Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Streetsblog Network

Commuting accounts for only about 15 percent of trips in the United States. But when planners make transportation infrastructure decisions, they often base them on commuting patterns, not other types of trips. One side effect of this convention is that it undervalues trips by women, writes U.K. blogger Katja Leyendecker, and contributes to a built environment that is poorly suited to women’s needs. She […]

Every year Census data comes out revealing which cities are growing fastest. But what the numbers don’t tell us is what kind of growth is occurring and where. Yonah Freemark at the Transport Politic set out to get a better understanding of growth patterns in major cities. Looking at long-term changes since 1960, the big upshot is that […]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ordered all transportation construction in the state to be halted today after the state’s Transportation Trust Fund went bankrupt last night. Despite Christie’s attempts to point fingers, he really has no one to blame but himself. After the State Senate shot down a belated effort to raise New Jersey’s gas tax last night, Christie blamed Democrats […]

When construction projects occupy sidewalks and bike lanes, many cities don’t do anything to compensate — forcing people to walk and bike in traffic or take long, unrealistic detours. But it’s not that hard to put up safe, convenient alternate routes. Yesterday, the Portland City Council voted to require better detours for pedestrians and cyclists at construction zones. […]

Here’s a great example of a “virtuous cycle” in action: Center City Philadelphia has seen the number of parking spaces decline recently as population and jobs continue to rise at a healthy clip. You might expect one result to be a downtown parking crunch, but that’s not the case at all, reports Jim Saksa at Plan Philly: If everyone drove to […]

Earlier this year Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said he wants to help repair the damage done to cities by highways. And this week U.S. DOT took some steps to make that happen, announcing the winners of its “Every Place Counts Design Challenge.” The four chosen cities (out of 33 applicants) will get technical assistance from U.S. DOT to tear down or cap highways, or […]