Today on the Streetsblog Network, Richard Layman of Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space
finds some interesting ideas about the future of American roads in a
somewhat unlikely source — the super-mainstream Parade magazine, which
comes as an insert with more than 400 newspapers around the country and
claims a circulation of 33 million. Layman looks at a Parade’s cover
story from yesterday, entitled How We Can Save Our Roads. The Parade article looks at an engineering practice called "practical design" that is being implemented in Missouri:

Photo by TheTruthAbout via Flickr.

Today,
when Missouri engineers design highways, they aim “not to build perfect
projects, but to build good projects that give you a good system,” says
[Missouri’s transportation boss, Pete K.] Rahn. Practical Design says
to “start at the bottom of the standards and go up to meet the need.
When you meet the need, you stop.”

Layman adds: 

The idea of
"practical design" has the ability to be "reverse-engineered" and
applied more broadly than it is currently being applied in Missouri and
other states.

For example, "practical design" of
neighborhood roads in a city residential area should mean that the
roads don’t get built to the level that accommodates speeds of 50 to 75
mph. After all, the posted speed limits are 25 mph, plus these are
mixed-use areas with plenty of walkers, bicyclists, and non-through
road traffic (buses, delivery vehicles, etc.).

Elsewhere around the network:  Transportation for America summarizes the data from the American Public Transportation Association about last year’s surge in ridership on mass transit; Bike Commute Tips Blog writes about the link between the economic downturn and bike commuting; and Bicycle Fixation has a nifty history of the connection between bikes and the city.