Streetsblog

A late addition to the Streetsblog calendar that Hudson River Greenway users will want to squeeze into their schedules tonight: Community Board 7's Parks and Recreation committee will hear from the Parks Department about changes to the greenway in Riverside Park intended to reduce conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists. The greenway can get uncomfortably crowded on some sections at some times, but the Parks Departments tends not to produce the best ideas to address the problem. Turn out tonight if you want a safe, comfortable, convenient greenway route for everyone in Riverside Park.

If a driver strikes you while you're walking or biking in D.C., there's a good chance you won't be allowed to sue for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering under the law.

Rhode Island has been investing in commuter rail -- long distance service connecting Providence to Boston and towns in between. But lackluster ridership at a new park-and-ride rail station at the end of the line (by a Walmart!) is sapping support for much more useful investments, reports Sandy Johnston at Itinerant Urbanist.

There aren't too many places in the United States like Boston -- truly walkable cities with good transit. And it didn't happen by accident.

U.S. DOT announced the winner of its $50 million "Smart City" grant yesterday, and Columbus, Ohio, bested finalists San Francisco, Portland, Austin, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Denver for the prize. Many other cities had applied for this federal funding to demonstrate how new technologies can improve urban streets and transportation.

It's been 20 years now since planners in the St. Louis region first envisioned a north-south route for the Metrolink rail system. The region's rail system is currently oriented in an east-west pattern.

A very busy week on the Streetsblog calendar starts off with a memorial ride later today for Asif Rahman, who was killed by a truck driver while biking on Queens Boulevard eight years ago and would have turned 31 today. Queens Boulevard is getting safer thanks in large part to the advocacy of Asif's mother Lizi Rahman, as DOT phases in pedestrian improvements and median bikeways in Woodside and Elmhurst.

It's a beautiful thing to witness just how much neighborhood streets can change when you remove car traffic. As open streets events, modeled after Bogotá's Ciclovía, have spread across the U.S. in the past several years, they've brought not just opportunities for physical activity, but a joyful new way to use streets as public spaces.

The horrific mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando has prompted some soul-searching about America's ability to take significant steps to curb gun violence. Congress did nothing to control guns after dozens of young kids were massacred at Sandy Hook. Will the loss of 49 innocent lives finally lead officials to take action?