Photo: Andrew Boone
Every year state DOTs receive tens of billions of dollars in transportation funds from the federal government. By and large, they can do whatever they want with the money, which in most states means wasting enormous sums on [...]
John Oliver on the Cruel Poverty Trap That Is Subprime Auto Lending
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Never forget this: Those who pay the highest price for the American system of transportation — one that makes owning a personal car practically a mandate — are the poor. We’ve reported before about how the largely unregulated subprime auto lending market has been expanding in recent years, leading some people to wonder if a breakdown in the [...]
Study: Even Drivers Prefer Protected Bike Lanes
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Protected bike lanes are welcomed by drivers as well. Photo: People for Bikes
When it comes to allocating street space, it is often taken for granted that anything that benefits people on bikes harms people who drive. Such assumptions are contradicted by data showing that cycling infrastructure makes streets safer for all users, and don’t mesh with a new [...]
Streets Without Sidewalks Are Killing Florida Pedestrians
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Florida is the most dangerous state in the nation for pedestrians, according to Transportation for America. More than 5,100 people were killed while walking in the state between 2003 and 2010, and four Florida cities rated among T4A’s list of the most dangerous for walking.
This map from the Florida Department of Transportation shows locations of pedestrian injuries and fatalities [...]
Where the People Walk: A Global Glance at Walking Rates
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Image: ARUP
The way we move around is shaped by many factors — the physical environment, culture, technology, and economic status, to name a few. A new report from the engineering firm Arup, “Cities Alive: Towards a Walking World,” looks at how motorized cities can become walkable again.
Brandon Donnelly at Network blog Architect This City lifted this image from the [...]
Seattleites Own More Cars Than Atlantans, and Other Surprising Comparisons
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Here’s an interesting glimpse at car ownership in a cross-section of American and Canadian cities, courtesy of a recent report from the Shared Use Mobility Center.
This table comes from SUMC’s analysis of car-share and bike-share [PDF]. We trimmed it to highlight the cars per household across the 27 cities — 25 in America and two in Canada — in SUMC’s [...]
Tim Kaine Took a Stand Against Cul-de-Sacs
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Even though the Democratic Party’s strongholds are in cities, we probably won’t hear much about urban transportation and development policy at the Democratic National Convention this week. City issues seldom get much play when political parties are focused on scooping up swing votes in the suburbs.
Tim Kaine
But Hillary Clinton’s VP choice, Tim Kaine, is the former mayor of Richmond, Virginia, [...]