Transportation Policy
Streetsblog Basics
A Golden Opportunity for Congress to Avoid the Transportation “Fiscal Cliff”
MAP-21 expires in a year and five months. When it does, if lawmakers haven’t already found a solution to the “transportation fiscal cliff,” they’ll have to do one of three things, according to a report issued last week by the Congressional Budget Office [PDF]:
May 1, 2013
A Better Way to Grade City Transportation Systems
How should we grade America's transportation systems?
April 15, 2013
Streetfacts: Americans Are Driving Less
We continue our Streetfacts series by looking at the data on driving in the U.S. Per-capita driving has declined every year since 2005. That's not a blip, it's now an 8-year trend.
April 2, 2013
For Eighth Year in a Row, the Average American Drove Fewer Miles in 2012
For decades -- through the rise of the two-car household, women entering the workforce, the growth of the exurbs -- Americans reliably put more miles on their cars every year.
February 27, 2013
It’s Not the Economy, Stupid: Americans Really Are Driving Less
Since 2005, Americans have been driving fewer miles each year. While the shift predated the onset of the Great Recession, the question of whether the decline in driving marked a sea change in the way we get around or simply reflected a drop in economic activity has been a matter of considerable debate.
November 5, 2012
NYC Congress Members, MTA Chief Repudiate House GOP Attack on Transit
Four New York City members of Congress joined the chairman of the MTA today to bluntly denounce the House GOP's anti-transit transportation bill.
February 6, 2012
Post-Irene Open Thread 2: A Teachable Transportation Moment
Sometimes the best way to understand the ordinary is to examine the extraordinary. Watching Hurricane Irene wreak havoc on the entire transportation system from North Carolina to the Canadian border brought certain patterns and questions into high relief. Here's some of what we thought about while the power was down.
August 29, 2011
Meet the Obscure Unelected Agencies Strangling Many U.S. Cities
Do you know the name of your local Metropolitan Planning Organization or Council of Government? Most Americans don't. In fact, most people probably have no idea these agencies even exist, let alone what they do. Yet they are surprisingly powerful and play a substantial role in shaping the places where we live and work.
July 21, 2011
As Local Governments Innovate, State DOT Still Focused on Roads
This map shows many of the projects in the region's transportation improvement program, revealing the priorities of the area's transportation agencies for the next five years.
June 24, 2011