Sprawl
Streetsblog Basics
Strong Towns’ Chuck Marohn: Why Suburban Growth Is a Ponzi Scheme
Chuck Marohn cofounded the non-profit Strong Towns in 2009. Since then he has steadily built an audience for his message about the financial folly of car-centric planning and growth. The suburban development pattern that has prevailed since the end of World War II has resulted in what Marohn calls "the growth Ponzi scheme" -- a system that isn't viable in the long run because it cannot bring in enough revenue to cover its costs.
July 18, 2013
T4A: One in Nine American Bridges Structurally Deficient
There's a new report out on the state of America's bridges, and with it a new raft of disturbing statistics. Nearly one in nine, or 11 percent, are structurally deficient -- meaning a bridge inspector has rated a major component of the structure to be in poor condition. The average age of a bridge in the United States is 43 years; the average design life, 50 years.
June 20, 2013
William Fulton on Why Smart Growth Pays and Sprawl Decays
Earlier this week, Smart Growth America released an important study that illustrates how walkable development results in huge savings and significantly better returns for municipalities compared to car-centric development.
May 23, 2013
Streetfacts: Roads Are a Money Losing Proposition
The majority of the roads and highways built in America are simply bad investments. Continuing this pattern will only ensure that wasteful projects consume larger chunks of our federal, state, and local budgets, without addressing the real need for transportation options.
April 22, 2013
Study: Homes Near Transit Were Insulated From the Housing Crash
If you live close to a transit station, chances are you’ve weathered the recession better than your friends who don’t.
March 22, 2013
Sprawl Madness: Two Houses Share Backyard, Separated by 7 Miles of Roads
Just how absurd have American development patterns become over the past few decades?
February 28, 2013
Virginia’s Transpo Future: Charge Drivers Less to Build More Roads
Congratulations are owed to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. He's scored a victory on his transportation funding plan, cementing his legacy (though infuriating conservatives, including his hand-picked successor). His achievement is being called the first bipartisan initiative to pass in Virginia in decades. And what does this great deed accomplish? Secure revenue to fuel a new era of wasteful road-building in the commonwealth of Virginia.
February 26, 2013
The Revolving Door: TxDOT’s Phil Wilson, “Revolver in Chief”
This is the final installment in our three-part “Revolving Door” series about how cronyism in state DOTs leads to wasteful highway building. The first part profiled Ohio DOT chief Jerry Wray and the second part looked at Oklahoma DOT boss Gary Ridley. Both Wray and Ridley left the DOTs to work as asphalt industry lobbyists, only to return to the public sector later on.
February 1, 2013
The State DOT Revolving Door: Meet Jerry Wray, Ohio’s “Asphalt Sheriff”
One of the top goals of the national transportation reform movement is to get state DOTs to spend their money more wisely. The feds distribute tens of billions of dollars to state DOTs each year with very few strings attached. But for every state like Massachusetts or Tennessee that's decided to shift toward building walkable streets and away from highway construction, there are plenty of state DOTs that continue to build very expensive, sprawl-inducing roads, even though they can't afford to maintain what they already have.
January 29, 2013
Today in Foreign Policy: American Interests Demand Walkable Communities
If you’ve had your head stuck inside street design manuals or engineering guides – if you’ve been thinking at the level of the bulb-out or the bollard – I’ve got a present for you.
January 15, 2013