Special Reports
Streetsblog Basics
FHWA Helps Cities and Towns Land Bike/Ped Funding
American cities and towns should get a leg up on using federal funds to make streets safer for biking and walking, thanks to rules enacted yesterday by the Federal Highway Administration.
October 23, 2012
Will Transportation Investments Keep Up With the Way Americans Travel?
Phineas Baxandall is a senior analyst at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
October 22, 2012
For Bloomberg, No Lessons Learned From Yankee Parking Subsidies
If Mayor Bloomberg regrets his administration's involvement in the Yankee Stadium parking disaster, he's not letting on.
October 18, 2012
The Toll Map That Should Pique the Interest of Every Staten Island Elected
In case you missed it, today the Staten Island Advance rounded up outraged quotes from local politicos in response to the MTA's proposed fare and toll hikes. Big emphasis on "toll hikes" -- it's the prospect of paying more to cross the Verrazano Bridge that has State Senator Andrew Lanza vowing to somehow defeat the proposal in Albany, while U.S. Representative Michael Grimm pledged to do the same through an act of Congress.
October 16, 2012
Instead of More Fare Hikes, How About Bridge Tolls That Make Sense?
Since the beginning of 2008 -- right around the time that Albany legislators failed to enact congestion pricing -- NYC subway and bus fares have been hiked three times. Now the fourth fare hike in five years is on the horizon, and with Albany lawmakers sitting on their hands as MTA revenues fail to keep up with costs, there's no relief in sight for millions of transit-riding New Yorkers.
October 15, 2012
How MAP-21 Allocates Transpo Funds Where They’re Needed Least
Transportation reauthorizations have typically not been a time for major discussions about national policy goals. They’ve been a time for getting while the getting’s good, a time for deal-making and pork and a lot of back-room transactions to make sure every member of Congress could go home and talk about how much federal money they were bringing home.
October 3, 2012
Barclays Center Opening Weekend Traffic: Not a Total Disaster
Many residents and elected leaders from the neighborhoods near the Barclays Center in Prospect Heights are letting out a sigh of relief after steeling for gridlock this weekend. Sellout crowds for the arena's first events -- three Jay-Z concerts -- did not completely overwhelm nearby neighborhoods with traffic, but the strain on local streets was still clear.
October 1, 2012
As MAP-21 Takes Effect, Road Builders Vie for TIFIA Funds
It's October 1, the start of the federal government's fiscal year 2013, and the MAP-21 transportation law officially takes effect today. The law was signed July 6 but got a three-month grace period to let U.S. DOT set guidance and give states a little time to get ready for the new requirements -- things like setting up grant programs to distribute bike/ped funding to local communities (though they can also just squander that money).
October 1, 2012
“Park Avenue Is Broken, And It Can Be Fixed”
Council Member Letitia James and Assembly Member Joseph Lentol joined local residents on Park Avenue in Brooklyn yesterday to push DOT and other city agencies to implement recommendations from the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Partnership's pedestrian safety plan. The plan calls for a set of pedestrian safety improvements and traffic enforcement measures to make Park Avenue less of a BQE service road and more of a neighborhood street.
September 11, 2012
Yankee Stadium Parking Garages “Almost Certainly” Coming Down
How long now before the Yankee Stadium parking fiasco becomes an unpleasant memory?
August 30, 2012