Tanya Snyder
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Recent Posts
Spend 30 Minutes Watching This Doc and You’ll Spend the Next 30 Walking
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Every Body Walk!, the new campaign spearheaded by Kaiser Permanente and a host of other organizations — including the Office of the Surgeon General — is on fire. Two weeks after hosting its first sold-out conference in Washington, DC, the campaign has put out this excellent documentary on the importance of integrating walking into our […]
Government Shutdown to End, Leaving Transit Agencies to Pick Up the Pieces
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Congratulations, gentle Congresspeople. You have come up with a deeply flawed solution to a problem only you would create. Never mind that it set up another showdown three months from now. The good news is the government shutdown is almost over, for the moment. More than 18,000 furloughed U.S. DOT officials can return to work. […]
Pediatric Org’s Bicycle Recommendations Explained, in Terrifying Detail
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There’s nothing quite like listening to a preeminent expert in pediatric injury prevention telling you you’re taking unnecessary risks with your child’s life. That more or less sums up my conversation yesterday with Dr. Phyllis Agran, who has authored and consulted on many American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policies relating to childhood injury and trauma […]
U.S. DOT Still Has Time to Get MAP-21 Performance Measures Right
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Many transportation reform advocates were disappointed in the performance measures included in MAP-21, which was signed into law in July 2012. They weren’t tied to funding, they gave states and localities too much leeway to set their own performance targets, and they measured the wrong things. But there’s still a chance for them to get […]
And the Kiddies + Cities Photography Winners Are…
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Many thanks to the 90 readers who sent photos of city life and car-free transportation with children, and also to the 639 of you who voted. We are happy to announce the two winners of a free Breezer bike. This picture of Dave Cowan’s daughter, Isabelle, ran away with 259 votes — an impressive 41 […]
At MAP-21’s Halfway Mark, Leaders Gather to Start the “Walking Revolution”
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This week, in the midst of a government shutdown, at least one thing was moving and shaking in Washington: the first-ever Walking Summit. Sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, America Walks, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership and several other national groups, the conference sold out more than a month before showtime, the enthusiastic response surprising […]
Cast Your Vote for the Best Picture of Car-Free Kiddies in Cities
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Are cities good places for children? The hundreds of beautiful photos you all sent in to our Kiddies + Cities Photo Contest, co-sponsored by the Alliance for Biking & Walking, testify that the answer to that question is “yes.” The vibrancy and diversity in cities make them fertile ground for children’s sponge-like minds and boundless […]
ITDP Study: “A Coming Out for Bus-Based Transit-Oriented Development”
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In a new report making the rounds this week, “More Development For Your Transit Dollar: An Analysis of 21 North American Transit Corridors,” the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy does two things. First, authors Walter Hook, Stephanie Lotshaw, and Annie Weinstock evaluate which factors determine the impact of urban transit on development, coming up […]
Roads Kill: Mapping the Automobile’s Global Body Count
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“If road fatalities are viewed as a disease, the United States has proven that it is one that can be eradicated. The North American country had only 3 road deaths per 100,000 citizens in 2010, the lowest among industrialized nations.” Imagine if the U.S. really did have the safest streets in the industrialized world. Tens […]
NACTO Urban Street Design Guide Sets Out to Change the DNA of Our Cities
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In a direct challenge to the long-standing authority of state DOTs to determine how transportation infrastructure gets designed, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) yesterday launched its Urban Street Design Guide. NACTO’s Urban Bikeway Design Guide has already empowered cities around the country to embrace protected bike lanes and other innovative designs that […]
Census: American Bike Commuting Up Nine Percent in 2012
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Congratulations, America. We’re biking to work more than ever before. We’ve known for a while that Americans are driving less than they used to, even as the economy grows. And just about every quarter, the American Public Transportation Association delivers more stats about increasing transit ridership. Now the Census brings another measure of Americans’ shifting transportation […]
Alan Durning on Reasons to Be Optimistic About Parking Reform
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We hope you enjoyed part one of our Q&A with Alan Durning. Durning is publishing a series of articles on his blog at the Sightline Institute — where he serves as executive director — about the ways that underpriced parking drives up rents, eats up space, and makes no sense. A reader asked in the […]