Tag: transportation
Delays inhibit transportation infrastructure
Construction problems, project delays, and soaring price tags are inhibiting transportation infrastructure in the U.S. Consider the latest: Southwest Light Rail Transit, Minnesota’s largest transportation project, now requires a budget of $2 billion. The Silver Line Metro extension in the D.C. area is 13 months behind schedule and $226 million over budget. Transportation infrastructure, as we’ve written about […]
Your commute feels longer because it probably is
Does it feel like your commute is getting longer? It probably is. A new study from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, The Growing Distance Between People and Jobs in Metropolitan America, discovers that as people and jobs headed to the suburbs in the 2000s, the number of jobs located near the average resident dropped. And […]
Proof that compact cities lead to reduced car use
The more compact the city, the fewer the cars… right? A new study — Connection Between Built Environment and Travel Behavior, published in the Journal of the Transportation Research Board — aims to determine whether that commonly-held wisdom is true. “[T]he compact city concept has become a paradigm of sustainable urban development under the premise […]
Funding gaps threaten transportation projects of all sizes
The struggles of the federal Highway Trust Fund continue to affect states and regions throughout the United States. The fuel taxes that power the fund haven’t increased in two decades; here’s what a few state and local governments are reporting about their transportation finance situations. Texas Despite the passage of Proposition 1, which will funnel […]
Little support for Texan transit; even less for toll roads
The 410,000 who joined in last month’s People’s Climate March may want to visit the Lone Star State. 38% of residents there believe public transit reduces congestion, but only 6% of Texans use it as their primary means of travel, according to a study released by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Conducted in May, the study surveyed more […]
NYC crushes double parking with Operation Move-Along
Discovering a perfect parking spot in the city without double parking is like beating level 361 in Candy Crush. You need risk, luck, and a few extra lifetimes. Once you get up at a horrible hour, manage your commute and dodge rogue jay-walking pedestrians, then you get to find a parking spot. In some busy areas, […]
Parking lot shortcuts: The quick way to an accident
A retail parking lot in December may look like a vast lake of holiday shoppers and cars, but to some, the lot may look like as it always does: like a shortcut. That’s because motorists, frustrated by standstill traffic on public roads, regularly use the expansive parking lots of malls, shopping centers, and grocery stores […]
Some electric vehicle charging stations cost as much as gas
At little more than 45,000 yearly, sales of zero-emission vehicles may be woefully anemic, but the charging stations that fuel them are doing brisk business. Miami-based CarCharging Group, for instance, has acquired four companies that boast networks of high-voltage electric vehicle charging stations, totaling 13,430 in all. CEO and founder Michael Farkas believes that the […]
The “new normal” in urban transportation: lower emissions, fewer cars
Since the mass production of automobiles almost a century ago, privately owned cars have dominated the urban transportation landscape. They allowed drivers to travel unprecedented distances — lending force as never before to the romantic idea of “the road trip,” and signalling an era of economic prosperity for many. As the years passed, however, our […]
