Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
Ben Fried
Recent Posts
Congress Sending Wrong Signals to State DOTs in Stimulus Draft
| | No Comments
Gary Toth is director of Project for Public Spaces’ transportation program and an influential voice for transportation as a tool for making communities more livable. In this piece he tells us how state DOTs are taking cues from Washington as the stimulus bill takes shape. It’s going to be more of the same unless Congress […]
Senate Set to Confirm LaHood as Transportation Secretary
| | No Comments
Ray LaHood handles some softballs at his nomination hearing. Looks like Ray LaHood will sail toward an easy confirmation in the Senate. Members of the Transportation Committee were congratulating him before he opened his mouth at this afternoon’s nomination hearing, which just adjourned. Here are some bullet points: The livable communities plank in Obama’s campaign […]
The Inauguration Transportation Plan as Demonstration Project
| | No Comments
Inauguration parade rehearsal. Photo: Travir/Flickr As many as four million people are expected to descend on the National Mall today for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th President. Contending with that mass of humanity has left officials with no choice but to implement temporary policies to get people in and out of […]
Dems Release Stimulus Draft: $30B for Highways, $10B for Transit
| | No Comments
Via Greater Greater Washington, the Huffington Post is reporting that House Democrats have released a draft summary of an economic stimulus bill, and at first blush there’s little for green transportation advocates to cheer. $30 billion is slated for highways, $10 billion for transit — a marginal improvement over the longstanding 80/20 split in federal […]
$2 Billion for Bicycling in Stimulus Package?
| | 4 Comments
Earl Blumenauer. Photo: New York Times The most tantalizing tidbit in today’s Times profile of Earl Blumenauer comes from fellow cycling Congressman James Oberstar: With an eye on the potential stimulus package, cycling advocates "have compiled a list of $2 billion of projects that can be under construction in 90 days," Mr. Oberstar said, adding […]
Tell Congress: Don’t Waste Money on Highway Expansion
| | 1 Comment
States should know better than to funnel more money into road expansion at the expense of maintenance. With President-elect Obama back in Washington, action is heating up again around the economic recovery package, which could total up to $850 billion over the next two years. As much as $100 billion may be at stake for […]
Wiki Wednesday: “Shovel-Ready” Pedestrian Safety Plans?
| | 2 Comments
StreetsWiki author Andy Hamilton files this entry on an idea from our very own Federal Highway Administration: the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan. The concept includes a step by step methodology to identify and correct pedestrian safety hazards, as well as to plan a more walkable community from the ground up. FHWA developed a how-to guide, […]
Cartoon Tuesday: What’s Your Destination?
| | No Comments
Good stuff this week from Tom Toles, whose transpo-themed editorial cartoons are always on target. Click through for the rest of this commentary.
The Elevated Bikeways of Minneapolis?
| | No Comments
Via Streetsblog Network member Twin Cities Streets for People, this vid depicts a fanciful best-case scenario should stimulus funds get funneled to highway expansion at the expense of transit, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure. Talk about unintended consequences. Excellent job by the filmmakers of putting a closed-off stretch of freeway to good use.
Obama Picks Republican Illinois Congressman to Lead USDOT
| | 5 Comments
Photo: Wikipedia (Aaron Naperstek over at NYC Streetsblog carries the news that it’s official: Little known Congressman Ray LaHood will be the next Secretary of Transportation. The post below lists some of the discussion surrounding LaHood from earlier today) The Hill is reporting that Illinois Representative Ray LaHood, described as a centrist Republican, is in […]
Why Stimulus Money Should Go to Cities, Not States
| | 2 Comments
I spoke earlier today to David Burwell, founder of the Surface Transportation Policy Project and a strategic consultant with the Transportation for America campaign, about how the stimulus package is shaping up for transportation projects, why it might go wrong, and what can be done to set it on the right track. "He’s putting his […]
Stimulus Package on Track to Perpetuate Transpo Status Quo
| | No Comments
A front page story in yesterday’s Washington Post has the most thorough analysis to date of how infrastructure spending may be divvied up in an Obama stimulus package. Nothing is set in stone, but the dividing lines are increasingly clear: States and their DOTs are emphasizing road projects, while cities are looking for ways to […]