Recent Streetsblog LA posts about DC Streetsblog

After seven years of declines, traffic deaths in America rose again in 2012, according to a preliminary estimate by the National Safety Council. An estimated 36,200 people were killed in traffic collisions last year — a five percent increase over 2011, according to the NSC. In 2011, 34,600 people were killed on American roads. Traffic injuries increased […]

In last week’s Washington Post, Roger K. Lewis, an architect and professor at the University of Maryland, wrote an intriguing column suggesting that it’s time for a big rethink of the concept of zoning, which he says is a relic of the early 20th century: Zoning conventions are no longer conventional. Land-use regulation is still needed, but […]

Looks like Walk Score has some competition in the business of rating walkability. The U.K.-based startup Walkonomics recently unveiled an app that aims to measure the walkability of streets based on physical characteristics. The new Walkonomics app — currently available only for Manhattan, San Francisco and the United Kingdom — uses open source data to rank […]

Yesterday afternoon, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, announced that Frank Lautenberg would return as chair of the committee’s Surface Transportation, & Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, & Security Subcommittee. This afternoon at 2:00 p.m., Lautenberg issued a statement that “improving passenger and high-speed rail service in America and on the Northeast Corridor is […]

What follows is the second installment of an exit interview I conducted with departing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Tuesday. In the first installment, he talked about what he’s proudest of, why he decided to leave, and why it’s important to fund bike/ped improvements with federal dollars. I also gave him one last chance to […]