Resources: Publications and Reports

Transportation engineers Norman Marshall and Lucinda Gibson of Smart Mobility conducted a review of WSDOT's analysis of a 'no-replacement' option for the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Marshall and Gibson found significant flaws in the analysis, including the use of exaggerated estimates of future downtown street traffic and misleading conclusions about the amount of truck traffic on the viaduct.

Transportation engineer Lucinda Gibson reviewed existing travel patterns along the Route 5 corridor and concluded that a surface boulevard option with an at-grade bridge will not only handle traffic volumes but also improve traffic circulation along Buffalo’s waterfront, creating enhanced opportunities for economic development in the key sections running from downtown to the Outer Harbor.

CNU, fire marshals, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are working together to create connected networks of traditional streets that work equally well for pedestrians, traffic, and emergency response access. Learn how these streets save lives, improve emergency response times, and reduce vehicle miles traveled with this report, which summarizes Peter Swift’s study identifying street width as a determining factor in the frequency of collisions, the Local Government Commission’s case studies of developments in Hercules, Calif, Memphis, Tenn., and Seattle, Wash. (under a previous EPA grant to study this topic), the City of Charlotte, N.C.’s 2008 connectivity study, and myriad others cataloged by the Initiative team.

With schools no longer serving their role as anchors of walkable neighbohoods and education-inspired migration making regions more sprawling and segregated, the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is encouraging an active discussion on educational issues. In 2006, CNU convened an education summit in Chicago at which leading urbanists, economists and education experts explored changes in school design and school policy aimed at making traditional urban centers more livable and inviting to families of all incomes and racial and ethnic backgrounds. Participants in the summit have written many essays in this publication in hopes of bringing insights from the gathering to a broader audience.

Following-up to the summit later in 2006, the CNU board took a position on school design and school policy. Read it on page two of this report.

CNU Board members have developed a strategic plan for the organization and announced the contents at CNU XV. The plan lays out a strategy for enabling and promoting the reform of the regulatory structure governing development and the practices of the building industry and related professionals.