To reclaim downtowns from traffic, require developers to offer strategies for cutting car use

The dominance of parking has devastated once-vibrant downtowns by turning large areas into uninviting paved spaces that contribute to urban heating and stormwater runoff. It has driven up housing costs, since developers pass on the cost of providing parking to tenants and homebuyers. And it has perpetuated people’s reliance on driving by making walking, biking and public transit far less attractive, even for the shortest trips. Why, then, does the U.S. have so much of it?

State DOTs’ commitment to equity made clearer through federal Request for Information

Equity, diversity, and inclusion have been of growing importance among state and federal transportation agencies, and yet there isn’t a clear consensus on how that commitment translates into tangible outcomes. A new report from the Policy Lab at Claremont McKenna College, produced in partnership with SSTI, offers some clarity through an in-depth look at state DOT responses to the USDOT’s Request for Information on transportation equity data, which was released last year.

Connecting streets may reduce congestion without sacrificing safety

Studies show that gridded, highly connected street networks improve safety, disperse traffic, increase access, and are more sustainable than more disconnected designs such as the “loops and lollipops” found in sprawling contexts. To help planners better characterize connected neighborhoods and inform street design decisions, researchers at the University of Utah have developed a street design index of the density and connectivity of street networks.

A small town transforms its main street and community

The town of Hillsboro, Virginia, is celebrating the reopening of its main street—Virginia State Route 9—after extensive reconstruction. The installation of sidewalks, crossings, parking, and traffic circles at either end of town has helped to slow traffic and restore a residential feel to this more than 200-year-old rural hamlet.

Safer systems are needed to curb traffic deaths

The U.S. needs to adopt a “Safe System” approach to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries, according to the Institute of Transportation Engineers and policy experts at Johns Hopkins University. “Our current roadway system reflects a history of flawed decisions about land use, opportunity, investment, and racial and ethnic equity,” they write in a recent issue of ITE Journal, pointing to the impressive safety records in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and other countries that adopted the approach early on.