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
Gridlock Everywhere: Congressional Impasse Shuts Down DC’s Trails
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Washington, DC’s bicycle commuters woke up this morning to find that one popular rail-trail was closed due to the government shutdown, which took effect at midnight. The Capital Crescent Trail is the most heavily-used rail-trail in the United States, with more than a million users a year. Not just a weekend pleasure-ride spot, the CCT […]
Shutdown: Congress Prepares to Furlough One-Third of U.S. DOT Staff
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Looks like we’re heading for a real, honest-to-goodness government shutdown tomorrow due to a childish Congressional food fight over budgets and health care. Already this year, thousands of government employees faced furloughs due to sequestration, and now they’re looking at an indefinite unpaid leave. It’ll last until Congress can play nice and make a deal […]
ITDP Study: “A Coming Out for Bus-Based Transit-Oriented Development”
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In a new report making the rounds this week, “More Development For Your Transit Dollar: An Analysis of 21 North American Transit Corridors,” the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy does two things. First, authors Walter Hook, Stephanie Lotshaw, and Annie Weinstock evaluate which factors determine the impact of urban transit on development, coming up […]
Roads Kill: Mapping the Automobile’s Global Body Count
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“If road fatalities are viewed as a disease, the United States has proven that it is one that can be eradicated. The North American country had only 3 road deaths per 100,000 citizens in 2010, the lowest among industrialized nations.” Imagine if the U.S. really did have the safest streets in the industrialized world. Tens […]
Ten Questions (and Answers) About Oregon’s New VMT Charge
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This summer, Oregon’s legislature passed a bill creating a vehicle-miles-traveled fee. For those who recognize the shortcomings of the gas tax for charging for road use, it was a big victory. But the program authorized by the state is a modest one, creating a voluntary program for just 5,000 drivers of high-efficiency vehicles. ODOT’s Jim […]
NACTO Urban Street Design Guide Sets Out to Change the DNA of Our Cities
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In a direct challenge to the long-standing authority of state DOTs to determine how transportation infrastructure gets designed, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) yesterday launched its Urban Street Design Guide. NACTO’s Urban Bikeway Design Guide has already empowered cities around the country to embrace protected bike lanes and other innovative designs that […]
Park(ing) Day 2013: DC Edition
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There’s only one reason to be inside on a beautiful day like today, and that is to upload pictures of this beautiful day. More to the point, it’s Park(ing) Day, a celebration of better uses for on-street parking spaces. All over this city, and in cities around the country, temporary parklets have sprung up in […]
Moody’s Warns of Rising Debt Load for Toll Roads
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Despite increased toll rates, toll roads saw their debt per roadway mile increase by a third last year, from $14.3 million in fiscal 2011 to $18.9 million in 2012. The average toll per transaction rose from $1.82 to $1.96 over the course of the last year. Moody’s warned in a press release last week that […]
Census: American Bike Commuting Up Nine Percent in 2012
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Congratulations, America. We’re biking to work more than ever before. We’ve known for a while that Americans are driving less than they used to, even as the economy grows. And just about every quarter, the American Public Transportation Association delivers more stats about increasing transit ridership. Now the Census brings another measure of Americans’ shifting transportation […]
Alan Durning on Reasons to Be Optimistic About Parking Reform
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We hope you enjoyed part one of our Q&A with Alan Durning, which we published yesterday. Durning is publishing a series of articles on his blog at the Sightline Institute — where he serves as executive director — about the ways that underpriced parking drives up rents, eats up space, and makes no sense. A […]
Alan Durning on the “Ruinous, Vicious Circle” of Underpriced Parking
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Many people have been inspired by UCLA Professor Donald Shoup’s epic takedown of American parking policy, but few have turned that newfound passion into the kind of scholarship Alan Durning has produced on the issue. The executive director of the Pacific Northwest’s sustainability think tank, Sightline Institute, has now published 12 installments in a series […]
Asphalt Industry Leader: “We’re Not Out Picking Fights” With Other Modes
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Jay Hansen is executive vice president of the National Asphalt Pavement Association. He’s led the organization’s efforts to secure federal highway funding and even convinced the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to install a permanent asphalt pavement exhibit. He says he’s been reading Streetsblog Capitol Hill since it started publishing. I talked to him […]