Federal Highway Administration
Streetsblog Basics
The Feds Quietly Acknowledge the Driving Boom Is Over
The Federal Highway Administration has very quietly acknowledged that the driving boom is over.
January 7, 2015
Documentary to Explore Racial Discrimination in Transportation Planning
Beavercreek, Ohio, nabbed its own infamous place in civil rights history last year, when the Federal Highway Administration ruled that the suburb had violated anti-discrimination laws by blocking bus service from nearby Dayton.
October 29, 2014
U.S. DOT Releases New Guidance to Make Streets Safe for Cycling
Last month in Pittsburgh, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx unveiled a new federal initiative aimed at reducing pedestrian and cyclist fatalities. Despite declining overall traffic fatalities, people walking and biking are being killed more often on American streets, a disturbing trend that U.S. DOT wants to reverse.
October 10, 2014
U.S. DOT to Publish Its Own Manual on Protected Bike Lanes
Before the end of this year, the Federal Highway Administration will release its own guidance on designing protected bike lanes.
September 23, 2014
FHWA Gleefully Declares That Driving Is Up, Calls for More Highway Spending
Well, so much for the predictions that changing preferences and new technologies will lead to a car-free utopia. The Federal Highway Administration announced last week that after nine years of steady decline, vehicle-miles-traveled in the U.S. was 1.4 percent higher this June than last June. Apparently, red-blooded Americans everywhere are finally getting back to their Hummer habit after a few years of diminished driving and rising transit ridership and bike commuting.
September 2, 2014
FHWA to Engineers: Go Ahead and Use City-Friendly Street Designs
The heavyweights of American transportation engineering continue to warm up to design guides that prioritize walking, biking, and transit on city streets. On Friday, the Federal Highway Administration made clear that it endorses the National Association of City Transportation Officials' Urban Street Design Guide, which features street treatments like protected bike lanes that you won't find in the old engineering "bibles."
July 28, 2014
FHWA: Bike-Ped Investments Pay Off By Cutting Traffic and Improving Health
Nine years after launching a program to measure the impact of bike and pedestrian investments in four communities, the Federal Highway Administration credits the program with increasing walking trips by nearly a quarter and biking trips by nearly half, while averting 85 million miles of driving since its inception.
June 26, 2014
FHWA Proposes to Let States Fail Their Own Safety Goals With Impunity
Secretary Anthony Foxx has made clear that safety -- and specifically, safety for bicyclists and pedestrians -- is a priority of his administration. If that’s true, his administration sure has a funny way of showing it.
March 14, 2014
New Layer of Red Tape From FHWA Threatens to Delay NYC Bike Projects
The Federal Highway Administration is seeking to impose a new layer of bureaucratic review on New York City bike projects, which could significantly delay the implementation of street redesigns that have proven to reduce traffic injuries and deaths.
December 20, 2013
FHWA to Transportation Engineers: Use the NACTO Bikeway Design Guide
In a significant step forward for American bike infrastructure, the Federal Highway Administration issued a memorandum late last month essentially endorsing street designs like protected bike lanes.
September 9, 2013