Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Traffic

California Has Officially Ditched Car-Centric “Level of Service”

By Damien Newton and Melanie Curry | Aug 7, 2014 | No Comments

Ding, dong… LOS is dead. At least as far as the state of California is concerned. Level of Service (LOS) has been the standard by which the state measures the transportation impacts of major developments and changes to streets. It is basically a measurement of how many cars can be pushed through an intersection in a […]

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How Road Planners Fail Neighborhoods

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 4, 2014 | No Comments

Why do neighborhood groups — especially in low-income areas — have such a hard time influencing the design of major road projects? An interesting case study from the University of Colorado-Denver sheds some light. To examine the barriers to incorporating public health principles into transportation planning, researchers studied the Allied-Dunn’s Marsh neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin, a disadvantaged but […]

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While the Economy Grows, Americans Continue to Drive Less

By Angie Schmitt | May 28, 2014 | No Comments

The last time the average American drove this little, Bill Clinton was president and Seinfeld was the most-watched show in the country. Not since 1994 has per capita driving been as low as it is now, according to new data from the Federal Highway Administration compiled by economist Doug Short. Per capita driving has been on […]

Swapping Horses for Taxis Would Saddle CBD With Even More Gridlock

By Charles Komanoff | Apr 28, 2014 | 7 Comments

That didn’t last long. Last Thursday, less than 24 hours after a mayoral spokesman floated the idea of letting owners of the city’s 68 horse carriage medallions swap them for taxi medallions, Mayor de Blasio reportedly laughed off the notion. A good thing, too. It’s generally poor policy to buy off one entitlement with another […]

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The Fuzzy Math in the Road Lobby’s Memo to Congress

By Tanya Snyder | Mar 25, 2014 | No Comments

Don’t know what to make of the news that U.S. driving rates have dropped for the ninth year in a row? Looking for guidance about whether your state or city should be wantonly expanding roads or investing in transit, biking, and walking? The road lobby thinks you should turn to them for independent, unbiased analysis […]

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Let’s Do the Time Warp Again: U.S. DOT Fails to Get Travel Forecasting Right

By Phineas Baxandall and Tony Dutzik | Mar 3, 2014 | No Comments

The U.S. Department of Transportation seems to be stuck in a bizarre time warp. For nine years in a row Americans have decreased their average driving miles. Yet U.S. DOT’s most recent biennial report to Congress on the state of the nation’s transportation system, released last Friday, forecasts that total vehicle miles will increase between […]

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