Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
What If State DOTs Listened to Cities Before Starting Urban Projects?
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It's not uncommon for bitter disputes to develop when state DOTs come into urban neighborhoods and start making changes to state-controlled streets. Pennsylvania DOT has a different idea: Rather than just muscle everything through, the agency will incorporate local ideas before engineering and design work gets started.
America Builds Too Many Schools By Highways
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One in 11 U.S. public schools are within 500 feet of a highway, exposing 4.4 million children to elevated levels of pollution, putting kids at elevated risk of developing asthma. But cheap land remains alluring to school districts, and America's system of school siting is not getting better.
Kansas City Will Take a Serious Look at Removing Downtown Highway
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Rochester just converted part of its Inner Loop highway into a surface street, a similar project is underway in New Haven, and freeway teardowns are in play in many other American cities. Now you can add Kansas City to the list of places getting serious about removing a highway to save money, improve walkability, and open downtown land for development.
America’s Traffic Death Toll Is a National Disgrace
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More than 40,000 Americans were killed in traffic last year, according to new estimates from the National Safety Council, the worst toll in a decade. The U.S. transportation system claims far more lives each year than peer countries. If America achieved the same fatality rate as the UK, more than 30,000 lives would be saved each year.
Milwaukee Subsidizes the Rest of Wisconsin, Not the Other Way Around
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Anti-urban politicians have tried to paint Milwaukee as a den of government dependence. But the data shows it, like many cities, actually subsidizes rural and suburban areas.
To Get More People on Bikes, Louisville Needs to Raise Its Game
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Louisville is making an effort to build out its bike network, adding a number of buffered bike lanes and beginning a network of low-stress "Neighborways" along residential streets. It's a start, but peer cities like Indianapolis and Pittsburgh are doing more to make cycling an appealing way to get around. Here's what Louisville needs to do to catch up.
To Make Streets Safer, Seattle May Get Rid of Traffic Signals
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Signalized intersections carry special risks. Drivers often accelerate during the yellow phase to "beat the light," for instance, leading to high-speed crashes. Federal officials warn that improperly placed signals can "significantly increase collisions." So Seattle is reviewing 10 intersections to see if traffic signals should be replaced with stop signs.
Boston Identified Its Most Dangerous, Degrading Bus Stops. Now What?
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The MBTA is evaluating all 7,600 of its bus stops for safety and accessibility, and it will either improve or eliminate 200 of the worst ones.
Elon Musk’s “Plan” to Cure Traffic With Tunnels Is Terrible and Ridiculous
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Musk's plan isn't new or innovative, and it wouldn't even solve the problem it's supposed to address.
How to Double Access to Frequent Bus Service
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Columbus hopes to increase ridership 10 percent in three years with a system that prioritizes frequent service in a more grid-like pattern, connecting people to job centers.
“Independent” Audit of Oregon DOT Looks More Like Agency PR
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The audit is an object lesson in how transportation agencies and their consultants can manipulate public communications to serve their self-interest.
America Builds Way Too Much Parking Near Transit
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We build parking that nobody ever uses because that's what American engineering standards recommend.