Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
Ben Fried
Recent Posts
Kansas City Residents to Missouri DOT: Enough With the Highways Already
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Usually when we hear news from a Streetsblog Network member about the Missouri Department of Transportation, it’s because the agency is blocking ideas like a complete streets bill or a highway-to-boulevard conversion in downtown St. Louis. The advocates at BikeWalkKC report that now the agency is feeling some grassroots resistance to its cars-first approach: The […]
The Origins of Holland’s “Stop Murdering Children” Street Safety Movement
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Since the 1970s, the Netherlands and the United States have taken different paths when it comes to engineering streets. While the Dutch tackled traffic deaths and injuries by designing local streets where walking and biking are safe, convenient ways to get around, the prevalent approach in America was to apply highway design principles to local […]
Coming Next Week: Streetsblog Chicago
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After setting up transportation news sites covering New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and national policy, next Tuesday Streetsblog will be expanding for the first time in four years with the launch of Streetsblog Chicago. The reporters producing Streetsblog Chicago are John Greenfield and Steven Vance, who have built an impressive audience for local transportation […]
Give to Streetsblog and This Tough-Yet-Breathable Jacket Could Be Yours
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Hello Streetsblog readers, here’s the latest word on our end-of-year pledge drive. With the contributions pouring in, we’re rounding the home stretch more than three-quarters of the way to our goal of raising $60,000 by the end of the year. Can you help put us over the top? If you value what we do, please […]
City Streets for Sale in Providence
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Here’s a rather alarming update from Jef Nickerson at Greater City Providence, who alerts us to one of the not-so-imaginative responses to the current fiscal distress affecting many American cities. Providence is selling its streets: After Brown University and then RISD made agreements with the City to acquire parts of public streets for private parking in exchange for increased […]
NACTO Previews a Progressive Design Guide for City Streets
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One of the interesting developments to come out of the National Association of City Transportation Officials “Designing Cities” conference (currently in its second day) was the announcement of a wide-ranging new design guide to be released next year. NACTO’s “Urban Streets Design Guide” will show how streets of every size can be re-oriented to prioritize […]
What Went Unsaid at Last Night’s Debate
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At last night’s presidential debate in Nassau County, the best opening for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to talk about transportation policy came when undecided voter Phillip Tricolla asked the following question of the President: QUESTION: Your energy secretary, Steven Chu, has now been on record three times stating it’s not policy of his department […]
How Much Bang Are Cities Getting From Federal BRT Bucks?
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How substantial are the benefits delivered by federal investment in bus rapid transit projects, and how can the feds help local governments build better bus improvements? A new report from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office [PDF] looks at the results of BRT projects that have been completed in 20 cities since 2005, when SAFETEA-LU expanded federal […]
NYC Rejects Highway Teardown Without Completing TIGER-Funded Analysis
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The Bloomberg administration has abruptly ruled out the possibility of tearing down New York’s lightly-trafficked Sheridan Expressway and replacing it with mixed-use development, jobs, and parks. Neighborhood advocates and electeds from the Bronx are vowing to fight the decision, which they say fails to follow through on the comprehensive analysis the city promised to conduct […]
Help Put Our Spring Pledge Drive Over the Top (and Win Free Comics)
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We’re rounding the final turn in our spring fundraising campaign, and thanks to hundreds of generous donations to Streetsblog and Streetfilms the finish line is within sight. Just $3,500 in donations this week and we’ll reach our goal of raising $30,000 by June 1. Your support enables us to produce high-impact content making the case […]
15 Days Left in Our Spring Pledge Drive — This Week: Win a Vaya Bag
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We interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging for a quick pep talk. Thanks to our generous and supportive readers, Streetsblog and Streetfilms are almost halfway to our goal of raising $30,000 by June 1. We’ve got two weeks left to raise $17,000 — help us reach that target so we can keep making the case for designing […]
Give to Streetsblog and You Could Win a Planet Bike Commuter Pack
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Thanks to everyone who’s stepped up and chipped in for our spring pledge drive. Your donations are helping us keep the lights on at Streetsblog and Streetfilms so we can deliver high-quality reporting, commentary, and videos covering the movement for safe streets, effective transit, and livable cities. So now May is upon us, it’s Bike […]