Suburban cul-de-sacs are one of the fundamental units of a development pattern that is coming under increasing strain and scrutiny around the country. In Charlotte, NC, Streetsblog Network member The Naked City argues against spending precious transportation dollars on building roads that encourage the traditional sprawling pattern of four-lane highways and residential dead ends: Photo […]

A few weeks ago, the Obama Administration had a rather embarrassing public difference over the idea of a mileage tax to replace the gas tax. It’s certainly one of the most contentious notions out there, but most of the debate is based on hypotheticals. Now, as reported by Streetsblog Network member Worldchanging, the Oregon Department […]

Here at Streetsblog, we often discuss the ongoing carnage caused by drivers on the nation’s roads and streets — and the near-total lack of accountability for those who are anything but staggering drunk. And we often discuss, too, the role that language plays in our perceptions of accountability. Today’s Streetsblog Network featured post, from Sustainable […]

Are cities with strong centers faring better in the recession? Today on the Streetsblog Network we’re featuring a post from NRDC Switchboard’s Kaid Benfield that pulls together several items suggesting that might be the case: Downtown Abilene, Texas: More jobs near the center, lower unemployment. Photo: austrini/Flickr. [A] story by Alejandro Lazo in Saturday’s Washington […]

Today we bring you a call for action from Pennsylvania network member Bike PGH, which is asking Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell to release funds for the state’s Safe Routes to Schools program: Photo by pawpaw67 via Flickr. [One] measure of bike and pedestrian friendliness is the level to which Safe Routes to Schools are funded. […]

I just returned from an overnight train trip on Amtrak a couple of days ago, riding the Crescent from Meridian, Mississippi, into Penn Station, after completing the southbound trip a week earlier. It’s a route I’ve traveled before, one of dozens of long-distance hauls I’ve made on Amtrak over the last 20 or so years. […]

Communities around the country are bracing for the impact of fare hikes and transit cuts, as jury-rigged funding mechanisms for vital local transportation systems crumble under the strain of the weakening economy. You already know about the MTA’s woes in New York City; today, the Times had a report about the 75 percent fare increase […]

We’re taking it out of the city and into the suburbs and small towns today on the Streetsblog Network. Member blog Urban City Architecture takes a look at Moving Communities Forward, a recently released report on transit-oriented development (TOD) from the American Institute of Architects and the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of […]

To finish off the Streetsblog Network week on an adrenaline-filled note, we’ve got a post about fear — the biker’s fear, to be precise — from Livable Streets for West Palm Beach. Raphael Clemente relates a couple of all-too-familiar anecdotes about drivers who use their vehicles to intimidate, then says: Photo by cainmark via Flickr. […]

Automobile congestion is too often portrayed as mere nuisance or inconvenience. A new study from Germany, which we heard about via Streetsblog Network member blog The Hard Drive, reminds us that it is much more than that. The study, presented at the American Heart Association’s 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention last […]

Some disturbing news about stimulus spending on roads comes to us from Streetsblog Network member blog Sprawled Out, which covers the city of Franklin, WI. In that Milwaukee suburb, according to Sprawled Out’s John Michlig, local bureaucrats are potentially on track to use stimulus funds to widen a local street in a particularly destructive way: […]

The Streetsblog Network is buzzing with bike news this morning, much of it related to the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, where the mood sounds really upbeat. Bike Portland has been doing some great reporting from the summit; yesterday, we brought you their summary of DOT Secretary Ray LaHood’s pledge to be a "full […]