Recent Streetsblog LA posts about Streetsblog.net

In the 1960s sci-fi vision of the future, people moved around in flying cars, or better yet, got “beamed” from one place to another instantaneously. But the futurists of that generation got it wrong. The most influential technological breakthroughs are happening in the field of communications, not transportation. But that doesn’t mean the two aren’t […]

The city of Seattle is planning to use eminent domain to seize a privately owned parking lot near its waterfront. The plan is to convert it into … a city-run parking lot. What happened here? Well, Network blog Systemic Failure explains why the city saw fit to seize this land from a 103-year-old lady: Around […]

This, my friends, is a great example of how myopic reasoning by state departments of transportation can lead to horrible results at the community level. Today, Ron Beitler at Strong Towns tells the story of East Texas, Pennsylvania, where residents and community leaders agreed to reduce the speed limit on Willow Lane/East Texas Road through […]

As soon as some consensus emerges about a demographic trend pointing to positive signs for cities, you can count on leading suburban crusader Joel Kotkin to say the experts have it wrong. Kotkin would like you to believe that he’s the one true voice in demographic trends, and in his view, it’s always the suburbs […]

The project to replace and expand the I-5 bridge between Oregon and Washington, a.k.a. the “Columbia River Crossing,” has been watched by transportation experts around the country as a case study in the dynamics of a highway boondoggle. Earlier this year, when state lawmakers in Washington State refused to fund their portion of the project, […]

Rail riders and advocates in Indiana won a big one this week, securing the additional state funding needed to keep Amtrak’s Hoosier State line operating four days a week between Indianapolis and Chicago. It was the last, and most hotly contested, of the 19 agreements Amtrak was required to negotiate with 15 states in order […]