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
Q&A With Robert Grow: How Utah Decided to Embrace “Quality Growth”
| | No Comments
If you’ve ever wondered how a deep-red state like Utah has managed to build some of the most ambitious transit expansions in the country, the short answer is: Envision Utah. Starting in the late nineties, the non-profit Envision Utah brought together an incredibly broad spectrum of interests, including plenty of people without a specific stake […]
Fight Street Crime With Speed Bumps and Crosswalks
| | No Comments
In Gabe Klein’s exit interview with Chicago Mag, the outgoing transportation commissioner predicted that in the next few years, cities will be paying more attention to the correlation between lawbreaking by drivers and other kinds of crime. “I think it’s a broken windows effect,” Klein said. “If you get control of the traffic crime, I […]
A Highway Teardown Appears Likely, In an Unlikely Place
| | No Comments
As the nation prepares for the expansion of the Panama Canal and all port cities go crazy deepening and widening everything in sight, the second biggest biggest port in the country is doing something unexpected: planning a highway teardown. The LA Times reported this week that Long Beach officials are studying the possibility of replacing […]
Blumenauer, Bipartisan Co-Sponsors Set Out to Improve Street Safety Metrics
| | No Comments
After a long period of inaction on Capitol Hill, the wheels are beginning to turn again. Lawmakers introduced not one but two good transportation-related bills yesterday: one that aims to improve the safety of walking and biking and one that would establish a national infrastructure bank. We’ll get into the infrastructure bank bill in a […]
Trick-or-Treat: Is Your Neighborhood Walkable Enough for Halloween?
| | No Comments
There’s nothing worse than buying bags and bags of Halloween candy and then no one comes trick-or-treating at your door. (Hmm, scratch that — there are definitely worse things.) But anyway. You know your neighborhood leaves something to be desired if you don’t have little ghosts and princesses banging on your door tonight. What makes […]
Georgia Removes Tolls, Invites 11,000 More Drivers to Clog GA 400 Each Day
| | No Comments
Why raise desperately needed transportation funds for a broke region when you could let people drive for free? In Georgia, the state has made up its mind: The DOT will pay $4.5 million to tear down tolls on GA 400 — and forfeit the $21 million a year the tolls brought in. It costs just […]
Do Immigrant Neighborhoods Hold the Secret to Ride-Sharing?
| | No Comments
When researchers look at the reasons behind the downward trend in driving rates in the U.S., they look at several demographics: young people who prefer urban living and are getting into biking, or baby boomers who have picked a more vibrant place to spend their retirement. Immigrants form another cohort that trends away from single-occupancy […]
Spend 30 Minutes Watching This Doc and You’ll Spend the Next 30 Walking
| | No Comments
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 […]
And the Kiddies + Cities Photography Winners Are…
| | No Comments
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 […]
Cast Your Vote for the Best Picture of Car-Free Kiddies in Cities
| | No Comments
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”
| | No Comments
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 […]
NACTO Urban Street Design Guide Sets Out to Change the DNA of Our Cities
| | No Comments
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 […]