Resources
The quiet evolution of the one way sign
One way streets are valuable assets in any city – pedestrians need to know where the cars are coming from, and if everyone obeys the rules, there are fewer accidents. The overall history and evolution of signs is a fascinating subject (we think), and there is no sign more taken for granted than the one […]
Prudent speed limits? Impossible in the U.S.
The U.S. Interstate System Since the beginning of the 20th century, personal vehicles have allowed quick travel across the United States. The Model T, an early affordable car, had a top speed of 45 mph. People traveling across the country found themselves on unpaved roads better suited to horses. The ensuing decades saw changes in […]
U.S. 36 transformation underway
The story of U.S. 36, a Colorado highway connecting Boulder with Denver, is similar to that of other roads throughout the country: it’s overworked and under-equipped. According to the New York Times, after opening in 1952, built to carry 3,000 cars daily by 1980, the highway was serving 14,000 cars daily by 1966. Today’s figures […]
Motorcyclist fatality sheds light on dangers of moose crossings
A motorcyclist was killed, and his passenger left in critical condition, after hitting a moose crossing Alaska’s Glenn Highway last week. As unusual as the accident may sound to urban dwellers, vehicle accidents involving moose are relatively common in Alaska, which has a high population of both moose and motorcyclists. In fact, Alaska has more […]
Federal gas tax means infrastructure funds running on empty
With the recent talk about who’s responsible for covering the costs of restoring and maintaining America’s crumbling infrastructure, many mistakenly believe that the gas tax, collected via the U.S. Highway Trust Fund, goes a long way towards maintenance and improvement costs for our nation’s highways. Yet upon closer inspection, the numbers point out some potentially […]
Millennials drive less, but are roads safer?
“The Driving Boom—a six decade-long period of steady increases in per-capita driving in the United States—is over,” declares a recently released U.S. PIRG report. The report, which argues for replacing the driving policy of boom years with a more efficient one, found that Americans today drive less in terms of mileage than they did eight years […]
The car-free city: wave of the future?
Will cars have a place in the cities of the future? Not if today’s urban planners have much to say about it, according to Fortune. Future urban design will not likely revolve around accommodating cars and drivers, as it did in the past, according to experts at a seminar called “Smart Cities,” held at Fortune‘s Brainstorm […]
Up to speed with Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives
New legislation that would install 20 speed cameras in New York City aims to prevent traffic tragedies – tragedies like the one that killed a young couple in Brooklyn earlier this month, when a driver going 60mph down a residential street collided with their cab.
Discouraging news for pedestrian safety
Look both ways, and cross your fingers: it’s been a bleak week for pedestrians. Two unrelated, recently released studies catalogue the dangers faced by even law-abiding walkers and cyclists.