Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Sprawl

William Fulton on Why Smart Growth Pays and Sprawl Decays

By Angie Schmitt | May 23, 2013 | No Comments

Earlier this week, Smart Growth America released an important study that illustrates how walkable development results in huge savings and significantly better returns for municipalities compared to car-centric development. The analysis of 17 case studies found that walkable, mixed-use development produces 10 times more local tax revenue per acre than sprawl. In addition, SGA found […]

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Streetfacts: Roads Are a Money Losing Proposition

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Apr 22, 2013 | No Comments

The majority of the roads and highways built in America are simply bad investments. Continuing this pattern will only ensure that wasteful projects consume larger chunks of our federal, state, and local budgets, without addressing the real need for transportation options. This Streetfacts chapter has a bit more math than usual, but we think we’ve made an […]

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Study: Homes Near Transit Were Insulated From the Housing Crash

By Tanya Snyder | Mar 22, 2013 | No Comments

If you live close to a transit station, chances are you’ve weathered the recession better than your friends who don’t. Your transportation costs are probably lower, since you can take transit instead of driving. Transit-served areas are usually more walkable and bikeable too, multiplying your options. And while home values plummeted during a recession that […]

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Sprawl Madness: Two Houses Share Backyard, Separated by 7 Miles of Roads

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 28, 2013 | No Comments

Just how absurd have American development patterns become over the past few decades? Behold: Two houses with adjoining backyards in suburban Orlando. If you want to travel the streets from point A on Anna Catherine Drive to point B on Summer Rain Drive, which are only 50 feet apart, you’ll have to go a minimum of […]

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Virginia’s Transpo Future: Charge Drivers Less to Build More Roads

By Tanya Snyder | Feb 26, 2013 | No Comments

Congratulations are owed to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. He’s scored a victory on his transportation funding plan, cementing his legacy (though infuriating conservatives, including his hand-picked successor). His achievement is being called the first bipartisan initiative to pass in Virginia in decades. And what does this great deed accomplish? Secure revenue to fuel a new […]

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The Revolving Door: TxDOT’s Phil Wilson, “Revolver in Chief”

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 1, 2013 | No Comments

This is the final installment in our three-part “Revolving Door” series about how cronyism in state DOTs leads to wasteful highway building. The first part profiled Ohio DOT chief Jerry Wray and the second part looked at Oklahoma DOT boss Gary Ridley. Both Wray and Ridley left the DOTs to work as asphalt industry lobbyists, only to return […]

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