Tanya Snyder
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Recent Posts
Fight Street Crime With Speed Bumps and Crosswalks
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In Gabe Klein’s exit interview with Chicago Mag, the outgoing transportation commissioner predicted that in the next few years, cities will be paying more attention to the correlation between lawbreaking by drivers and other kinds of crime. “I think it’s a broken windows effect,” Klein said. “If you get control of the traffic crime, I […]
A Highway Teardown Appears Likely, In an Unlikely Place
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As the nation prepares for the expansion of the Panama Canal and all port cities go crazy deepening and widening everything in sight, the second biggest biggest port in the country is doing something unexpected: planning a highway teardown. The LA Times reported this week that Long Beach officials are studying the possibility of replacing […]
It Could Cost More to Shut Down Cincy Streetcar Than Finish It
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Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory is frustrated that all his work to bring the streetcar to fruition might be for naught, now that anti-streetcar John Cranley has been elected to take his place. “I’m from the tough part of town,” Mallory joked. “I will take the guy in a dark alley. I’m not afraid to use […]
Stuck With No Bike Lane? Your Complaint to Congress Is Three Clicks Away
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A few months ago, we told you that Building America’s Future had released an app called, “I’m Stuck!” It allowed you to send a quick email to your Congressional representatives, telling them that you were stuck in traffic, or on an overcrowded bus or a delayed train, and you wanted Congress to approve more funding […]
Transformation for America: T4 Reemerges With Focus on Local Control
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Transportation for America has been in hiding. Perhaps you’ve noticed. The coalition of over 500 organizations that came together to advocate for policy reform and adequate funding in the transportation reauthorization seemed to disappear for a little while after the dust settled on MAP-21. T4America, often called simply T4, provided analysis of the bill and […]
Senators Warner and Blunt Take Another Stab at an Infrastructure Bank
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You’d be forgiven for being cynical about big plans in Washington to create an infrastructure bank. President Obama has been talking about it for years. Every so often he comes out with a new big “push” for infrastructure investment, and it includes a bank of some kind. Multiple Senate bills have proposed an infrastructure bank […]
Another Bike/Ped Safety Bill Coming Soon, Courtesy of Rep. Albio Sires
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Yesterday was a great day for Congressional support for bicycle safety! Two Democrats and two Republicans introduced a bill to make states set separate performance measures for bike and pedestrian safety. And in addition, Rep. Albio Sires, a New Jersey Democrat, announced on the floor of the House of Representatives that he’ll be introducing a […]
Blumenauer, Bipartisan Co-Sponsors Set Out to Improve Street Safety Metrics
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After a long period of inaction on Capitol Hill, the wheels are beginning to turn again. Lawmakers introduced not one but two good transportation-related bills yesterday: one that aims to improve the safety of walking and biking and one that would establish a national infrastructure bank. We’ll get into the infrastructure bank bill in a […]
It’s Official: 33,561 People Killed in Traffic on American Streets Last Year
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The official 2012 death toll is out for our nation’s poorly-designed, auto-centric transportation system. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic injuries on the nation’s roadways claimed the lives of 33,561 people. The headline of the agency’s press release, “NHTSA Data Confirms Traffic Fatalities Increased In 2012,” is quickly walked back by the subhed, […]
HUD and U.S. DOT Embrace Housing + Transportation Metric for Affordability
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A few years ago, the Center for Neighborhood Technology gave a wonderful gift to urbanists and planners: the Housing + Transportation Index. This simple calculation clarified and popularized a key concept: that transportation costs must be taken into account in any measurement of “affordability.” Without that, potential homebuyers and renters make the mistake of “saving” […]
WSJ Invites More Ignorant Anti-Bike Zealots to Sully Its Pages
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Law professor Frank H. Buckley seems to want to be the next Dororthy Rabinowitz. That is, he wants to gain notoriety by clinging to old and unsafe street designs while, simultaneously, shoring up the Wall Street Journal’s reputation as a bastion of change-averse curmudgeons. Done and done. Buckley wrote an op-ed in Friday’s Journal about […]
As Lawmakers Fail to Fund Transit, Seattle May Lose 74 Bus Routes
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If you’ve ever looked deep into the abyss of partisan gridlock and anti-tax paranoia and wondered where the bottom was — well, Seattle might be approaching it right now. Facing a massive budget gap — caused largely by the antagonism and negligence of state legislators — Metro Transit has announced a plan to cut spending […]