• Urban rail

    In a first world country like America, there is no reason to have a second-rate urban rail system.
    A week ago I got to hear Peter Newman discuss his new hopeful book, The End of Automobile Dependence: How Cities are Moving Beyond Car-Based Planning . This is the final volume in a trilogy by Newman and Kenworthy on automobile dependence. Newman makes the argument that for the first time in...Read more

  • Rear-view mirror predictions on US motor travel

    For most of the 20th Century, US vehicle miles traveled (VMT) rose relentlessly. At the turn of the new millennium, the pattern changed substantially, but the view of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), did not. Above is a graph that shows FHWA's predictions for growth of motor vehicle...Read more

  • Small furry mammals versus the dinosaur

    Over the last six decades, the propensity toward ‘big’ has infiltrated every aspect of human life. People are bigger (or fatter), cars, homes, food production, retail, hospitals, business, industry, government, and cities all have burgeoned in size. This has resulted in vast layers of bureaucracy,...Read more

  • A new conversation for USDOT

    The "community listening chart" from Nashville, Tennessee, outlines the discussion that is taking place around the I-40 corridor through the city. The discussion is part of US Department of Transportation's Every Place Counts workshop this week—one of four in a two-week period with technical...Read more